Country Life

Penny Hoogerbrug of Kaharau Angus Stud describes the nerve-wracking moments before she and her partners became the proud new owners of "Lot 8", paying more than $100,000 and setting a record for the highest price paid for a bull at an on-farm sale.

Teina McIntyre and Cailtin McRae can't wait to find a job on a dairy farm. They are two of seven students taking part in Dairy NZ's first GoDairy free, training course for people looking at changing careers.

Winter sets in in the north and the effects of the drought are still being felt at the top of the South Island.

Winter sets in in the north and the effects of the drought are still being felt at the top of the South Island. Teina McIntyre and Cailtin McRae can't wait to find a job on a dairy farm. They are two of seven students taking part in Dairy NZ's first GoDairy free, training course for people looking at changing careers. Penny Hoogerbrug of Kaharau Angus Stud describes the nerve-wracking moments before she and her partners became the proud new owners of "Lot 8", paying more than $100,000 and setting a record for the highest price paid for a bull at an on-farm sale. Whitford dairy farmer Donald Pearson bequeathed his dairy farm and all its cows to New Zealand Young farmers. There are plans to build an education centre on the farm so that children from nearby Auckland can be introduced to agriculture and the career opportunities it offers. Banks Peninsula horticulturist Cornelia Holten established the KoruKai Herb Farm at Pigeon Bay with support from her husband Kai in 2013. She grows about 80 varieties of herbs - 40 of which she uses to make herbal remedies, skin care and teas.

Graham and Tess Smith live in a beautiful valley 50 minutes' drive south of Hamilton. Their dairy farm is tiny by today's standards with just 83 cows but that's just the way Graham wants it. He also grows paulownia trees and exports the super-light timber to Tahiti where it is crafted into waka ama paddles. In New Zealand paulownia timber is used to make surfboards, snow and water skis, fishing lures and competition gun butts. Graham's also setting up a museum on the farm to preserve memorabilia from New Zealand's oldest introduced sport - Tug of War. It came to New Zealand in the 1790's with whalers and Graham's the president of the New Zealand Tug of War Association.

The Exotic Mushroom Company is based in a purpose-built facility near Templeton on the outskirts of Christchurch. It’s here that Japanese born Natsu Adachi grows shiitake mushrooms that she sells year-round to local retailers, eateries and at farmers' markets.

A rural boutique fermentary uses wild, edible plants, herbs and locally grown veggies to create nutritious food. Kelli Walker has started a fermentary on a country road near her hometown of Clevedon.

In Waikato much of the week felt like it was the middle of spring, the temperature hit 20 degrees on Monday but on Thursday it was back to being drizzly and cold. It's been a miserable week of weather in Canterbury with days of fog, drizzle and very little sun. Farmers are getting onto fencing once stock have been fed.

Miraka Farm, Turning shiitake mushrooms into potent powder, Fermenting for Good, and the Regional Wrap.

New Zealand's earliest European-era star observatory on a farm near Featherston - built by an amateur astronomer/farmer in 1867 - could be saved in the nick of time. The Carkeek Observatory is now dilapidated, fenced off from grazing stock, with a tree growing up through it, but it's regarded as a rare historic place and worth saving, especially with the region hoping for designation as a Dark Sky Reserve.