Country Life

Heirloom tomatoes can be gnarly, luscious, beautiful and extremely difficult to grow. Angela and Anthony Tringham like to grow 'show off' tomatoes. They persevere with about 40 varieties in their greenhouses near Clevedon, south-east of Auckland.

Spring Collective is a co-operatively run organic market garden. A year ago Penny Sewell, Dominique Schacherer and Logan Kerr pooled their resources, secured an eight hectare block in Leeston and started growing vegetables. Now they employ three full-time staff and are looking for more fertile land to lease. Their business supplies fresh produce to the local community through farmers markets, veggie boxes, restaurants, and organic wholesalers.

The blackcurrant crop has been harvested and volume is down on last year says Geoff Heslop, a Canterbury blackcurrant grower, cropping farmer and chairman of Blackcurrants New Zealand.

Most of the North Island is looking surprisingly green, Marlborough is too but farms at the bottom of the South Island are experiencing drought-like conditions

About 90 percent of the 200,000 turkeys farmed in NZ every year are eaten at Christmas, so it's a busy time of the year for Kyle and Monique Smith of Crozier's Free-Range Turkeys.

The tiny fishing village of Ngawi, on Wairarapa's south coast, has found itself on the tourist trail. Thousands of tourists now pass through as they head out to Cape Palliser; stopping along the way to watch seals sunning themselves on the rocks and bulldozers launching and landing the crayfish boats.

Earthquake demolition work in Christchurch has made way for an urban farm that is equipping young people with life and work skills.

There will be no asparagus on the Christmas dinner table in Horowhenua - moisture stress has left the plants tired and sad. Most people have completed the final wire lift in vineyards across the top of the South Island and are into leaf plucking and foliage spraying.

An urban farm in Christchurch is equipping young people with life and work skills.. a tiny fishing village on Wairarapa's south coast that has found itself on the tourist trail.. and talking turkey with poultry farmers in Ashburton.

Farmland is still falling into the Rangitaiki River, some river flats still can't be grazed. The local farmers say something has to be done because they can't keep farming like this.