Country Life

John Young is one of New Zealand's pioneer mussel farmers. He's the head of Marlborough Sounds based business Clearwater Mussels, which operates a mix of company-owned, and shareholder-owned farms throughout the Sounds and further afield in Tasman and Golden Bays. A boat ride through the Marlborough Sounds with him is a journey through an ancient seascape he knows like the back of his hand.

It's felt like summer on the east coast of the North Island this week, but farmers are still squelching around in paddocks over much of the island. In the south, farmers are getting crops in and lambs are being tailed.

The rural well-being programme Farmstrong is proving a hit with farmers. More than a thousand people are visiting its website each week.

The Country Life webpage is showcasing a series of classic country clips from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision. This week's film looks at gorse. Last week featured the inventor of the post hole borer, Ron Lister. Beth Clayton has won a DVD of the New Zealand feature movie Mahana for emailing in with his name.

Shawn Bishop happily admits she's dotty about animals. Her husband Michael Dixon agrees. Shawn and Michael have set up an animal sanctuary for abused, unwanted and neglected farm animals on their property an hour north of Auckland. They've found homes for thousands of battery hens, scores of baby goats and have a resident pig who was once tied to and towed behind a car, but now is showered with love .

It's been exceptionally wet in most North Island areas this week, from Auckland south through the central regions, streams are overflowing. In the South Island cropping farmers are able to get tractor work completed and seeds in.

Walt Freeman is a mink farmer in Ontario Canada.

A new walkway has recently opened in the Cheviot Hills Reserve in North Canterbury. The project has been a labour of love for a group of local volunteers led by retired sheep farmer David Anderson.

Jane Paul is the community programme co-ordinator at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.

Warren Bryant and three of his farming neighbours are behind the Mill Creek windfarm in Wellington's Ohariu Valley - a 26 turbine scheme that started harvesting some the capital's world class wind - back in 2014.