Country Life

The gloom and wet of winter is especially challenging for Southland's farms where pasture can go for nearly a third of the year without growth. Country Life heads south to find out how to keep paddocks and stock in good nick.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Karl Erikson and Brad Thomas, Environment Southland

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week Country Life takes you to a dairy farm with a difference, supplying milk direct to the customer, and the team checks in at a lab where work is underway to stop a tiny pest munching through grapevines.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:43- One year, one hospital, one community
• 8:01 - On the Farm: a wrap of conditions around the country
• 15:25 - Harnessing plant power to combat vineyard threats
• 28:05 - Calving a Niche - Faith Farm Fresh keeps milk flowing direct to customers

With thanks to guests:

• Sophia Zohrab
• Michelle Thompson, Plant and Food Research
• Stacey Faith, Faith Farm Fresh

Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

It's a busy time of year for Stacey Faith, calving 300-plus cows, rearing their calves and keeping the Faith Farm's roadside milk dispensing outlet going, providing locals with milk fresh from the cows over the fence - with the cream on top.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:16 - Faith Farm Fresh
• 3:44 - Raw milk direct to the customer
• 7:33 - Milking time
• 14:14 - In the calf shed
• 19:24 - A side(hustle) of beef

With thanks to:

• Stacey Faith, Faith Farm Fresh

Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.

Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.

Send us your feedback or get in touch at [email protected]

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Are some grapevines better that others at naturally defending themselves from a disease-spreading pest? Michelle Thompson is running trials at Plant & Food Research in Lincoln to find out.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Michelle Thompson, Plant and Food Research

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

With rural health care under the spotlight, our guest this week sheds some light on working in a small country hospital. Sophia Zohrab is among 12 med students on Auckland University's rural medicine immersion programme, sprinkled around North Island towns.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

With thanks to:

• Sophia Zohrab
  

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Country Life speaks to farmers and growers around New Zealand to find out about growing conditions over the past month.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

This week Country Life takes you to a farm grazing pigs and cattle beneath solar panels and meets organic honey producers Shayne and Elizabeth Mackenzie, and a recent Lincoln University graduate.

You can find photos and read more about the stories in this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:44 - An update on Tasman
• 2:22 - Rural News Wrap
• 7:32 - Connecting people 'from the land' with those working on the land
• 14:38 - Sweet success for Coromandel couple's organic honey
• 29:30 - 'Learning along the way' with agrivoltaics

With thanks to guests:

• Harris Moana
• Shayne and Elizabeth Mackenzie, Woodlands Organic Honey
• Nigel and Merrin Upchurch, and Matt Shanks

Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Dual land use, with pigs and cattle grazing under solar panels, has unlocked new opportunities for Waitangi Farm in Waiuku. Mostly importantly say Nigel and Merrin Upchurch, it aligns with their values.

You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.

In this episode:

• 0:16 - Feeding time at Waitangi Farm
• 5:03 - Homecoming and an ecologist's 'classroom'
• 9:10 - What is agrivoltaics?
• 12:40 - Lightyears Solar
• 17:52 - Pioneering effort

With thanks to:

• Nigel and Merrin Upchurch, and Matt Shanks of Lightyears Solar

Make sure you’re following us on your favourite podcast app, so you don’t miss new episodes every Friday evening.

Want to chat to us or find out more about RNZ Podcasts? Join the RNZ Podcasts Discussion Facebook group where we share behind the scenes info about our series, and invite you to share feedback, recommendations and ask us questions.

Send us your feedback or get in touch at [email protected]

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

A honey shed on a hill is buzzing with the sound of honey flowing into jars as the bees take a hard-earned rest from honey making. Country Life meets Shayne and Elizabeth Mackenzie whose organic honey is produced from hives scattered over remote parts of the northern Coromandel peninsula.

You can find photos and read more about this episode on our webpage, here.

You can learn more about Woodland's Honey, here.

With thanks to:

• Shayne and Elizabeth Mackenzie

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Time spent helping his grandparents on their whenua near Kāwhia inspired a love of farming for Harris Moana. Having just finished his Agribusiness studies he's now focussed on building his reo so he can act as a bridge between industry and tangata whenua.

With thanks to:

• Harris Moana

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details