Sally Round
Country Life for Friday 12 July 2024
This week Country Life meets a couple who have restored the old post office in rural Taranaki and ... a new pest trap driven by artificial intelligence is being rolled out around the Orokonui… Audio
Kohirā Solar Farm: Northland sheep benefiting from the power of the sun
Kohirā is a solar farm near Kaitaia that is experimenting with agrivoltaics - combining agriculture with harvesting the energy of the sun. They run sheep under the solar panels and are looking at… Audio
On the Farm - a wrap of conditions around the country
Apple growers in Hawkes Bay are busy pruning trees and pulling out old blocks. Further south, farmers on the West Coast are feeding out silage, moving breaks and getting ready for calving. Audio
Country Life for Friday 5 July 2024
Country Life looks at a farming system known as agrivoltaics where traditional agriculture runs alongside solar farming and Cosmo's at a sheep breeders field day on Banks Peninsula, to find out how… Audio
Kaputī and kaitiakitanga in Taemaro Bay
Sandra Heihei is the 17th generation of her family living in remote Taemaro Bay. She and her husband Alfonso live off grid and are among kaitiaki of this ancestral coastal land. Passing on knowledge… Audio
Rural News Wrap
A round-up of the week's agricultural news from RNZ's rural news desk. Audio
Country Life for Friday 28 June 2024
This week the Country Life team spends a night out tracking kiwi in the capital, meets a family living off-grid on their ancestral land in the Far North and visits a South Otago dairy farm where… Audio
Rural News Wrap
A round-up of the week's agricultural news from RNZ's rural news desk. Audio
Country Life for Friday 21 June 2024
Country Life meets a former hotel manager who's swapped swipe cards for growing spuds, goes for a skate at a country ice rink and visits the farm at the centre of Wellington's kiwi project. Audio
NZ's top milking herd is small, but mighty
Taranaki dairy farmer Cliff Shearer's practices may seem old-fashioned, but they've helped him make his way into the history books. Audio
Rural News Wrap
A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy Audio
Country Life for Friday 7 June 2024
This week Country Life catches up with a collector of rare and exotic sheep breeds who has just sold his farm, we learn about how a Taranaki dairy farmer's collection of antique farming books and… Audio
Norsewood factory Norsewear a sign of close-knit community
The Norsewear factory in Norsewood is a community affair, with families, an entire volunteer fire brigade and neighbours working alongside each other over the decades. They have been celebrating 60… Audio
Country Life for May 31 2024
This week on Country Life, caviar being farmed in Mackenzie Country, a flood-prone vineyard in Canterbury which has created flood prevention basins to keep dry and a woollen sock company which is at… Audio
Forging through tough times
Blacksmith Jamie Hughes has a niche business crafting knives and hand-forged metalwork for chefs, farmers and tourists from his smithy in Norsewood. Tough economic times means he's feeling it from all… Audio
Rural News Wrap
A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy Audio
Country Life for Friday 24 May 2024
This week Country Life meets a traditional Māori healer helping shearers around the motu and things heat up in a blacksmith's forge in Norsewood. Later we explore a native forest that grew from rough… Audio
Sowing the seed for Māori to grow food
Country Life visits a food garden in Taranaki, where whānau are getting their hands in the soil and finding out how to sustain themselves from their own backyards. Audio
Vet's extraordinary escape after 9-11
Neil and Sandra Chesterton and their two sons escaped Afghanistan over the mountains on horseback after 9/11. The Inglewood vet was working for a charity there. He and Sandra chat to Country Life… Audio
Country Life for 17 May 2024
This week on Country Life we hear about a country vet's daring horseback escape from Afghanistan over the mountains on horseback after 9/11. We meet Pounamu Skelton who is on a mission to help Maori… Audio