Country Calendar

Returning: When a boutique family cheese-making business finds the price of milk is too high, they buy their own dairy farm, create more jobs within the family and win national awards for their cheese.

A couple convert historic buildings into a farm-stay and encourage guests to get involved in day-to-day life on their sheep and beef farm. They find their visitors love the hands-on rural experience.

A 100-year-old orchard on the Hokianga Harbour passes into the hands of the next generation two sisters who couldn't face seeing the farm sold and have returned home to work the land.

The far-sighted general who led the New Zealand troops at Gallipoli and in France during World War I came home to build a farming heritage that still flourishes in Hawkes Bay, three generations on.

A couple give up city corporate life to chase their dream of farming heritage breeds of pigs free-range, then develop their own range of small goods to sell at farmers markets and on-line.

One teaches horse-riding, the other ballroom dancing, but a couple find common ground in their careers and personal lives and say both activities involve building successful partnerships.

A couple successfully farm merinos in a low-rainfall area by ensuring the plants suit the different types of land on their North Otago farm.

A couple use biological farming methods on their Hawkes Bay farm, focusing on the health of the soil to improve the quality of their stock and crops.

Family life on a remote but beautiful farm at French Pass in the Marlborough Sounds would be too tough for most, but Georgie Archbold loves it she was brought up on D'Urville Island nearby.

Matt Newton, a larger-than-life character who combines farming with flying helicopters, goes on a bush cattle muster with a group of volunteers seeking action and excitement.

Former corporate high-flyer Debbie Campbell had no farming background when she left the city to buy an organic orchard but she loves her new life in Golden Bay and hasn't looked back.

They say Kingi Winiata could ride before he could walk. Head stockman on a big Wairarapa station, the highlight of his year is riding with family and others up the coast to a horse sports event.

On a Marlborough almond orchard, a couple see their hard work blossom into sought-after nuts, and his engineering skills have created many labour-saving machines to improve production.

A family of three women aim to produce top-quality suri fibre from the 150 alpacas at their Banks Peninsula stud. They farm organically, using a variety of other stock to minimise disease problems.

A Swiss German family love their new life farming in eastern Taranaki but they are always looking for ways to make the job easier, such as running Wiltshire sheep that dont need shearing.

A Kerikeri dairy-farming woman writes a newspaper column and helps others in the community, drawing on her own experiences. With her partner and children, theyre expanding their dairy herd.

On a Marlborough almond orchard, a couple see their hard work blossom into sought-after nuts, and their engineering skills have created many labour-saving machines to improve production.

The tutors loves their jobs teaching young people agriculture skills on a marae-based training course near Ohakune and it gives the youngsters a chance to follow their dream of working on the land.

A wine-maker creates fine wine on one of Marlboroughs most prized parcels of land, while his daughters get hands-on, learning the ropes in the family business.

An 11-year-old boy strives to achieve the top award in his chosen field of showing cattle a red ribbon at the Auckland Easter Show.

A Southland couple propagate ancient apple varieties brought to the region by early settlers. And theyve converted a once-barren hectare of land into a lush forest of food.

A Northland fisherman works the tides of the historic Kaipara Harbour in his small boat, catching flounder for export and for the locals in his community.

When injury threatened a Whanganui womans future on her farm, a female neighbour stepped in to help. Now the two have started a new venture giving others a taste of back-country life.

A Swiss couple turn a childhood tradition of gathering wild mushrooms into a thriving business. They rediscover varieties that have grown in Nelson for years, ignored by the locals.

A couple breed Appaloosa horses on their small Southland farm and use them for trekking in the mountains and wilderness areas nearby.

A couple achieve their dream of making wine and growing most of their own food on a patch of land near Martinborough but they face constant setbacks and challenges.

As fish become scarce in the inner Marlborough Sounds, a father and son flounder fishing team join scientists in a bold attempt to re-seed stocks and improve future catches.

A couple relish the opportunity to manage a large high country station and raise their family in the rural community that exists in the district.

A woman with a passion for trees hands her walnut orchard on to the next generation. One of their new moves is to produce nut-fed pork by grazing pigs under the trees to eat the rejects.

Series Final. A sixth generation Waikato dairy farmer and keen whitebaiter takes on a mammoth tree-planting project to preserve the water quality around his farm - for the fish, the birds, and for the future.