RNZ: Country Life

Many areas of both the North and South Islands could do with good steady rainfall.

New Zealand Winegrowers Chairman, Steve Green.

Michele Cherry and John Grater are sharing their Amberley farm which produces organic vegetables, fruit and herbs, with young market gardeners Gianni Prencipe and Loraine Liddle, who grow produce for their Field to Feast Organics business.

Anne Mackersey and her husband Alistair Grant grow roses hydroponically in the middle of a sheep and beef farm in Bay of Plenty. They send blooms to Wellington florists year round but say because they're small, high quality producers, their business is threatened by low cost flower imports from places like India, and if people want small local businesses to survive, they need to support them.

Northland is critically low in the soil moisture department and farmers are being warned to expect a dry summer, while in the South Island, the West Coast has almost been too hot.

Isabelle Kelly and June Smith from Rural Women. They drive people from the north Waikato settlement of Te Kauwhata to Waikato hospital.

Te Hape B Trust is 4600 hectares of rolling sheep and beef country in Northern King Country. It's paid off a nearly three million dollar debt inherited when it took over from the Maori Affairs Department in the 1980's, and is now also making headway with its stock performance. It was a finalist in 2013 Ahuwhenua Trophy for Excellence in Maori Farming. The cross like Wharenui: Te Miringa Te Kakara.

Riverton Coastguard's senior master Noel Anderson has saved many a life on Foveaux Strait.

The heart-warming story of how two American city slickers came to settle in rural Wairarapa and the challenges they face living on the land. Read by the author Jared Gulian.

It's been unusually warm and dry over much of New Zealand in recent weeks which has been great for calving and lambing, but now a bit of moisture would be nice.

Amelia Nurse visits the inaugural Local Table competition in Paekakariki where the challenge is to prepare a dish with ingredients sourced entirely and only from the village of 1600 people. The judges were Kath Irvine and Earl Zapf.

The heart-warming story of how two American city slickers came to settle in rural Wairarapa and the challenges they face living on the land. Read by the author Jared Gulian.

Mild conditions are continuing to make for a good winter in the North Island while in the South the winter pruning programme continues for apples and kiwifruit.

Riverton's Te Hikoi Southern Journey Museum curator, David Asher.

Robert and Robyn Guyton have planted a 'Food Forest' around their house in Riverton, Southland so no lawns need to be mowed and in season, the forest is dripping with organic fruit and nuts. The Guytons have several other local projects on the go too, from saving heirloom seeds and developing a community garden, to restoring the Te Wai Korari Wetland Reserve along the Jacob's River Estuary.