Country Life

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 years since the classic flecked farm sock was first produced, and now have a new owner at the helm.

A series of dams to capture stormwater as it runs off the Port Hills are being constructed on farmland near Christchurch. It's the brainchild of Brent and Shirley Rawstron from Rossendale Wines, who are working with the Christchurch City Council to prevent flooding Early Valley.

Mt Cook Alpine Salmon in the Mackenzie District began experimenting with caviar three years ago and is in the midst of its short harvest period. Sally Murphy caught up with the company's chief executive David Cole.

A dry autumn will make for a tough winter for many farmers across the lower North Island, meanwhile it's made a great end to harvest with growers in Hawke's Bay and Marlborough busy pruning.

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 the heart of the tiny town of Norsewood.

From a block of gorse-infected scrubland on Banks Peninsula, renowned botanist Hugh Wilson has spent half a lifetime growing Hinewai Reserve into a 1600-hectare paradise of regenerated native forest by leaving nature to it.

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 angles like many small businesses in rural New Zealand.

Serena Lyders has found her calling as a traditional Māori healer, giving back to rural communities and working with shearers all around the motu.

A round-up of the week's agricultural news with RNZ rural news reporter Sally Murphy

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, gorsey farmland and meet the botanist behind the impressive regeneration project.