From the Ground Up

Getting a good night's sleep is high on the priority list for many people, and superior bedding made with strong wool from their Southland farm is a new venture for Nicola and Tom Wylie.A range of bedding essentials, pillows and duvets, are being marketed and sold online as Lora & Flok.Website: www.loraandflok.co.nzFacebook: lora & flok (2) FacebookInstagram: @loraandflok Lora & Flok (@loraandflok) • Instagram photos and videos

Hannah Miller is A Lady Butcher and her passion is to create purposeful meats.Hannah's jam is making traditional charcuterie, the art of preserving meat, with local New Zealand ingredients. She's gaining a fan following for her range of premium dried and cured meats from local, ethically-raised animals.She and her husband also have a restaurant and brewery, Churly's, in Auckland. At Churly's they do whole carcase butchery, and Hannah is committed to ensuring every cut has a place, adopting a nose to tail philosophy. The butchery itself is tucked inside the restaurant.A Lady Butcher show notesWebsite: www.aladybutcher.co.nzFacebook: A Lady Butcher FacebookInstagram: @aladybutcher A Lady Butcher (@aladybutcher) | Instagram

When Greg and Dansy Coppell purchased their sheep and beef farm near Nelson they needed to do 30km of fencing on a shoestring budget – recycled vineyard posts were the ideal solution.Soon, neighbouring farmers were asking how they could get their hands on the cheap but perfectly functional posts, and Repost was born.Repost takes what was previously a waste product, posts ripped out of vineyards at harvest and left in piles, and repurposes them as a key on-farm input, at a fraction of the cost of a new post. A win for your back pocket, and a win for the environment.Website: Repost || Recycled and Repurposed Fence Posts www.repost.co.nzFacebook: Repost Fence Posts @repostnz Repost Fence Posts | FacebookInstagram: @repostnz Repost (@repostnz) | Instagram

Sheep milking is providing the perfect value add, and creating opportunities for the whole Ravenwood family, at Wairarapa's Fernglen Farm.Sheep tick all the boxes for this entrepreneurial family, from a nutrition, sustainability and environmental perspective.The picturesque coastal farm is home to 1300 milking ewes, which are milked once a day at a purpose-built facility on the property, near Riversdale beach. The milk, which provides a nutritious alternative to cow's milk, is turned into a number of products, including flavoured milk and yoghurt.Cam Ravenwood has a passion for nutrition, especially its role in sports and muscle recovery, and became interested in sheep milking after seeing a newspaper cutting in 2015, his last year at high school.Fernglen Farm Website: www.fernglenfarm.co.nzFacebook: Fernglen Farm Fernglen Farm | FacebookInstagram: @fernglenfarm Fernglen Farm (@fernglenfarm) | Instagram

Genetics play a vital role in our industry and Mark Ferguson is leading a team at neXtgen Agri that aims to bring genes to life.A self-confessed sheep tragic, originally from across the ditch, Mark first came to New Zealand almost a decade ago after successfully pitching for a merino genetics review for the New Zealand Merino Company. He says it was a pivotal moment writing the application, as it led to him moving to New Zealand to run the production science component of a Primary Growth Partnership for the company.At neXtgen Agri, the focus is on the pastoral livestock industries. It is a consulting and innovation business, predominantly genetics consulting, helping sheep and beef breeders breed and buy the best animals. Website: www.nextgenagri.comFacebook: NeXtgen Agri Ltd | FacebookInstagram: @nextgenagri NeXtgen Agri (@nextgenagri) | InstagramHead Shepherd podcast: Head Shepherd

A tree house is part of the quintessential Kiwi kid upbringing, and now you can relive your childhood in style, thanks to Nest Tree House luxury treetop accommodation.Found in the Hakataramea Valley on Million Springs Farm, the home of Andy and Elizabeth Hayes and their three children Charlie, 12, Ayla, 10 and Hugo, 8, the treetop accommodation injects a touch of playful adventure into a luxury getaway. The farm has been in the Hayes family for six generations and was a sheep and beef farm, more recently converting to a 2000-cow dairy farming operation in 2009 when Andy and Liz took over the farm.Website: www.nesttreehouses.comInstagram: @nest.tree.houses Facebook: Nest Tree Houses Nest Tree Houses | Hakataramea | FacebookLearn more about Down to Earth at: https://youngcountry.co.nz/podcasts/#downtoearth

Website: www.foxtrothome.co.nzFacebook: Foxtrot Home Foxtrot Home | FacebookInstagram: @foxtrot_at_home Beautiful French Linen & NZ Wool (@foxtrot_at_home) • Instagram photos and videosThere's nothing quite like climbing into a crisp, freshly made bed. Linen loving sisters, Kate Cullwick and Prue Watson, hit on a winner with their online homeware business, Foxtrot Home, which has gained a huge fan following.Having decided they were keen to launch a business together, they knew two things for certain – it had to be homewares (a shared love) and online, due to their locations. With Prue living in Auckland for her corporate marketing job and stay-at-home mum Kate living in Central Hawke's Bay on a sheep and beef farm, they knew the business needed to fit around their already busy lives.

Website: www.aulddistillery.co.nzFacebook: Auld Distillery Auld Distillery | Scotts Gap | FacebookInstagram: @aulddistillery Auld Distillery (@aulddistillery) • Instagram photos and videosA seed-to-sip philosophy is the approach at Auld Farm Distillery, where the Auld family harvest the grain from their Southland farm and take a fresh new approach to bottling the essence of their land, their history and their story.Rob and Toni Auld combine the grain from their paddocks and pure water from their own spring in an onsite distillery, resulting is a stellar range of whisky, gin and other spirits for the discerning punter.The site of Auld Farm Distillery has been growing grain since 1883.Three generations of family – all named Robert – have worked the land in this isolated corner of New Zealand, right at the bottom of the world.Rob has always enjoyed a tipple of whisky and with a push from a Rabobank course, he created a business plan to diversify the family business and ensure opportunity for all three of the couple's sons, in the form of an on-farm distillery.

Spotting an opportunity to offer a sustainable alternative to single use plastic bags, Sophie and Sam Hurley developed their wool shopper, made from wool grown on their Hunterville property, Papanui Station.Now, they have opened their flagship Honest Wolf store, in Hunterville, and are providing employment opportunities for locals, as well as retaining a close connection to their product and customers.Honest Wolf Show notesHonest Wolf website: www.honestwolf.co.nzInstagram: @honest.wolfFacebook: @honestwolfwool

From running personal training sessions on her front lawn while her young children slept, to a thriving online health and fitness platform, Kate Ivey is inspiring people to adopt a healthier lifestyle that is sustainable long-term.Founder and trainer of DediKate, Kate Ivey Fitness, Kate runs her business from a farm near Twizel, where she lives with her husband Mark and their three children. DediKate now has about 1700 members across New Zealand and Australia.Online Personal Trainer | Fitness, Health and Inspiration (kateiveyfitness.com)They offer a 7-day free trial if you're keen to try it out for yourself.https://www.facebook.com/kateiveyfitnessInstagram: @kateiveyfitness)

Scott Jimmieson has realised his dream of becoming a farmer, and he's keeping it local with his new online shop business, Local Food NZ, connecting farms with consumers.The online farm shop and home delivery service in the Manawatu and Wellington regions offers free-range eggs from Scott's farm and honey and coffee from other local producers. The Local Food NZ business started in 2019 and their direct-to-consumer model was amplified by the Covid lockdowns. They also wholesale a number of eggs to cafes and restaurants.Scott always knew he wanted to be a farmer, going to work in the dairy industry straight out of high school before travelling overseas and coming back to New Zealand to start his egg farm.Living the dream in London and walking into the Tescos stores, he noticed all the free-range eggs. Doing some research, he discovered about 45% of the market was free-range while in New Zealand, it was only about 14%. He thought it could only go one way here.Website: www.localfood.nzFacebook: Local Food NZ Instagram: Local Food New Zealand (@localfoodnz)

Standing on the sideline watching her daughter play rugby in winter, Charlotte Bell thought she'd love to have a warm wool coat to wear. When she searched, she couldn't find what she was after, so she decided to create her own.Charlotte and her husband Hamish and their two girls Alexis (8) and Zoe (6) live on their sheep and beef farm at Cattle Creek in the Hakataramea Valley, South Canterbury.Using Romney ewe lamb's wool sourced from their farm, Charlotte started The Clip in 2019, creating stylish, functional and warm wool coats that will stand the test of time.“The Clip was born from a cold winter's day, wool prices obviously have been terrible for a long time, and we started brainstorming what we could do with it to try to increase revenue from the wool side of the business,” she says.Learn more about The Clip NZ at: Facebook @theclipnzInstagram https://www.instagram.com/theclipnz/Website: https://theclip.co.nz/ - 100% natural, luxurious, New Zealand made Wool Coats

Tapping into the potential of native New Zealand honeys, lifelong mates Edward Eaton and Wilbur Morrison are creating a buzz with their Buzz Club mead.The 24-year-olds went from experimenting with different flavour profiles, brewing in their garage on the weekends, to launching a range of premium sparkling mead naturally brewed from native New Zealand honey.https://thebuzzclub.co.nz/https://www.instagram.com/buzzclubmead/

The Brothers Green is harnessing the potential of hemp with a range of value-added products, and they believe the crop could have the potential to tackle some of the environmental and agricultural issues faced by farmers in this carbon era.Started five years ago, The Brothers Green is a vertically integrated hemp business that makes a variety of hemp products, including a functional food and a skincare range. A supplements line is soon to be launched.They contract grow hemp in North Canterbury, with a drying and processing facility in the region too. The raw seed is turned into three ingredients, protein powder, oil and whole seed. The raw ingredients are then used in a range of retail and wholesale products.Founder Brad Lake is one of a trio who make up the Brothers, and he left the comfort of his 9-5 banking job to take the plunge into the world of hemp.Website: thebrothersgreen.coInstagram: thebrothersgreen_Facebook: The Brothers Green All products available on the website. Best product: Hemp seed oil for joints and arthritis. Anyone suffering from joint issues should try this.

The Mangamarie Sunflower Field, established by farmer, photographer and mum, turned sunflower entrepreneur extraordinaire, Abbe Hoare, is turning heads for all the right reasons.She and her partner Emile de Greeuw, and their two girls Florence, 8, and Maeve, 2, have a 90-hectare farm at Mangamaire, just south of Pahiatua. Their ultimate dream is to one day buy a bigger farm that will sustain their family, but for now, they're constantly looking for ways to diversify their operation to make this happen.Abbe's social handles and websites:https://www.sunflowerfield.co.nz/ www.instagram.com/mangamaire.sunflower.field www.photosforjean.co.nz www.instagram.com/photos_for_jean www.facebook.com/omatafencing/

In the second episode of From the Ground Up, host Rebecca Greaves talks with Amanda King founder of By The Horns.They say you should never work with children or animals, but By the Horns photographer Amanda King has carved out a niche for herself doing exactly that.The primary school teacher turned photographer has amassed a huge following on social media with her hallmark close-up images of magnificent bulls, as well as other farm animals she's met on her travels.Facebook: @ByTheHornsPrintsInstagram: by.the.hornsWebsite: www.bythehorns.co.nz

Rebecca catches up with Delwyn Tuanui from The Chatham Island Food Co and learns about how he chased his dreams from the ground up.Running around Melbourne in his early 20s with a chilly bin full of Chatham Island blue cod, knocking on the doors of the city's top chefs, Delwyn Tuanui knew he had a special product.Social media handles and and website links to check out Chatham Island Food Co for yourself:- Instagram handle @chathamisfoodco- Facebook account @ChathamIslandFoodCo Website: Chatham Island Food Co | Ocean to your Door – Chatham Island Food Company www.chathamislandfood.com#fromthegroundup #agriinnovators #primaryindustries #nzfarming #nzfishing #youngcountry #ruralchat #agchatnz

Welcome to From the Ground Up, a podcast brought to you by Young Country. This is a podcast for the go getters, the big dreamers, the innovators of the primary sector. I'm your host Rebecca Greaves, and we're taking a closer look at people in the primary industries who have dared to think big, push the limits and give it a go in business. We'll be asking them what the catalyst was to take the plunge and make a change. We find out how they got to where they are now, what they've learned along the way, and what their advice is to other aspiring agri-innovators. So, settle in and listen up as we serve you a healthy dose of inspiration, motivation, and maybe even challenge your thinking a little.