Wekas, seaweed and sustainable farming: meet New Zealand's 'least worst farmer'
Stories from our rural heartland by Matt Philp and Rob Suisted, published by Potton & Burton, RRP$59.99. Buy a copy here.
Roger Beattie harvesting Eyris Pearls in Akaroa Harbour. Photo Country Calendar Book
Country Calendar is now New Zealand’s longest-running television series, with more than half a million people tuning in every week. This year saw Country Calendar turn 50, and this book celebrates this milestone by revisiting 15 families who have appeared on the show during the last decade – and, in some cases, whose properties have featured two or three times during the last 50 years including Roger Beattie.
Complimenting Matt Philp’s text, each story is lavishly illustrated with evocative, especially commissioned images by award-winning photographer, Rob Suisted. The result is this stunning celebratory book – a must-have for every fan of Country Calendar and anyone with an interest in the lives of rural New Zealanders.
Roger Beattie features as a 'wild sheep breeder, blue pearl and kelp entrepreneur, and, yes, would-be weka farmer, a man who most days has a dozen ideas before breakfast'.