Under a Big Sky Facing the elements on a New Zealand Farm

The joys and challenges of day-to-day farming in extraordinary circumstances.

Tim Saunders writes about his life and work on the farm that's been in his family for five generations. There's drought, farming during lockdown, illness, financial pressure and the drive to become more environmentally friendly.

Woven throughout is Tim's love of, and respect for, the land, animals and the environment. He describes how farming is intertwined with the weather, how the weather has changed, how the changes affect farmers and what they are doing to counteract this.

With the impact of climate change there is a need to change farming practices. Like other farmers Tim and his family are closely studying their farming system, deciding what needs to be done to survive, and how to work within the environment while feeding an ever-growing population. They look to the past to shepherd the future.

'Beautifully observed writing about valuing the land we walk on, the air we breathe, and our interconnectedness.' Joan McKenzie, Newstalk ZB

'This elegiac portrait of working the land is both pertinent and perceptive. It distils the essence of what it means to farm the land.' NZ Listener

Tim Saunders farms sheep and beef near Palmerston North, and his first book This Farming Life was published in 2020. He was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2021 for his story Carved; the only New Zealander to be shortlisted for this prestigious prize that year. He has had poetry and short stories published in Headland, Best Small Fictions, takahe, Landfall, Poetry NZ Yearbook and Flash Frontier. He won the 2018 MindFood Magazine Short Story Competition, and placed third in the 2019 and 2020 New Zealand National Flash Fiction Day Awards. He performs poetry around the Manawatu and beyond.