Country Calendar spot for Gisborne sisters

Kate Culliwick and Prue Watson will be on Country Calendar on Sunday night in a programme about their successful business Foxtrot Home, and their beginnings in Gisborne. Picture by Tess Charles

Two Gisborne-raised sisters will feature on TVNZ’s Country Calendar on Sunday.

They are Kate Cullwick and Prue Watson, and Sunday’s episode will focus on Kate’s farms, and the sisters’  business, Foxtrot Home.

Their online natural homewares brand, which specialises in French Flax linen bedding and New Zealand wool blankets, was launched seven years ago.

Kate is now in Hawke’s Bay on her sheep and beef farm, and Prue is based in Auckland and Queenstown.

The episode will highlight their business story and the recent expansion into New Zealand-made Foxtrot Home wool blankets using lambswool from Kate’s farm.

It will also focus in depth on Kate’s two farms, Kate and her husband Jeremy’s farm in Waipukurau, and Kate and Prue’s family farm in Waimata Valley.

Kate and Jeremy recently took over the management of the family farm from her parents who have recently retired.

The impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on the Gisborne farm  will be discussed in the episode.

The sisters’ Foxtrot Home business has gone from strength to strength.

In 2022 they branched out to make and sell 100 percent lambswool blankets using the wool from Kate’s Romney sheep farm, completely produced here in New Zealand (dyed and knitted).

As Gisborne-born farmers, they are passionate about rural issues and supporting farmers.

In the programme they talk about their new wool venture, the learning they have gathered in the exploration of this side of the business, finding new markets for sustainable wool products and industry issues.

They have two warehouses, one in Auckland and one in Waipukurau, and a showroom in Hawke’s Bay.

Recently Kate won a prestigious award at the NZI Rural Women in Business Awards for Best Emerging Business and she is an active supporter of rural women in business.

They are both committed to continuing to support and grow the wool industry in New Zealand and forging new connections with producers in this industry.