This New Zealand Couple Is Charming—So Is Their Farming | Short Film Showcase

[Music] We shall have a cup of tea. They met in 1953, two young refugees over bickies and tea. We didn't even say a word. Maybe you're a bit too shy. It was love at first cup, with a wink and a smile. Faye and Joe Gok danced down the aisle.

As Chinese were forbid by land and house, they leased a barn on a farm in Auckland South. They look all right. They're not quite ready yet, Joe. Some of them's ready. They'd escaped from a war and now had a scheme to plant food in this earth. Yes, the Goks had big dreams.

It's like a woman, you see the bulge, and then you know it's ready. Oh, do you feel where the bulge is? Kumara, kumara, let's plant that, said Faye, with the tractor she talks to and still drives today. Their first year of crop, they grew 160 ton, and the Goks were the stars of the kumara run.

Oh, look what I found! This would be the biggest one of this year yet! Look at that! And the times were changing. Joe took a stand, buying hundreds of acres of fertile land.

Good morning, Joe! What are you doing? Joe loved to invent. He spearheaded a plan to grow kumara seedlings by heating the land. Oh, well, carry on. Good work. Think some more.

But their kumara bounty grew too large to store. It was starting to spoil. Joe invented some more. I'm not a scientist, but an experimenter! By controlling the warmth in his kumara-filled sheds, it stayed fresh all year round. And the industry cheered.

But all was not well in the northern fields. On the dark of the flats, the fields fell to yield. The kumara growers were down on their knees. Black rot had set in, a killer disease.

You do it! Would love it tight, tight, tight portions. So Joe bred a tuber resistant to bugs, which we gave to the north with love and big hugs. They gave it for free to this land they adore, their gift back to New Zealand. They don't ask for more.

When the Goks were still young, Chinese folk would just few. New Zealand today is a way different hill. He laughs out loud. If only they knew these Chinese here now of what we went through.

65 long years, on seven days of the week, it's knockoff time, Dad. They're still up with the sun on their 80-plus feet. Don't walk so fast! You know I can't walk very fast.

And kumara still is the cream of their crop. I think we've got enough. I think our dogs will have some as well, boiled, roasted, or mashed. This goes well with the chocolate. Here we are!

And for saving the kumara, they're called to stand up and awarded with splendor. The letters Low Cup and the Queen's Service Medal, the highest of praise. That's for you, Joe, for their services then till the end of their days.

So thank you, we say to Faye and Joe Gok for their love of the kumara, our most precious crop. It's terrible what's happening in Syria. We feel sorry for those people. We're very fortunate here. We're eating the best of food, and we're in New Zealand. [Music] No, you.