NZ Lifestyle Block

Launching a natural product comes with unique compliance and marketing challenges. The women behind Dove River Peonies share their tips for starting a natural product business in New Zealand.

The softer light of autumn is shining. It’s the best time of year for making sure your garden is looking the best it can. Here are some of Jane Bellerby's tips for achieving the best autumn garden.

When you have four cats, two dogs, a horse and 13 goats, vet bills are inevitable, but there is a way to save a lot of money.

Cattle on small blocks need a lot of feed going into autumn and winter. Here are some tips to keep them happy and healthy in the cooler months.

Some hens aren’t fussed on humans, while others think they rule the roost and don’t understand why they can’t live with you in the house. Research by a NZ-based animal behaviour expert is now available to show farmers how to make a hen’s life happier.

We’ve all heard of ‘man caves’, but there are so many inspiring garden buildings, including the ‘she shed’. Check out these beautiful projects from NZ and around the world, most made on a small budget and out of recycled materials.

These vinegars look fantastic, taste great, and are very easy to make.

Some businesses are disguising their employees  as volunteers, so are you breaking the law when you host a wwoofer from another volunteer scheme?

Mexican photographer Carla Danieli had never spent time on a farm before her stay on a remote station in the Waihopai Valley.

Rats are incredibly smart, and it can be difficult to reduce their numbers if they’ve learnt to avoid bait and traps. But science has discovered the one thing a rat can’t resist, and Sheryn Dean has successfully put it to the test.

It's time to make some tough decisions to make sure you make it through autumn. Here are some tips to ensure your pastures stay in prime condition.

If you love flour and want to be self-sufficient, go nuts.

Nadene Hall samples New Zealand's top artisan cheese and comes away smiling.

Everyone has seen poultry dumped on roadsides and around parks , but it's a cruel practice that those who love poultry are trying to stop.

The sweet juicy strawberries of summer might be a faint memory now but you need to start planning now for next year’s bounty.

Sheltering your orchard is critical but that doesn't mean they can't be creative.

The award-winning owners of Lonely Goat say the costs of compliance are nothing to yodel about, and explain why they are working for love, not money.

The ultimate guide to the do's and don'ts of fruit leather.

It’s the start of a new sheep year and the breeding season, so start with tidying up the ewe flock before the rams go out.

What the Animal Welfare codes say you need to do to give your hen the best environment to keep her happy, healthy and productive.

Kristina Jensen shares two fab fig recipes and the secrets for ensuring they always taste delicious.

When Loveday Why discovered she had chronic fatigue syndrome, she found the answer to good health was in her garden.

You probably shouldn't try growing mangoes if you live in the South Island but don't give up on dreams of citrus, tamarilloes and nashi pears.

The carrot might seem like one of those boring but reliable veges, but they have a colourful past and a much brighter future in terms of health and organic growing.

Meg and John Christie are living their self-sufficient dream on a half acre block, but they haven’t had to leave the city to do it.

At the first sign of an unusual egg – one without a shell, or those with ridges, pimples or strange markings – the popular advice seems to come from everywhere, but most of it is wrong, and worse, could cause more problems. This is why you need to understand the role of calcium.

Many of our current pharmaceutical products stem from the beneficial properties first identified in wild plants.

A small obsession with old barns played a big part in the design of this award-winning home. Follow Tane's tips to get the look.

We're quick to see their faults, but these seven weeds deserve a place at the table.

Peacherines and nectarines are peach-plum crosses, but there's some debate as to whether they are the same thing.

Getting the best windows to frame farm views is a crucial part of the design of a country home.

Which mulch is your best ally in the war against weeds?

Turn a bean overload into three fantastic summer dishes.

Deadhead flowers, and sow late summer peas and beans this month.