Our Life

7 homemade beeswax products
If you are lucky enough to have access to beeswax, or have a good stock from your own beehives, then you can use beeswax to make useful household and cosmetic products.

The US market is hot for this NZ-designed electric farm bike
An award-winning New Zealand-designed electric utility bike for the farm is on the road to success in the US market.

10 inventive NZers share their DIY coop designs
From a water-powered hen gate to a repurposed trampoline - ten inventive New Zealand chicken lovers share their best DIY coop designs.

A life less ordinary in a 1978 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II
Once the domain of royalty and rock stars, a glamorous Rolls-Royce is living the ordinary life in Rotorua – well, almost.

Book Club reviews Into the Night by Sarah Bailey
The reviews are in for Australian crime novel, Into the Night.

The art of making paper
Looking for a satisfying craft project, therapeutic activity and a better way to recycle all in one? Paula Lang in Whangarei suggests trying to make paper.

Video: A special poem for National Poetry Day
Wellington poet Chris Tse delivers a special poem for National Poetry Day from his collection He's So MASC.

Video: Home sweet tiny home
A young Wellington couple talk about designing and building their first home, a tiny house on wheels, and reveal what it’s really like to live in a whare iti in winter.

Intermittent fasting and its effects on the brain
Intermittent fasting has rapidly gained followers in the medical profession and public arena, but why and how does it work?

A pub crawl through NZ history
These five historical pubs have have survived the gold rush and the six o'clock swill. They are well worth a visit for those who wish to soak up some New Zealand history with a cold one in hand.

5 tips for building a small shed
You can never have too many sheds, but if your budget doesn’t spring to something that requires a council permit, it is possible to build a garden shed under 10m², the typical size of a shed before you need one.

The bookshop at the end of the world
Rare books with adventure and action tucked into their pages have found a home which restless spirits of all kinds will appreciate in Oamaru.

Film review: She Shears
A must-see New Zealand documentary follows five female sheep shearers on their journey to the Gold Shears.

Part-time vet, full-time romance novelist
An Otorohanga vet has won an international following writing romance novels with a country twist.

How taxidermist Peter Wells is preserving NZ natural history
The art of the taxidermist lies in the delicate processes of preservation and presentation of creatures great and small.

Video: 21-year-old NZ mandala artist with worldwide fanbase
Meet 21-year-old fine arts student and artist Lizzie Snow who is winning fans around the world with her intricate geometric mandala designs. Watch our exclusive video.

How a family of four ditched cling film for good
Lunchbox snacks, leftovers and half-eaten avocados can all be kept fresh plastic free with a few simple swaps.

Celebrating Sue Macfarlane's Winterhome garden
In between many entrepreneurial pursuits, one hardworking, creative woman has left a living legacy - a five-star garden and a close-knit family - and made her mark on her community.

How to make a homemade beeswax salve
Beeswax is thought to help heal bruises, inflammation and burns, which make this oil an excellent ingredient in homemade salves and cosmetics.

Sacha Jones: "The older you are the funnier you get"
Amid teenage comic hopefuls sweating backstage at a comedy club, 52-year-old Sacha Jones sat reading a Charles Dickens’ novel. “People said, ‘Aren’t you nervous?’ and I told them, ‘I’m old!’”

Book review: Pruning Fruit Trees: A Beginner’s Guide
A new book from a permaculture expert helps beginners conquer their fear of fruit tree pruning.

How I went plastic-free for a month (it’s not as hard as you think – promise)
Nicole Barratt shares easy everyday swaps you can make to ditch plastic.

Have you given Botox a fair chance?
Want skin that looks film-star fab and forever wrinkle-free? Develop a more trusting relationship with needles say the experts.

DIY: How to make lip balm with beeswax
As an ingredient in cosmetics, beeswax acts as both an emollient, soothing and softening skin, and a humectant, attracting water and helping to absorb it in the skin.

Minding their own beeswax
Two young Hawkes Bay parents are proud eco-exponents who turned their personal mission into an industrious enterprise. They're helping their little corner of the world go plastic free with beeswax food wraps.

Frodo's chainmail used for architectural solar screens
A Wellington entrepreneur who created chainmail worn by Frodo and others in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy is making sturdy armour for buildings.

Bags not: Retailers are ditching plastic bags – are you ready?
It’s finally happening. After lots of talk, greener bagging options are set for a checkout near you.

Lisa Scott gets her skates on for roller derby
Lisa Scott gets her skates and her badass attitude on at the roller-derby rink.

Such sweet sorrel – how to grow the perennial lemony herb
Sorrel is a robust and persistent sort that grows like a weed (which it’s not) and can be used to tart up your tastebuds in a variety of dishes.

Knit these cute booties for NZ babies in need
Here's a free pattern to knit some cute cotton wool booties for babies in need World Knit in Public Day.

Video: Wellington's characterful boat sheds
These Wellington boat sheds – some of them important local landmarks – mean many things to many people.

How to build a house from firewood
Rather than burning your seasoned firewood, with a tight budget and some time, you can use it to build a home.

Owner restores his late grandfather's 1958 Morris 1000
When you learn the best childhood lessons in a garage, and spend the ensuing decades tinkering with troublesome classics, you’re a bona fide car devotee

Two important things you can learn from a smoking chimney
Heating your home using a wood burner is cheaper than ever in New Zealand, if you know how to get the best out of it.