Our Life

Whether competing in NZ's national canoe polo team  or working with sharks, this sporting talent is paddling her own path.

A new Western starring Sam Neill makes beautiful but confronting viewing.

An amateur art-world detective has discovered a dozen important public murals after years of digging.

A company formed by two childhood friends is helping New Zealand businesses reduce their waste.

Inside the life of a sustainable family who only need to work part-time and eat from a permaculture pantry that grows right up to their back door.

For more than 100 years, a Rangitikei farm has been home to one family. Now the fourth generation is putting its own twist on tradition.

Mark our words, there’s nothing better than a squished possum. This cute, comical bookmark is just the fun craft project to remind you of that.

It may not be the female action-hero film you’ve been hanging out for, but a new movie starring Alicia Vikander breathes new life into the relic-hunting character Lara Croft.

Our heroine casts a dashing figure as she marches across the Banks Peninsula. And like all good dramatic characters, her  past holds a compelling secret.

For a lavender enthusiast and landscape designer, crafting a wild and beautiful garden in one of the country’s most inhospitable environments was an expression of letting go.

A road trip through iconic southern scenery spins the wheels and the twangs the heart-strings.

A 45-year-old Aussie eye-catcher has added colour to its owner’s life.

Kobi – a Life Work documents the story of film-maker Andrea Bosshard’s father – an unassuming goldsmith and mountaineer who became known as New Zealand’s grandfather of contemporary jewellery.

As a champion of the health and happiness benefits of rich, rotting compost, nothing makes Ben Elms more content than the multitude of microscopic critters squirming in his compost.

While she wasn’t immediately sold on the tiny house movement, 20-something Amanda Chapman has now jumped on board, boots and all, building her own.

Make your own seed saving envelopes using our downloadable pdf.

The Inch family farm red deer with a velvet hand and a soft touch, but it has been a learning curve for his city-born-and-bred wife.

With roots too deep to easily move, the Hart family found a temporary fix - two transportable cabins beside the estuary at Point Wells.

Three experts share their wisdom on how to create a profitable food product.

The Off-Topic Book Club can't agree about whether George Saunders' Man Booker winning novel lives up to the hype.

If you’ve ever grown gourds you’ll know just how prolific these cucurbits can be, but do you know how to turn them into an art form?

You’ll know when your digestive system is working the way it should.

Here’s how to profit from bees without becoming a beekeeper.

When everybody knows your name, a private space becomes a treasure and Jools Topp has found hers in a country caboose.

Southerly gales invigorate the Hills family life in a holiday house by the sea.

Multi-roomed tents with real furniture make communing with nature a very smooth operation at Wainamu.

Iron deficiency is common. How much do you need, and why? Dr Libby sums up a vital mineral.

Hula girls, grass skirts and a pineapple ice bucket... the only thing missing from this Hawaiian homage is a coconut palm swaying in the warm Waiheke breeze.

Food product developer Martyn Atack looks at why you need to start with pen and paper in your office, not the kitchen.

Unwanted waste might disappear from the immediate environment, but it has to go somewhere.

The earth moved for the Feckless Miss Scott on her first three-day tramp high in the Naumann range north of Lake Ohau.

Fifty private huts, hidden in native bush in the Orongorongo Valley near Wellington, have played an important role for generations of families.

Kelli Walker felt a business was brewing inside her, and found one that can’t stop bubbling, burbling and babbling about itself.

This week in the water cooler, we bask in the deliciousness of the cheese that Nadene brought to the Christmas party, put some garden watering hacks to the test and  try to avoid bun fights.