Our Life

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.

Make sure your eggs stay intact when carrying them from chook house or farmer's market with this easy-to-make DIY egg carrier.

Doing up a vintage or retro caravan is a bit like doing up a vintage car. Not only is it addictive, but you are also faced with a number of very similar decisions to make.

Don Jessen shares his experience restoring a rusty 1958 14-foot (4.2 metre) Liteweight Kiwi caravan, one of only 28 built, to her former glory.

The more we demand organic foods and reject pesticides, the more available organics will become.

This week in the water cooler: Cheree gets crafty making marbled paper gift tags, Nadene has some handy advice ahead of the hot summer and Emma says, 'Yes, cheese'.

Organic, biodynamic and natural skin care products were once on the fringe. Now they are all the rage.

Ho, ho, ho! These cute reindeer finger puppets double as wine bottle toppers.

The Off-Topic Book Club has a lively discussion about John Green's latest novel Turtles All the Way Down. The club discuss the depiction of mental illness, tuatara and the Young Adult genre.