This section of the website holds articles on everything you need to know about non-farming issues when living in the country. Choose from the menu on the left to browse our articles.
Trug-maker Bill Blair talks to Diana Noonan about his craft.
Make-it-Work – how you can turn your lifestyle block into a business. Jane Young lives with her husband, Jim, on a 4-hectare lifestyle block in South Otago.
I live in a very watery part of the world with an ocean and river estuary at my doorstep
If you’re planning a trip to Central Otago, give serious thought to arriving in the small town of Roxburgh on a Thursday.
‘Get Pickled’ - Sharon McNabb talks to Diana Noonan about her home-based preserving business
He says she’s a wonderful cook. She says he’s a wonderful storyteller.
Katrina Hampton’s latest patchwork quilt, a warm mix of golds, reds, and greens, adorns her living room sofa.
Make-it-Work – how you can turn your lifestyle block into a business. Boarding kennels may not be the first thing that comes to mind as you consider a lifestyle block occupation.
Honey bees are really cool. No really, they're amazing. The more you know about them the better they get.
There are a number of things you can do to reduce the risk of introducing animal diseases onto your property.
Rod Slater is correct in some of his responses to my article on home-kill vs meat works meat,
I refer to Dr. Marjorie Orr's article posted on your site recently; a number of statements are made that in my view are not correct.
Whether we like it or not, 1080 poison is widely used to kill introduced mammalian species that may threaten native wildlife and harbour TB.
Those of you who have eaten home-killed meat will have noticed that it is more tender and tastier than meat from animals killed in the freezing works.
Some people get confused about the SPCA - there's the RNZSPCA and your local SPCA - what's the difference?
One of the nicest things about having a lifestyle farm is that we can keep a few pets and friendly farm animals,
In recent months we've had snow, floods, earthquakes, and high winds.
As a country based on animal exports, it's important that our animal welfare standards lead the world.
None of us likes the idea of hens being kept in battery cages
Michael lives on a one-acre block and has a neighbour who processes firewood for charity.
Here's a burning question.
Jacques and Barb have a problem with their three organic heifers...
The post always gets through. Or does it? And there's much more at stake than a birthday card to Aunt Joan going astray.
Janet is looking for an alternative to having to join her local council’s proposed new sewage scheme.
It didn’t get off to a good start. Shoot ‘em, he said.
Kate has 30-odd (very odd, she says) goats...
Remember that idea of the paperless office?
Waikato conservationist and permaculturalist Maxine Fraser says people get very hung up about compost.
Sceptical of Rotorua lives on a small lifestyle block just out of the city.
The question is – what is a paper road and what rights do landowners have regarding them?
