Homemade Wedding
In spring 2022, six months before she was to host her daughter’s wedding on her Nelson property, Rachel Brydon started growing flowers. She began by digging up the border of the…
Courgettes for Days
I grew up in a nature-loving (yes, hippy!) family on a large property overlooking my hometown of Raglan. My parents grew much of what we ate, without the use of…
Family Sufficiency
It’s relatively uncommon for someone to upgrade from a five-acre property to 50 acres. But Rochelle and her husband Mike knew exactly what they wanted to do with the extra…
Why Eat Organ Meats?
Growing up in an Iranian family, our table was often laden with dishes containing all manner of organ meats. Liver, heart, kidney, tongue – these are commonplace in Persian cuisine, exquisitely…
Reel Life
There aren’t many New Zealand lifestyle block owners who have gained 80,000 followers on Instagram by posting about their animals. But Ruby and Tristan of Mānuka Valley Farm know what…
Free Rangers
In June 2023, high above the icy waters of Lake Wakatipu, a 10-tonne truck heaved and huffed its way along the windy cliffside road, a family’s entire life strapped to…
Wood Work
In the 2020 COVID lockdown, with plenty of time on his hands, a builder named Bruce Jones picked up the tools and decided to create something new. Having spent the…
Chickens and gapeworm
When NZ Lifestyle Block reader Martin saw his Araucana hen Goldie gasping for breath, making funny rasping noises and shaking her head, he thought she might be thirsty. The only problem was,…
Limping Chicken
The cause of a bird’s limp may be easy to see, such as a swollen leg or an infected cut. But often, there are no obvious signs, and it can…
Keeping up with the Cucumbers
The start of February is the threshold between the “nice to harvest” season and the “need to harvest” season. Gone are the days of the casual wander, haphazardly plucking things…