One of our paddocks was once a very valuable ecosystem. I’ve got plans to return it to its former glory.

Musings on what value we place on our native forest remnants.

Spending less time in the garden, and still harvesting from it by letting nature do the gardening for me.

You’d think with so much native bush (and with more trees planted each year), we might put in a few bee hives at The Outpost. But we won’t be. Here’s why.

We have a lot of trees at The Outpost, but we don’t have any avocado. It’s not just because we’re saving to build a house.

Time marches on and if you’re patient enough, it delights you.

We’ve been here a while, so how close are we to being self-sufficient?

Gaining a focus on turning around the garden for another season.

A collection of short stories about the animals on our lifestyle block.

A little introduction to our ducks, how we look after them, and what we plan to do with them.

Leaving a farm is really hard, but we managed to get away for a couple of days this weekend, and I’m happy we did.

When a cat brings you a healthy baby rabbit, what do you do?

Nature gets very random when given the chance. Some more animal tales from The Outpost.

Roxy is the newest addition to The Outpost. This is the story of how she came to live with us.

It turns out our dog, Roxy, and our free-range chickens are… not a good fit.

It turns out our dog, Roxy, just looooves to dig!

We’ve a new friend at The Outpost. An Airedale Terrier named Hine Toa.

Roxy catches her first pig and Hine makes her first photobomb in this continuing series about the animals in our lives.

Our big cat Sam had a whoopsie, leaving us to make a trip to the vet this week.

A few of the things I’ve been up to over my summer break.

A new product has joined the Kat’s Nip range.

Our lives are made richer by the creatures we share this place with. Sometimes I write short stories about them. This is the fourth post in that series.

Lately I’ve been working on my family history. This week I found my long-lost spinster aunts buried in Karori.

After locating the graves of my spinster great-great grand aunts, I ordered the first death record to see what I can learn about their lives.

A sudden whim leads to an impressive collection of family history – and some new leads on the Smith sisters.

I know we all joke we’re two-degrees of separation from anyone else in New Zealand. But Richard and I have closer links to the land we live on than we could have imagined.

In attempting to work out where he came from, I uncovered the life story of my great great grandfather, John William Lewis.

Part four of my hunt for details of the lives of my great-great aunts, the Smith sisters.

Last Christmas I joined a long line of women who have made this cake. My great grandmother’s recipe, finally made.

This Father’s Day, I’m looking at the values I gained as my father’s daughter.

Weirdly, life isn’t all about gardening. Sometimes you’ve gotta find some balance.

I left the farm for a whole 8 days! I had so much fun! Here are some highlights.

Albert “Snowie” Charles Schaeffer served in World War 1, and returned home, broken.

Everything you need to know about pruning stone and pip fruit trees: equipment, technique, tree shapes, and the golden rules.

An experiment in making a prodigious banana harvest last longer. More useful than expected, with some caveats

We weren’t expecting them, but surprise! We have a new herd of cows.

How the women who came before me have shaped my life at The Outpost today. The story of my matrilineal line.

After ignoring our māra kūmara for several months, we dug it up!

A look into what we do to prepare when the warning comes.