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Features

gardening calendar 2025 fundraiser

2026 Calendars For Sale!

31 Oct 25

Our Calendars are back by popular demand. We have the sought after ‘N*de Gardening’ calendar, as well as a requested ‘Beautiful Gardens’ calendar (for those who prefer to hang a calendar that doesn’t get so much attention!). Both calendars include the moon phases.

When Green Cleaning Turns Toxic

27 Aug 25

‘Chemical poisoning’ is how a long-time cleaner describes her severe reactions to using workplace cleaning products she thought would be safe. J Simons talks with Emma (name changed for privacy) to find out more.

Sheryl Stivens: Organic Pioneer

26 Mar 25

Sheryl Stivens is a Soil & Health member who embodies the motto of ‘healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people’. Mercedes Walkham traces her life and finds out what makes her an organic pioneer and champion.

Gardening

Strawberries - planting by the moon in NZ.

Moon Calendar November-December 2025

29 Oct 25

Records are one of the most fundamental parts of being in active conversation with the land. I encourage you to take photographs on the summer solstice, autumn equinox, winter solstice, and the spring equinox. These are beautiful reminders of the ebb and flow of nature, and of the nature of us.

The Floral Dream

29 Oct 25

Want to grow cut flowers? This extract from "The Floral Dream" by Olivia McCord looks at how to source plants - from seed, seedlings, cuttings, bulbs and more.

Asparagus in season: From garden to table

24 Sep 25

Few vegetables announce spring quite like asparagus. With its tender green spears and delicate flavour, asparagus is one of New Zealand’s most celebrated seasonal treasures. Paula Sharp introduces this spring star, including gardening tips, recipes and nutritional benefits.

Health and Food

Strawberries: Sweet, sustainable, and full of summer joy

30 Oct 25

Few fruits capture the feeling of summer like strawberries. Their vibrant red colour, delicate fragrance, and juicy sweetness make them one of our favourite seasonal fruits. Beyond their taste and beauty, strawberries have a rich history, impressive nutrition profile, and are easy to grow, as nutritional therapist Paula Sharp writes.

Broccoli: A Winter Hero

27 Aug 25

Nutritional therapist Paula Sharp introduces broccoli, a winter hero, including gardening tips, recipes and nutritional benefits.

Love leeks!

29 Jul 25

Nutritional therapist Paula Sharp loves leeks. Here she introduces this often unsung hero, including gardening tips, recipes and nutritional benefits.

Health and Food

The Gut Microbiome

10 Jul 25

One of the most complex systems supporting your health isn’t your brain, heart, or even your immune system – it’s your gut microbiome. Paula Sharp, nutritional therapist, finds out why this internal ecosystem is hailed by scientists as key to health research.

Get-well-soon soup

19 May 25

This super flavourful and nourishing soup is the hearty winter pick-me-up of choice for Philippa Jamieson.

Azadirachta indica - the neem tree

Neem: Nature’s healing gift to humanity

15 Apr 25

The neem tree has many benefits, including as a natural pesticide, fertiliser and it's a plant with various healing qualities. Katherine Smith reviews this book by Klaus Ferlow of Neem Research.

Farming and Horticulture

Cultivating Change

25 Feb 25

Sarah Smuts-Kennedy shares her journey as an artist and advocate for regenerative farming practices, and her role in founding For the Love of Bees, OMG market garden, and the Earthworkers 101 course.

From paddock to plate and back again

23 Jan 25

As he deepens his knowledge of organic and regenerative horticulture and the links with soil, food and health, Chris McIntosh of Ethos Café has found his life journey coming full circle.

Mushrooming with next-gen homesteaders

22 Jan 25

Lenny Prinz and Jodi Collins lead a busy and inspiring life that includes growing mushrooms and cultivating spawn, developing compostable mushroom packaging, creating art, raising children, gardening and community projects. Read their story here.

Building and Technology

Living Better, Together

27 Mar 25

In an increasingly disconnected world, many people are seeking ways to live more closely with both the environment and one another. For Simone Woodland, a dream to create a different way of life led to the Tākaka Cohousing project in Golden Bay.

Shelf life – or human life?

27 Jun 24

There is a new system of industrial food manufacturing that produces edible substances that are not food, but rather food products containing novel, synthetic molecules never found in nature. These ever-increasing laboratory-engineered chemistry experiments are designed to simulate food.

Critical Thinking on Gene Technology Regulation

08 May 24

Layers of manipulation and obfuscation are being used to package deregulation of gene technologies as a net positive. Bonnie Flaws outlines how, and why one of New Zealand’s leading biological science professors considers regulation the best tool we have to prevent risk.