A tie-in book to the television series Off the Radar. The series follows Te Radar trying to live a completely self-supporting and sustainable lifestyle (aka 'the good life') in a small community north of Auckland. The series is a charming look at the challenges of being completely self-sufficient (relying on hunting, growing, fishing), with a small amount of 'how-to' thrown in - but really it's about a bumbling city-boy (Te Radar) testing himself and seeing if he can live off the land. Te Radar has written a series of yarns about his experiences and the characters he has met while living off the land, which we are publishing as a tie-in to the TV series. The stories will be about events not included in the series.

TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK

Christine Fernyhough is well known as a leading Auckland philanthropist, having set up Books in Homes and then the Gifted Kids Programme for high achieving children in low decile schools.

In 2004 she was a recent widow when she spied an advertisement for the sale of the legendary Castle Hill Station, near Porters Heights in the Canterbury alps.

A woman of energy and enterprise, she bought it and so began a new life learning to run a high country farm at some of the highest elevations in the South Island.,

This joyful book tells of the trials, tribulations and triumphs of high country life.

Christine has thrown herself into station life with gusto, learning to ride so she can join musters in the back country, feeding out to her stock during the disastrous snowstorm of 2006, training a sheep dog, buying stock with her manager at the sales and getting on famously with the colourful local characters who are her neighbours, and diversifying the station with a tourism enterprise - and proving that she is not a city slicker on a dalliance.

Warm, humorous, this inspirational book tells the story of a woman bold enough to do what many urbanites dream of: embark on an entirely new life and through herself into a considerable challenge.

Beautifully illustrated, The Road to Castle Hill is also a celebration of New Zealand high-country way of life.

TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

As sustainability and organic living become increasingly popular, so does a desire to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

This timely book will help you to achieve self-sufficiency and make beekeeping a reality.

Beekeeping is about management, control and learning to understand the honeybee.

It can also become a very enjoyable and sociable pastime - visiting others' hives and picking up vital hints and tips is all part of the fun - and farming and eating honey that your own bees have produced is a pure delight.

Joanna Ryde covers all aspects of beekeeping, from the basic tools and equipment needed for setting up a hive to detailed advice on when to harvest honey and honey-inspired recipes, from delicious cakes to beauty products.

This really is the definitive guide for anyone thinking of keeping bees.