After two years of being locked up and restricted by Covid-19 travel rules, the opportunity to see the world is being embraced everywhere.

BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton joined us today to share her excitement on her return to travelling from Williamsburg, Virginia. She's been around the US all week, and she's sharing her appreciated for the somewhat under-appreciated region.

Williamsburg, Virginia has plenty to offer, including picturesque redbrick buildings and the world's largest "living history" museum, where people in costume interactively educate you about the region's history.

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I love rugby. Like many New Zealanders I grew up watching rugby on the telly.

As a kid, it was the only time I was ‘shushed’ by my father. We would always gather as a family to watch an All Blacks test or a Ranfurly Shield game, but it was on the condition we watched it in silence – no chit chat allowed over the commentary – which back in the 70’s when I was little, was listened to on the radio while we watched the game on TV with the volume down. This gave the best viewing experience, apparently. God forbid you jumped up in excitement in front of the TV, blocking the view!

While I’ve followed the women’s 7’s game for a while now, I’m rather ashamed to say I haven’t followed the women’s 15 game until recently. Like a couple of months ago, when I caught the Black Ferns plaing the Aussie women in the O’Reilly Cup. I was taken aback by the freedom of the game. My first thought was that this is how we used to play rugby. It was fast, expansive and thrilling. And the players looked like they were enjoying themselves.

It’s been fantastic to see such enthusiastic support for the Women’s Rugby World Cup taking place in our own backyard currently; it feels like the game is at a tipping point.

Not only are we watching the game, but we’re appreciating and enjoying it. I’ve had conversations with people about Black Fern games, similar to what I’d have if the All Blacks had played a test the night before. We gathered around the telly last night to enjoy watching the Black Ferns deal to Scotland, and they didn’t disappoint.

The much touted excuse for decades now as to why women’s rugby players shouldn’t be paid, or shouldn’t be paid as much as men, or why the women’s game shouldn’t get resources spent on it, etc, etc, is simply that women’s rugby doesn’t attract an audience – either live or broadcast, and therefore doesn’t deserve to be funded or invested in to the same extent as men’s rugby.

It’s a reasonable argument. If you never want to grow the game.

If the Women’s Rugby World Cup shows us anything, it’s that women’s rugby will be as successful as it’s allowed to be. We know the talent is there, but if they are coached and supported well, if the games are promoted and available to watch, and if the game is given the respect it deserves, then yeah, it will get an audience, and continue to grow.

In the lead up to the World Cup, women’s rugby games have been attracting record crowds. Women’s rugby isn’t just growing nationally, but internationally as well. This Women’s World Cup is making household names out of exceptional athletes, and rightly so. Some commentators see this World Cup as the last in which amateur teams have a shot at qualifying. The era of amateurism for women’s rugby is coming to an end.

While I might be a new convert, I’m also well aware that this is a long time coming, and there are some remarkable athletes, coaches and administrators who have worked tirelessly to get women’s rugby to the point it is today. I hope they’re enjoying what they are seeing today, and accept with pride the part they have played.

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Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan. Yes, a dual effort for reasons which I will explain – this really is classic Jodi. Small town, ethical and moral dilemma, some court room drama - a young man is charged with the murder of his girlfriend, and at the trial it comes to light that not everything is as it seems. His mother is an apiarist, and there’s quite a lot of really interesting narrative about bees and beekeeping which keeps the story rocking along, and the characterisations are really good. There’s a lot in this book but at the heart of it is the question, if your father was a violent man, does that mean that you might be too…..? 

The Boys from Biloxi by John Grisham. Two boys grow up in the 60’s in the Mississippi town of Biloxi as best of friends. The father of one of them is the local criminal kingpin and the other’s is a high profile prosecutor. The boys each follow their respective parents into those same careers, which ultimately leads the two families into a showdown, one which – of course, being Grisham – takes place in a courtroom. 

These are two longstanding writers, both at the top of their game after all these years. 

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Packing up and moving away to the south of France is a dream held by many, but author Anna Bibby actually got to live out that experience.

A few years ago, Auckland art dealer Anna Bibby bought a rundown house in a small village while on holiday in France. 

What came next was a journey of renovation, a winter in a falling down house and a quick fire lesson in French language and culture. 

Anna Bibby detailed her story in a new book Learning to Be French (and failing) and called in from the south of France to talk about it.

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Packing up and moving away to the south of France is a dream held by many, but author Anna Bibby actually got to live out that experience.
A few years ago, Auckland art dealer Anna Bibby bought a rundown house in a small village while on holiday in France. 
What came next was a journey of renovation, a winter in a falling down house and a quick fire lesson in French language and culture. 
Anna Bibby detailed her story in a new book Learning to Be French (and failing) and called in from the south of France to talk about it.
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Eating well and cleaning up our diets are good habits we should maintain, but what happens when we take it too far? 

Focusing on what you eat can easily develop into an obsession, and diet culture can contribute to people having unhealthy relationships with eating and food.

Erin O'Hara, naturopath and wellness expert, joined us to talk about how diet culture is linked to eating disorders and how 'eating clean' can contribute to eating anxiety and become unhealthy. 

"People quite often think of eating disorders just around anorexia and bulimia and being really skinny, but actually it can be to do with your relationship to food. It's not just necessarily about being skinny, and that can really create a lot of problems as well."

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We have a number of hives on the farm which are looked after by Conrad from Hokianga Pure Honey. Conrad is an amazing bee keeper and is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all things honey. We have had our hives for 5 years (apart from the odd bee sting, mainly me). They are reasonably easy to keep and our percentage of honey from the hives each year is well over 60kg. Not to mention the pollination of our kitchen gardens and orchard. 

We use honey throughout the year in all our classes and events. For anyone that's been to a class at the school will know the taste of our cola syrup. But honey is super versatile and a super alternative to all recipes using sugar. Yes it's still sugar, however the fact that you can taste it, means that you tend to use a lot less.  

Add to that the fact that they found honey in Egypt, dated at over 2000 years old and it was still edible. This tells us it's not only a super food, its antibacterial properties are amazing.  

Enjoy!

Honey, lemon and lavender cola 

Cook time: 5 minutes 

Prep time: 10 minutes 

Makes 10-12 drinks 

2 oranges, cut in half  

3 lemons, cut in half  

3 cups water  

1 cinnamon stick  

4 star anise  

1 small knob ginger  

1 tbsp instant coffee  

20 heads fresh lavender  

1 cup runny honey  

2 cups brown sugar 

Squeeze oranges and lemons into a saucepan. Drop in the squeezed fruit and add water. Add cinnamon, star anise, ginger, coffee, lavender, sugar and honey and bring to the boil. Once you reach boiling point turn off the syrup.  

Lay a small plate onto to the top of the fruit to weigh down and keep it under the liquid.  

Place it into the fridge overnight.  

The next day strain the syrup through a sieve to remove all the bits, squeezing out the fruit to extract all the syrup. Pour the syrup into a clean jar or bottle and refrigerate for up to 2 months.  

When serving, measure 1 part syrup to 4 parts sparkling water. 

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The science of how we hear has always been a little bit of a mystery. 

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University have revealed, for the first time and in near-atomic detail, the structure of the key part of the inner ear responsible for hearing.

This breakthrough was aided by an unexpected ally- good old round worms. 

Dr Joel Rindelaub joined us to take us through the study and the findings.

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Taylor Swift dropped her latest album, Midnights, on Friday, October 21st, and it's breaking streaming records on Spotify.

The numbers are in, and Spotify has confirmed that the album has the highest number of streams in a 24 hour period on record. 

Steve Newall, editor at flicks.co.nz, joined us to talk about Taylor Swift's marketing strategy in the lead up to the album and the public reaction to the release.

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Kiwi investigative journalist David Farrier is often drawn to the weird stranger than fiction stories.

His new documentary is certainly no exception – it follows the story of a very unique man, Michael Organ. Michael first came to David’s attention through the Bashford Antiques clamping saga.

The investigation quickly turns into a game of cat and mouse between Organ and Farrier. The documentary, Mister Organ, is out in cinemas November 10th, and David Farrier joined us to discuss.

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