Permaculture in Action

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Another Day Off

Our calendar is clear for today. There isn't any playgroup, or interns. There isn't a workshop to run or a birthday party. We don't have a farm tour or a guest lecture. There's just Mark and me and the farm to run. But there's always animals to feed, that just happens everyday. 

Did I tell you our guinea pigs had babies?
A lovely addition to the child friendly activities on the farm

We are full time workers here on the farm. To get away from our work we literally have to leave home. And like any other full time workers, the ordinary day-to-day living stuff has to be done on our days off whenever they pop up. So today is scheduled as one of those days. A day to clean a very much neglected house, make some yoghurt, juice the last of the oranges and do a little baking before the busyness starts up once again.



Gramma pies - a little overdone (must learn to focus on one thing at a time) but still delicious

Our needs and wants are very basic which I think allows us to live the lifestyle we do. The work we do is not so that we can buy more stuff or more convenience, it is just our way of life extended out into the community. Last week, we were guest speakers at a permaculture meeting. Our topic was The complexities of simple living. I was prompted to recall how I started on this path and I can't remember exactly, but I do know that when my children were small I was conscious of the influence of convenience, consumerism, marketing and brand names that threatened to engulf us and I was very cautious of it even as family and friends were embracing it. Even then, I felt isolated because of my thinking but could see the adverse effect it was having on those around me as they fell deeper and deeper into its clutches.

I eventually found Steiner Education and was able to surround myself with more like minded people. I continued my self-motivated education on all things alternate, coming into contact with more and more people who were living a much simpler life. It really hit home for me when asked to house sit for some friends. We stayed in their mudbrick cabin (really a double garage) for two months. These friends have been a real motivator for our lifestyle changes. We often call them our mentors.
Their little house contained everything they needed. There were no internal walls, so the bath and washing machine sat alongside the kitchen. The dining table was wedged in between the kitchen and lounge and as you walked in the door there was a piano. Their bedroom was a little loft reached by a set of stairs which divided the little house in two. For heating there was a little pot belly stove. And all around the ceiling there was strung washing line. We marvelled on that for a while wondering why they would do that when they had a perfectly good clothes line out the back. But then it rained and it dawned on us that, because they were on tank water, the best time to do the washing is when you know that the tank is going to be refilled. To dry the clothes while it rains means you need a lot of indoor drying space!

The house was very cosy. We loved living there for the two months and were quite sad to leave. They had used every inch of space well, but everything was second hand. It was here that we decided to see if we could go a year without buying anything new and we did. It was here that we went TV free, (it has slowly crept back in, but certainly isn't a large part of our lives). It was here we learnt about preserving, reusing things, reducing waste and enjoying a much simpler way of life. It was this couple who inspired us to make sourdough bread, to bake and to make yoghurt. They inspired us to hand-grind our coffee and to roll our oats. Veronika inspired me to use a spinning wheel. They continue to inspire us to this day as Veronika comes to the farm once a week to volunteer in our garden. She does this, she says, for inspiration! We tell her all the time that she and her husband are our mentors and she scoffs at that, but it's true.

We look back at that time very fondly, and we strive for that level of contentment every day. We weren't as busy then. Mark and I both had full-time jobs away from home and were able to relax into our life there. Now our full-time jobs are on the farm and we are busier than ever, but we choose to reject convenience and rejoice in the complexities of our simple life.

After the talk at the Permaculture meeting, one woman approached me with her story. She was so moved by her experience that she was lost for words. She and her partner had started by growing their own food, something neither of them had done before. She said that it came close to being a spiritual experience for her.

Are you on a path of simple living? Have you got someone that inspires you?

13 comments:

  1. When you have a farm and animals there is always something to do, but I think it's so much nicer than a 9-5 job in a city. I so agree with you Kate about rejoicing in the simple life, me too.

    I love seeing your little guinea pigs, now I am wondering about getting one!

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  2. What a beautiful post, very inspiring I also love your guinea pigs.

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  3. what a lovely life you lead kate, it all sounds wonderful. LOVE the little guinea pigs!

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  4. Quick question for you - when you stayed at your friend's which turned your life around, was that after your kids left home? Just wondering, as since having kids, my husband and I don't get to go away much. Your experience away sounded lovely and just what you needed for inspiration.

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    1. Yes it was after the kids moved away. It was just Mark and I.

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  5. Aaron and I have been forced to live a lot simpler due to the size of our tiny home...which we are loving. It has made us really think about what we want versus what we really need, and the needs are winning and we now have a lot less wants....also it is you that is my inspiration, of course!

    sarah. xxx

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    1. Oh thank you dear Sarah. It's amazing how little we all really do need isn't it.xx

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  6. 65 days after the birth of your guinea pig babies you'll be the happy owner of another batch of babies from the parents and the first batch will be gearing up to produce their own babies. Birth control is essential! Please separate the males and females before they produce the next litters.

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    1. Oh yes have that under control. Have been doing this for a while now.

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  7. When I started talking with my friends and family about my desire for a simpler life they would constantly ask "But what about______?" "

    "But what about the cinema?", "But what about the TV shows you once watched?", "But what about travel?"

    Part of my simple life dream is to buy a small block in rural Victoria and to build a tiny house on it. I don't feel that I can live as simple a life as I want here in the city, with its massive rents, lack of space, and social expectations. Because of all this, my friends and family think that I want to be completely cut off from the world. If I live afar and work just enough to pay my dues, how could I do anything fun anymore? Well, as I tell them, I will actually have more time and more money to do things. However, the things of old aren't the things that I want to do any more. I still would like to travel to some places and all I need to do to make that happen is put in a little extra work and earn a little extra money - seeing I will only have to work 4-5 hours a week to cover my dues, I have a plethora of free time to use as I like, and that may be to take on some extra paid work. Maybe not? I am spoilt with the luxury to make that choice.

    Foremost, I want to get the basics down pat. Food, water, shelter. Once they are taken care of, I will spend time determining exactly what else I want and need. Things like TV (though I do watch a little iView on the internet) and processed food are already out the door. I am better for it.

    I have a lot of people that inspire me. In fact, I wrote a blog about them not so long ago called, My Tiny House / Off-Grid / Simple Living Heroes.

    http://desirableworld.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/my-tiny-house-off-grid-simple-living-heroes/

    It's people like Richard Telford of Abdallah House, Nick Ritar and Kirsten Bradley of Milkwood, Tammy Strobel of RowdyKittens, Laura and Matt (and Piglet) of Life in 120 Square Feet, and David Dalton of Into The Woods. And of course you, Kate. :)

    These are real people. Most of them have come from a particularly familiar background - they were brought up pretty normally, got an education, did the corporate thing for a while, and thought better of it.

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    1. Thanks Pavel for your lovely, thoughtful comment. It really does come down to food water and shelter doesn't it .I'm off to check out your post.

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  8. Rusty Gate Farm

    Sorry I could only load as anonymous for some reason, I am Michael from Rusty Gate Farm.

    Hi Kate, My family and I are about to embark on our own journey to simple living. I have been struggling with commercialism and the way we just spend, spend. We currently live in the Maitland area, but have recently purchase 35 vacant acres in Country Victoria, and are in the process of relocating a farm house onto the block (second hand). Our dreams are to implement a permaculture philosophy on the farm and become self-reliant and if fortunate enough to have produce spare to sell in our local village. We hope to provide our 2 boys with an experience that no amount of money can buy, that is one of a family working together and caring for each other, (which I think is forgotten in today’s society). I have started a Facebook page Rusty gate Farm documenting our tiny steps in this journey, with the hope that one day it too will become a resource to our community just like Purple Pear Farm Thank you again Michael

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    1. Hi Michael. That all sounds so very exciting. I wish you all the luck in the world. Can you give me a link to your facebook page.

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