As the cost of living seems to rise every month, budgeting and how to manage money well as a family is a constant topic of discussion in our home. Like many, we cringe when unexpected things need repair or replacing, and we often look incredulously at how others around us seem to be spending money we simply don't have.  How are they doing it? To be honest, I'm not sure. Unless they are super wealthy, I suspect a lot of people are financially stressed beyond measure and are simply hiding it well, hoping things will resolve themselves in time because they don't know what else to do. B ..read more

In the Christian tradition as we come into the period of easter many denominations observe the period of LENT. I usually don't manage to observe lent, well not strictly. There are times I have given up certain items like sugar, but to be completely honest, I never manage to last the full 40 days....because well...chocolate exists and it is good.  But this year after a period of prayer and contemplation, I am reducing social media use by deactivating Facebook, though I still have Messenger. I have increasingly found social media to be a black hole of wasted time. Time I want, need and ..read more

The school holidays have come to an end and we have been organising all the back-to-school bits and bobs. William is off to trade school, Angus is off to high school and Henry goes into year 5. All of the boys are off to different campuses, and to be honest I am not entirely sure how we will juggle it yet. For now, we are crossing our fingers and hoping it's not total chaos. It's the first time Henry will be at a school without his big brothers, and I feel a little nervous for him. I don't know why, this is the kid who walked himself into kindy, insisting he didn't need any help from me.  ..read more

Our garden has been producing quite well though things are coming to an end after a hot and humid spell. The cucumbers have been attacked by downy mildew but were abundant this year. They have fed us, our friends and Grants wood roaches generously. I've got cherry tomatoes popping up everywhere, pumpkins are ripening and the capsicum, chilli, herbs and eggplant are in abundance. I've not timed the planting of lettuce well and we are currently waiting for seedlings to mature. Making moussaka, packed with homegrown veggies and herbs.  In truth, though there is goodness to be found in th ..read more

Feeding a family on a budget is a challenge that many people are currently facing. With the cost of living and the rate of inflation going up before our eyes,  I thought I would share some ways we as a family of six work to keep our grocery bills down.  Firstly going to the shops is a two-hour return trip for me, so I tend to minimise the number of shops I go to. If you are in town, you might find that sourcing specials at various supermarkets each week can save money further. Generally though, minimising the trips to the supermarket is significantly better for your budget, as it re ..read more

Recently I finished a permaculture course with David Holmgren and Beck Lowe over at Melliodora and I thought I would share some of the processes that went into our permaculture property plan.  It is easy with a larger property to want to jump into doing all the things. But that approach would be incredibly expensive. It is also not the most sustainable approach, as doing anything fast usually requires a massive amount of resources.  I remember several years ago listening to a podcast that interviewed Mathew Evans from Fat Pig Farm. He talked about an area in Tasmania that was attrac ..read more

Hello there! I am doing a terrible job of keeping up with this blog for which I apologise. It has gotten to the point there is so much to write about I don't actually know where to start.  We are deeply thankful the season has broken and we have had some good rain. The creek is at a trickle, but it is better than bone dry. Our creeks dried up for a couple of months there and we were forced to cart water 1000L at a time from the river nearby. It was not ideal. The bushfire season started early and began to hit hard, thankfully in our area it seems to have slowed with the recent rains. B ..read more

It's been incredibly dry this spring. There is very little grass, the bush is crispy and we are having to supplement feed the animals. Our creek is down to a couple of rapidly diminishing spring-fed water holes. People around us are having to buy water by the tankerload which is costing them approximately $600/10,000L. The average Australian uses 270L/day, so you can imagine just how quickly these costs would add up for a family, even if they are extremely frugal with their water usage.  This is not good news for my new garden, I'm keeping it alive with careful watering, but nothing has ..read more

One of the most important questions we have found when building our homestead from scratch is "What is of high value to us?"  There are so many ways we could tackle this property. We could focus on the farm side working on fencelines, improving genetics, improving pasture etc. We could work on the ecological side of regenerating creeklines and getting rid of weeds. I could raise and preserve all our fruit and vegetables. I could sew and knit all our own clothes and household items, and I could become a cheesemaker. Every one of these is a good and worthy avenue to pursue and master. Hope ..read more

The school holidays are winding down in Australia and the children return to school next week. William is currently on a camp no doubt having a blast and it seems particularly quiet here with only three children home.  Elsie has gone through leaps and bounds developmentally recently and she suddenly seems so big! She is playing better with her brothers and loves to tag along on their adventures. They help her navigate tricky terrain and do a fantastic job of looking after her. Angus and Henry are always thick as thieves during the school holidays and are both homebodies.  We went to ..read more