reflections and looking forward

Happy New Year dear readers, may 2024 bring much beauty, peace, love and good health to us all. 

2023 was a mixed bag for most of us I think. On one hand, we found new friendships and community which has brought immense beauty and joy. I did a permaculture course and returned to theological study. Both of which built my confidence and helped me find direction as I entered a new decade of life. We spent a lot of time developing the garden, got a milking goat and continued to make small progress on the farm. Our family continues to grow and the children are all doing well. William enters year 11 this year and will be moving to an excellent trade school, Angus starts high school, Henry is in year 5 and Elsie has just started a lovely family daycare one day a week while I attend lectures. 

On the other hand, we have watched wars erupt and continue across the world, the world economy is struggling, and interest rates and inflation have risen hugely. Good, hard-working families are struggling to put food on the table and pay their bills at a rate we haven't seen for a few decades. We too feel the pinch and though Grant has now got perhaps the best job he has ever had, inflation and the cost of living has claimed a large part of his paycheck. We were hoping to be able to invest money into farm infrastructure this year. Unfortunately, that has been minimal. Though it's disheartening, we are incredibly fortunate to have enough. We have a sweet little affordable home, have nourishing food in the garden and on the table and we can keep up with our expenses.

On the homemaker front, I confess I have struggled with motivation this year. Whilst I continue to cook nourishing meals every night for our family, more convenience foods have crept in as snacks. As a coeliac, I can't eat a lot of the baked goods I used to eat. Whilst I could make them gluten-free for our whole family, the cost would go through the roof as gluten-free flour etc is substantially more expensive than normal flour. This means we have been buying biscuits/muesli bars/bread etc. Nutritionally this is not as good due to processed foods containing flavours and preservatives, it is also more expensive. But I haven't felt like baking things that I cannot enjoy with everyone. But this year I would like to get back on track. 

Grant and I have also struggled with tiredness and disheartened. (No doubt a better diet would help!) Things have often seemed to be two steps forward and one step back. We have not chosen an easy life and starting an off-grid farm entirely from scratch on a limited budget while raising a family is...well...it's a lot. This year that caught up with us. There have been times when we talked very seriously about throwing in the towel and selling up. There are often not enough hours in the day or money in the bank to tackle the big things that need doing. 

But despite the talk, we cannot bring ourselves to give up on this beautiful property. Instead, we have developed a clearer, simpler plan moving forward. Reflections garnered after doing a Permaculture course through Melliodora. Hopefully simplifying the farm, moving to growing out steers and selling off the boer goats (you can read about that HERE) will help free up a little time. If we won lotto I'd be quick to hire a good fencing team that's for sure! And I'd buy Grant a 4WD tractor with a slasher and post-hole digger. Oh, how I dream of good fencing, being able to rotationally graze them with ease and keeping livestock out of the places they are not meant to be.

Tax time brought some much-needed relief and we were able to buy the materials we needed to finally finish off some important projects, fix up the cars and visit family in South Australia. Grants wood roaches have been a constant source of frustration. They bring in good money when they are breeding well, but we have not been able to keep their temperature and environment at the optimal level needed. He has built them a shed, given them heating pads running off their own solar system with lithium batteries and a wood heater for cold winter nights, but the temperature in their room still fluctuates too much. They are breeding and growing but not as well as we know they can. After much research, he has now bought them a thermostat-controlled gas heater on a timer, insulation and exterior cladding. Using gas isn't our preferred option, but hopefully, between the wood fire and the solar heating pads, the temperature will remain steady. If they don't take off now I'll be feeding them to the chooks and I'll move into their room myself! Grant's on holiday at the moment and he's begun on the insulation and cladding. I cannot wait to get that job finally ticked off. It will in turn, hopefully, fund other farm projects. 

In hindsight, we should have completed everything for the wood roaches first and got them running perfectly before attempting any other farm projects. But that is the value of hindsight, isn't it? 

While Grant is home we took a few days to do a job that was low on the importance list, but high on my sanity list. We finally clad the master bedroom wall which was just studs prior and painted both downstairs rooms including the old, stained up-cycled beams. It now feels bright and clean and I’m motivated to tackle some much-needed decluttering which constantly needs to be done with a big family. That and after clearing out the rooms to do the painting, the rest of the yurt looks like a certifiable disaster zone…

I picked up an old set of solid timber shelves with a toy box attached for $50 from Facebook Marketplace and painted it the prettiest ballerina pink for Elsie. Next, I’ll paint her little wardrobe, whip up some sweet patchwork curtains from my scrap fabric pile and my dear friend Sally from Jembella farm has inspired me to make an up-cycled rag rug too. Buying a second-hand, properly made wooden piece of furniture and painting it is worth the effort rather than buying cheap, modern flatpack furniture from the closest chain store. And making something our own instils a sense of satisfaction and pride that you simply can't buy from a store.

Well, Hoopla is waiting not-so-patiently to be milked so I best be off. 

Much love, 
Emma
xx