My wildest dreams have come true

I think I’ve hinted previous about some exciting news to share and finally I am able to do so. In fact, it’s now a little overdue, but I hope you’ll forgive me when you hear how busy we have been. 🙂

Before I share the news though, I would like to share the back story. There’s always a back story.

Way back in the dim dark 80’s lived a young girl who loved reading stories of desert islands, farming and self-sufficiency. Enid Blyton’s The Secret Island was a favourite as were Blyton’s Willow Farm series. She also loved Swiss Family Robinson, first as a read along with the cassette version and later as the full version. Robinson Crusoe (of course), Z for Zachariah and many more were also titles that graced (still grace) this young girl’s shelves. She remembers how excited she was upon hearing about solar panels for the first ever time and she was ever envious of friends and family who owned or lived on farms. You can see where this is heading right? 😉

The deepest darkest, never even shared with my closest friends, dream was to live off grid and self-sufficiently. An eco-warrior in training perhaps? One without guidance or any idea where to look for it.

Fast forward from that child of the 80’s and 90’s.

We now have a middle-aged mother of 3 children who still dreams of self-sufficiency and who practices it to a greater or lesser degree. With 1/2 an acre and having achieved varying levels of vegetable bliss over the years, you’d think we might be content.

NEVAH!!! 😀

SOLD!

As of August 22nd 2016 we are now the proud owners of a 20 acre farm block, situated about 15 minutes from where we currently live. 🙂 We are in planning for a self-sufficient farm with sufficient produce that we will sell at local markets. We are some years off realising much in the way of sales but so far we can boast of owning the land, a small bus fitted out as a motor home, 2 small stacks of green wood harvested from branches that needed tidying up and a similar sized pile of dry wood from the same source. We have lots of grass that, with the arrival of spring, and as of this week we hope to own some sheep and a steer for mowing.

 

We also own a very large rock.

Back at our home here in Ballan we are getting things ready to plant out on the farm. We have pots and pots of raspberries harvested from the runners in our garden, double that in pots of comfrey, grown from root cuttings from our garden, some thornless (and non-invasive) blackberries, tagasaste (tree lucerne), strawberries, grape cuttings and more, all sitting next to our pergola. Our vegetable garden has been converted to a graftling nursery with well over 100 baby pear, apple and cherry trees planted out awaiting their grafts to take. There are more trees yet to come.

 

So there you go, our most exciting news. 🙂 I will, over the course of building our farm, take many photos (really must start actually doing that) and share progress on a new blog, yet to be built. Please pardon if I get a wee bit excited at times though. It’s a phenomenal moment when your wildest dreams actually come true. I feel like I truly have my very own fairy godmother! Just don’t tell Martin I called him that. 😉

Advertisement