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Simple Country Living

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The Simple Life?

One of the most common comments we get when people talk about out tree change is “wow – I would, love to do that”. The conversation then tends to go on to talk about living simply, growing vegetables, home cooked food, spending time with family, space, peace and quiet, living in a small community etc. Don’t get me wrong, I really like our country life, and yes, some things are simpler, but some things are harder or more complicated too.

: Because we live so far from everywhere, we have to plan our food carefully. I try to do a big grocery shop once a month. Typically this takes 2 shopping trolleys. We always have a list on a noticeboard, where we write down everything we need to buy. If we don’t get something in town, we generally do without it until we next go shopping. I do go to town to work several days per week, but with the amount of time I spend travelling, I avoid doing shopping too often.

: Shopping for clothing, home wares, or anything other than groceries is quite hard. We can go to the big town, but it becomes quite an ordeal. I have started buying a lot more over the internet. Clothing for me is the most difficult because I am picky (you can’t tell how something is going to look without trying it on!). We went to a large shopping centre during the holidays, and I bought up.

: My work is an hour and 10 minutes (100km) from home. After only a short commute when we lived in the mountains, the extra time it takes to get to work gives me less time with family. It is also costing a fortune in petrol, and really putting a lot of kilometers on the car.

: It is fantastic to be able to grow such much of our own food, but it also takes a lot of time. Country Boy is a keen gardener, and studied horticulture at uni, so he knows what he is doing, but it is still labour intensive. Once  the crop is grown, it has to be harvested and then dealt with. It takes a couple of hours everyday to deal with it all. I have had to be creative in how to preserve the food for later, and cook a lot of product up to freeze for later use.

: Growing your own food means you can’t just leave it for a week if you have had enough. Animals need to be fed everyday, and fruit and vegetables will rot if you don’t pick it and deal with it.
Do I like our tree change? Most of the time. But it’s not all cakes and pretty views; the simple life is not that simple.

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Comments

  1. Amy says

    April 27, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    I am guilty of saying that I would love to do and live like you do. I know it isn't all kittens and roses and it still appeals to me big time.

    I think when people refer to it being a simple life, I don't think they are meaning that it is easier or less work, but more that is it back to basics. Less of a pre-packaged lifestyle and more of… well how it used to be.

    Sorry if none of that makes sense. I am just home from an exhausting night at work and my brain is failing to function!

    Reply
    • Jo says

      April 27, 2012 at 11:16 pm

      I know what you mean Amy. I am getting more and more convinced that the simple life is more of an attitude shift as much as a geographic one. I think that even if we decide to move back to Sydney, we would still try to incorporate more of what we are doing down here into our lives (probably not the pigs though – neighbours might not be too happy :))

      Reply
  2. Nat - Muddy Farmwife says

    April 27, 2012 at 4:28 am

    Too true Jo.
    For all the good there is also a degree of difficulty. The grass is always greener on the other side though, which is why people often say 'I'd love to do that'.

    Reply
  3. Anne @ Domesblissity says

    April 27, 2012 at 4:09 am

    Oh, you're right there Jo! I've not ever lived on a farm but my Mum was a farmer's daughter up until her early 20's. Never easy, that is for sure. I think some people might think it is a more 'simple' life but it is far from that. I think if you put in the hard work, it can be more rewarding, for some people but it all depends what you want out of life. I envy anyone living on the land but I also like where I live just a bit better at the moment.

    It's a real credit to you what you do Jo.

    Anne xx

    Reply
  4. A Farmer's Wife says

    April 26, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    Here is a link

    http://mylifeinthecountrytoday.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/being-farmers-wife-101.html

    I wrote it when all those reality shows about farmers getting wives were on!!

    Reply
  5. A Farmer's Wife says

    April 26, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    Absolutely nothing simple about living on a farm!

    There is a post I wrote about a year ago on my blog called Farmer's Wife 101. I will add a link. It is still my most read post and it is a little similar to this.

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Jo

I'm a city girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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A lovely, easy Christmas with family, good food, a A lovely, easy Christmas with family, good food, a few presents, an afternoon swim and dinner on the veranda as the sun set. Time to stop and be thankful for the many blessings of the year. I hope you had a lovely Christmas too!
We have been mulling over how to fix up the drivew We have been mulling over how to fix up the driveway and lead up to our house for a while. Currently it’s just a dumping ground for old bits of metal and a big pile of mulch, but C would like to create a turning area and put in a garden. First up though, there’s a huge old stump that needs to go. What better excuse is there to have a fire on Sunday afternoon? C and the kids jumped on the quad bike and trailer, and hauled back a big pile of sticks and logs to help the stump burn. Once the fire was going, marshmallows were found and roasted. No better way to spend time together.
Team work makes the dream work. We were asked rec Team work makes the dream work. 
We were asked recently whether we “make” our kids work on the farm. The answer is of course not. Having said that, all three love to help out whenever they can. They all work hard because they want to; because they take pride in working hard and contributing in a meaningful way to our family life; because they love living on our farm and don’t remember life before we moved here. Whether it be planting trees or doing sheep work or feeding animals, they all want to be involved. As a parent, nothing is better than watching them grow in skill and confidence as they work along side you. We’re so glad that we get to spend time with our three, working together.
We’ve had an unexpected addition to the family ☘️🐑. She is a lot easier to look after than the other family members but she does try to escape her yard and head butt people. Poddy lambs are super cute but they tend to think they are a human. Clover the lamb is sure that Meg is her mum. Can’t think why… 🤔🤣
The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: toge The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: together, cooking damper around the remains of the bonfire.
It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got through shearing without a hitch (thankfully 🙏) but we’ve had a run of the flu followed by Covid run through the family since then. The kids and I have tested positive (this is my second time getting it 🦠) though so far C has managed to avoid it. There has been a lot of lying on the couch feeling pretty ordinary. Han had to reschedule her driving test for a 4th time due to Covid, which is disappointing for her because she wants her freedom and for us because it would be so much more convenient if she could drive herself places. Just to add in to the mix, our hot water system has chosen now as a good time to die so we’re on cold showers until we’re all out of iso. This is not meant to be a whinging post but sometimes life just sucks a bit and it’s good to be real. Fortunately, the sight of the fire going with a stack of wood next to it cheers us up. Things will improve soon. Onwards we go…

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Hi, I’m Jo

City girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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