• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Country Life Experiment

Simple Country Living

  • Home
  • About
    • Start Here
    • FAQs
    • Contact
    • Disclosure
  • Food
    • Mains
    • Desserts
    • Cakes & Biscuits
    • Jams & Preserves
    • Snacks & Treats
    • Drinks
    • Food Hacks
    • Recipe List
  • Simple Living
    • Organisation
  • Garden
  • Country Life
  • Family Time
    • Kid Wrangling
  • DIY
    • Farm House
    • Crochet
    • Christmas

A Moment In Time

The transformation of our old farmhouse into a home for this century is continuing along well. Throughout the process, we have tried to balance our desire to maintain the history and integrity of the old house, while at the same time create a home that meets our modern lifestyle needs. We are acutely aware that we are really only custodians of this farm and this house for a moment in time. Country Boy’s great grandfather built our house, and his grandparents lived in it for almost 50 years. We don’t know what the future holds, but we hope that one day in the long distant future, one of our grandchildren might live in our home.

If they do, they will no doubt laugh at the colour scheme of the kitchen, wonder where we kept our hoverboards and our teleporter, and muse that the design was great for the early 21st century but no longer meets their needs. When they begin to pull down walls, we hope they will find a little surprise that we have left there.

Over the last few weeks, we put together a little time capsule. I created an interview sheet for the kids to fill out about themselves. CB wrote a short history of our house and our family, and then we gathered together bits and pieces that show a little of what our life is like today; Lots of photos; a local and national newspaper; a floor plan of the house before and after our renovation; a few certificates from the local show; a lego man, a plastic dinosaur and a few other small favourite toys; a few receipts that show how much groceries cost; a few coins; a thumb drive with lots of photos loaded on it (just in case they can actually still open the USB by then); CB’s old mobile phone; my blog business card (who knows if this blog will still exist by then?); and a few other bits and pieces which we hope, show what we are interested in and what our community looks like in 2017.

We laminated lots of the documents to (hopefully) keep them readable, and then carefully fitted them into a PVC pipe which we then sealed with a screw on end and tape.

On Sunday we put the capsule inside the sealed up kitchen fireplace, and when I visited the house on Monday afternoon it was all boarded up. In all likelihood, I will never see it again. It’s a funny thing to have something so final happen. I felt oddly nostalgic about our family’s history, while at the same time hopeful about the future of our family and our farm house. I do hope that in some long distant time in the future our grandchildren or great grandchildren find out time capsule, open it up and learn a little more about their forebearers and the life that they (we) lived in the early twenty-first century.

In day to day life we don’t always consider where our lives fit into the bigger picture. The days can be full, and long, and crammed with the small things that make up a life well lived. Putting this capsule together gave us a chance to realise that we are just a moment in time in the bigger story of our family, our community, and this farm that we call home.

 

Have you ever made a time capsule? Have you ever found one? What would you put in your own time capsule?

Let everyone know:

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More
  • Tumblr
  • Pocket
  • Print
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit

You should also check out...

Previous Post: « Autumnal Pleasures
Next Post: Lately »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Katie Writes Stuff says

    April 1, 2017 at 10:36 am

    What a fantastic idea! It must be fun to imagine the moment in the future when someone discovers it and realises what a treausre they have found.

    Reply
  2. Anne Wheaton says

    March 31, 2017 at 7:25 pm

    An excellent idea, especially as I fear they may be little tangible evidence of 2017 left for future generations now that so much is digital and not committed to paper. I made a time capsule as a child and hid it in the attic but my sister found it a few years later and teased me so much about it that I threw it away.

    Reply
  3. Jim McKenna says

    March 31, 2017 at 6:48 pm

    Hi Jo, what a wonderful idea. As our family photo archivist you have given me some great ideas and inspiration.
    Kind regards, Jim.

    Reply
  4. Kathy says

    March 31, 2017 at 10:30 am

    Wow how exciting to do that. Our school had a 100 year time capsule opened a couple of years ago then they buried the next one. Loved what you put in there. The kids would have fun thinking about their answers too.

    Reply
  5. Anne Downing says

    March 31, 2017 at 10:12 am

    What a great idea. I remember doing it at school but never done one myself.

    Reply

Have your say... Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

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...
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

Search

Browse by month

INSTAGRAM

Summer holidays seem a million years ago already. Summer holidays seem a million years ago already. It’s all systems go here as we try to get our rhythm going. School and work are busy, community events are coming back, and our harvest is in full swing. It’s a lot to manage. No matter how busy we are, I’ve been prioritising my evening walk. Sometimes C or the kids come with me and we talk and make plans, and sometimes I go alone, with a podcast for company. Either way, the golden hour is always breathtakingly beautiful and I snap way too many pics. None of them ever fully capture the magic, but I can’t help myself. I mean look!!! 😍
The kids have been wanting to build a raft for the The kids have been wanting to build a raft for the dam for a while. They collected some old barrels and pallets, and got some rope to lash it all together. This morning they put it together and floated it out into the middle of the dam. Plenty of magical days to be had playing on the dam ahead of us!
The orchard doesn’t stop. We’re getting basket The orchard doesn’t stop. We’re getting baskets and baskets of fruit each day and I’m running out of things to do with it all. I’ve taken quite a few to work to give away. I’ve made jams and pastes and chutney. I’ve cooked and frozen apricots and nectarines for fruit crumble this winter and dehydrated plums and apples for lunch boxes. The pantry and freezer are filling up.
I woke up yesterday and it was raining - a perfect I woke up yesterday and it was raining - a perfect time to deep clean. I dusted, de-cobwebbed, sorted, wiped, scrubbed, vacuumed and washed. Of course it will stay this way for 34 seconds, but it’s nice while it lasts.
We’re slowly (verrry slowly) getting back into t We’re slowly (verrry slowly) getting back into the swing of school and work. I think C might secretly be glad we’re leaving him each day so he can get through the many jobs that he always has at this time of year. He’s fencing and slashing thistles and drenching the lambs and a thousand other things that need to be done to keep the farm ticking over. In the evenings he often joins me on my walk and we talk about our plans for the garden and farm. We’ve had a lot of rain over the past few days and the air is so clear and the evening light is amazing. I keep stopping to take photos.
Late summer harvest is coming in. I’ve got tomat Late summer harvest is coming in. I’ve got tomatoes, stone fruit, corn, and even early apples sitting on my bench needing to be dealt with. I’ve got a big pot of tomato passata on the stove (I need to make at least 50 jars this year) and I went through our jams and pickles and made a list of what I need to make this year. Next week I will get out the dehydrator and start drying fruit for snacks and muesli. It’s all systems go!

Newsletter

Popular Posts

Pickled Cucumbers
{Recipe} Spiced Plum Paste
Pear And Ginger Paste
Pumpkin Fruit Cake
6 Ways To Live The Country Life... Even If You're Not In The Country!
Homemade Honeycomb

Categories

Footer

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...
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.