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Country Life Experiment

Simple Country Living

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Lately

It’s been four weeks since we moved back to our freshly renovated forever farmhouse, and we are starting to settle. Starting to remember where things are kept, and to develop little routines and habits in our new abode. We’ve found nooks for most things now (though not everything), and not a day goes by where I don’t just look around and pinch myself in awe and wonder. This is where I live! This is home! If you had told me before, just how profoundly a house can affect your life, I would not have believed you. The light that pours in, the warmth of the fire that permeates the house, the joy of having a kitchen that works, and makes life better. I’m sure that the novelty will eventually wear off (not too soon I hope!), but I just remember our old run down kitchen and draughty rooms, and I’m sooooooo grateful that we were able to do this.

Loving: Winter bonfires. Over the summer, CB and his father pile up all the debris from around the farm in a big heap at the bottom of the hill below our house. Old rotten fence posts, and fallen tree branches, and other such things. During the holidays we had some friends over and set the pile alight. Once the initial flames settled down, we got out hot dogs and marshmallows to roast on sticks and wrapped up garlic bread and bananas stuffed with chocolate chips to bake in the coals. A cheese platter rounded out the meal beautifully. Fires are just asking to be played with so there was lots of adjusting the wood and so forth. As the sun set we pulled out a few sparklers and the kids wrote their names in the air. Winter bonfires with friends are one of the best bits of country life!

Watching: Series 2 of Friday Night Lights. Absolutely loving it too! I’ve just got a new internet deal which will finally give us enough data for everything, so I’m thinking of giving Netflix a try. We’re not big TV people, but we do like an occasional series to binge watch or a family movie night, so Netflix sounds perfect.

Listening: to podcasts on the way to work. I’m loving What Trump Can Teach Us About Con Law which is both really interesting, and slightly alarming. Other faves are 99% Invisible, My Open Kitchen, This Glorious Mess, Invisibilia, Young House Love Has A Podcast, and The Chris Loves Julia Podcast.  I’m also enjoying a few acoustic playlists on Spotify. The Dixie Chicks are getting a bit of a play, as well.

Reading: I’m out of the habit of reading at the moment, and I really do need to get back into it. I recently purchased At Home In The World by Tsh Oxenreider and I’m going to start with that. Now that my books are all (finally) unpacked and on the bookshelf, I might ease myself in with an old favourite to get myself going.

Buying: furniture. A lot of our old furniture was hand-me-down stuff we were “making do with” for the last few years. Now that we are in our forever farmhouse, we are getting organised. We have bought big Ikea wardrobes for Hannah and our rooms. After having all my clothes crammed into a small wonky wardrobe, where the doors didn’t close, I’m loving having enough space to not have to jam everything in. We’ve also bought bookcases for the hall. I purposely got them with doors to hide the mess down the bottom, and to (hopefully) protect the books from some of the dust.

I also splurged on a Dyson stick vacuum cleaner which I already love. It makes cleaning the floor so easy, and Toby loves to vacuum as much as I do!

Looking: At my family’s WhatsApp chat stream. I have one sibling who lives in Asia, another in Adelaide, as well as my parents and another sibling in the mountains, so we don’t get to spend a lot of time together. WhatsApp has changed the way we get to interact and share our lives. If the kids are doing something funny, or there’s a nice sunset, or even if I just want to show them my organised bookshelf, it all goes on WhatsApp and everyone in the family from Hannah up gets to see it. Once we clued my mum into what LOL meant (not lots of love!) she was in as well. Over the school holidays, we got to share the excitement of my sister visiting New York for a few weeks, as well as us settling into our farm house, and all the other mundane bits and pieces of our lives. When we do get together, we can talk about the more interesting stuff.

Making: Birthday cakes for Meg and Toby. Their birthdays are four days (and three years) apart which is either very good or very bad planning (depending on your point of view!). Toby chose a “snake” birthday cake, which in reality is really just the cake from the book which appeared to have the most lollies, while Meg asked for a number 10 with chocolate icing – Done! It’s lovely to see them so excited and to reflect on how much they have grown and changed over the years.

Sorting: the last few boxes from our move. There is still about four boxes left for me to attack. Mostly they contain supplies for the study which we are yet to find the right cupboards for, but there is also a box of photo albums which are too big for the bookshelves, and a box of framed pictures which I need to pull out and decide where (and if) to hang.

Thinking: about our future plans. Now that the renovation is finished, we can move on to some other projects we would like to accomplish. I love a project, though I want my next one to be a little smaller than the last.

Enjoying: the school holidays. Beautiful weather (mostly) and time to settle and reacquaint myself with the farm… with camera in hand. Going out in the ute with CB to feed sheep, or spending an afternoon curled up on the couch with my crochet. A day in town with a trip to the movies for the whole family. Cousins coming to stay. Of course, it is never long enough, but it was good while it lasted.

That’s what I’ve been up to lately. What about you?? Do you have Netflix? Enjoy the school holidays? Can you recommend some podcasts?

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Previous Post: « Frosty Morning
Next Post: The Farmhouse Renovation Tour – Part One »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sara says

    August 6, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    Hi Jo
    I am so happy to have found your blog; it is great to see how you have been adapting to country life. We have moved to Richmond Tasmania from Sydney about a month ago to run a friends vineyard for 6 months while they are in Germany. And of course to try country living.
    We are mid pruning at the moment and we do need to light a big bonfire every now and then to get rid of the canes. The kids are desperate to get out there with marshmallows although we probably need to wait until the fire dies down. I have never considered cooking other things but I think the bananas and chocolate chips would be a winner, and of course who doesn’t like garlic bread.

    Reply
    • Jo@CountryLifeExperiment says

      August 6, 2017 at 10:27 pm

      Hi Sara,
      Thanks for following along. Bonfires are one of the quintessential country winter experiences. My kids will try cooking anything they can jam on the end of a stick. Sounds like you’re doing your very own country life experiment. Hope it goes well!

      Reply
  2. Lara Penrose says

    July 27, 2017 at 6:17 pm

    Great to hear an update Jo! So pleased you got the Dyson stick!! Hope you guys find it as wonderful as we do ;o)

    Reply
  3. jan2132 says

    July 27, 2017 at 5:50 pm

    All that time considering your needs and wants and how to fill them has paid off. It is lovely to hear the contentment and excitement in what you you write.

    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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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!

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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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