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Country Life Experiment

Simple Country Living

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Start Here

Simple country living is really at the heart of Country Life Experiment. A life that is focused on our family and friends, and in rhythm with our surroundings.  Although life is good here on the farm, it’s not all baby animals and baking. I’ve learnt a lot along the way, and I’ve collected the best of my posts up to help you enjoy a simple country life, no matter where you live. You can click through the archives below, and you can also find a complete list of the recipes on this blog here. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, shoot me a message and I’ll get the answer to you.

Tree Changing

We moved to the farm at the end of 2011. Since then we have learnt so much about living on a farm. It really is a great place for kids to grow up. This is not to say that there aren’t some challenges. There is so much to say about living on the farm, so I have just put some of my fave posts and some of the most popular posts below to get you started.

Hannah talks about tree changing
Does country life get easier?
Beginnings – my first ever post
Summer fruit picking
A morning at the river
The truth about country living

Living Simply

One of the reasons we wanted to move back to the country was to simplify our lives. Of course, it hasn’t been as easy as changing our location, but over the years we have done many things to keep life a little simpler.

Things I don’t do that keep life simple
Five ways to keep life simple
Create a donation box
Try some of these things to start simplifying your life right now

In The Farmhouse

In 2017 we totally renovated out little old farmhouse. In the years before the renovation, we did lots of small things to help make life easier for us.

The farmhouse renovation – part one
The farmhouse renovation – part two
How our three kids share a bedroom successfully
One thing projects

Home Made Food

We are all about simple, homemade food that takes the best of each season. We love to make our own food and preserve our excess produce for later. You can find a full list of my recipes here, and below I have listed my most popular recipes. I also like to share insider tips, such as how to make your own self-raising flour, and how to roll pastry without making a mess.

Spiced Plum Paste
Mulberry Yoghurt Cake
Roasted Cauliflower Salad
Passionfruit Curd
Zucchini, Feta, and Mint Fritters
Chocolate Sour Cherry Tart

Easy Organisation

I’m a fan of having a place for everything, having simple systems to keep things ticking over, and having nothing we don’t really use. The saying “have nothing in your home that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” is my mantra. That’s not to say that our home is a spotless haven of order. There are times where it is definitely a chaotic mess, but we aim to be organised (a girl can dream right??). Below are some of the easiest and most effective ways we have organised our house and life.

Taming kids toys
How to store DVDs in a small space
How to have house guests easily
How we pack for trips away
How to declutter anything

Kid Wrangling

I definitely follow a more free range approach to parenting. I believe in raising kids to be competent adults through allowing them to explore and develop independence. The farm is the perfect place for this as there is plenty of room for riding bikes, playing on the dam, and building cubbies.

Nine audiobooks the whole family will enjoy
How we got our kids to stop interrupting
How to survive a road trip with kids
Read and relax
How we get through school holidays with our sanity intact

In The Garden

CB is an enthusiastic gardener, and as a result, we grow most of our fruit and vegetables. We go through times where we have a big glut of one vegetable, and then times when we have none at all.

All about the garden
Using a chicken tractor to manage the garden
The Orchard
How to store pumpkins so that they last a long time

Creative Projects

I don’t really get as much time to be creative as I would like. I do grab time to crochet here and there, and I love to whip up a Christmas craft. I tend to go for crafts that look amazing but are actually super quick and easy to make. Lets be honest, I’m terrible at following patterns and instructions, so I mainly look at a picture and then get started.

My first ever crochet blanket
Make your own photobooks (much better than traditional albums!)
A crochet beanie
My globetrotter blanket
A clutter-free Advent Calendar
Embossed Foil Christmas Stars
Easy Paper Christmas Baubles

 

Enjoy!

 

Want to find something but can’t? Want an answer to a question you have? You can contact me here, or via my facebook page. Looking forward to hearing from you!

 

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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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