The road to self sufficiency

The water tanks are in (first one 5000 litres, the 2nd approx 24,000 litres), and the grey water is being used for the fruit trees, the vegie patch is chugging along, and we have a goat producing lots of lovely milk to make cheese with. The chickens and ducks are giving us lots of eggs (and eventually meat), and raising lambs is on the agenda. Although we are still awaiting the insulation (as part of the govt scheme) to help keep our house more warm in winter and cooler in summer, the biggest challenge we now face is how to reduce our energy bills - which are sitting around $500 per quarter. Our challenge is to reduce our grocery bills to $100 per f/night and somehow reduce our utilities as well. But how?

Solar panels are expensive and not within our price range, and we have taken steps such as fitting energy saving lightbulbs, etc . As we start our adventure as from January 2010 to live more "efficiently", there are still problems to be solved, but I feel we are definitely making progress.

And the road to self sufficiency is not for the faint hearted. In my learning curve over the past 12 months, I have come to realise that its damm hard work. Its not about just collecting the eggs in the morning and letting the ladies out to go on bug patrol, there is also the cleaning of the chook house (and anywhere else they decide to poop, at the moment the verandah is a favourite spot), checking (and treating) for lice, de-worming,.......... the list goes on. And then there is the planning involved to ensure your flock are productive. Chickens usually dont lay for the first 20 weeks post hatching, and then their productivity drops off when they are abou 2 years of age. So there is incubation of eggs, raising of the young chicks - and of course despatching the old and the sick chooks.

And this is only one aspect, there is also the work involved in the vegie patch, tending to fruit trees, landcare, animal husbandry - how there is time to raise kids and factor in paid employement, well its a challenge. But when you see your youngest child carrying his chook bucket tottering off to feed the girls, when you cook something for your family that you grew in your backyard, and watching the birth of another goat - well its all worth it.

Our new baby

Meet Brazil, our new baby duckling. He gets his name from the black stripe on the top of his head, (yes I know, Tyson has a one track mind).

After the 2 ducks we bought turned out to be both female, our neighbour kindly offered to give us some of their duck eggs in the hope that we might get a drake for our ladies - and out of the 4 eggs, this one was the only one the survive.

Fingers crossed he is a boy, but hey he or a she - its just to damm cute not to love.

Lawnmowing

Its a beautiful spring day today, and what better than to get out into the sunshine and do some tidying up around the house - starting with the lawnmowing. Of course, when you have more than a standard 600sqmtr block to look after it helps to have a little help. Though the plastic lawnmower doesnt seem to cut much grass - well its the thought that counts hey.

But its always handy to have some professionals around the place.

Living simply - learning to do without?

For the past 13 months, my family and I have been on a learning curve on how to live simply. And at times, yes I have found myself yearning for the convienence that city life can provide, but at what cost. Yes we now milk the goat to make cheese instead of spending the extra $$ at the supermarket, we now grow our own vegies, and nurture the fruit / nut trees in anticipation of future harvests, and of course our chookies provide us with fresh eggs daily. And these things take time and of course money, but in my eyes the true savings we are getting is quality time with our children.

And making memories that we will all cherish is beyond what mere money can ever buy.