More good sense from Down To Earth

Angelina-M

I do quite a bit of container gardening and last year I attempted hanging tomatoes from a hanging basket and they were a real success so I shall be doing that again.

The difference in garden sizes is unbelievable though. My Uncle who lives in Adelaide has a modest sized home but his garden is huge! He also has room for about five cars in his garage! We used to just sit out on the porch eating our breakfast and drinking in the view.... happy days

HariboJunkie

I'm happy with our house too and we've put so much work into restoring it from the filthy wreck that it was that it would be a shame to move but I want more land. We have a decent veg patch and somewhere for the girls to play as well as a decked area upstairs but I have no room for the chickens and goat that I covet.
(is it a sin to covet a goat?)

AussieLass

Probably not a sin as such. But very strange.

I have a tiny house by Australian standards but I love it. Our house is on 760 sq metres land which again is tiny compared to years ago. Our first house was on 1/4 acre block. I think the concept of getting larger houses & smaller land is universal. Ridiculous.

HariboJunkie

AussieLass wrote: »

Probably not a sin as such. But very strange.

I have a tiny house by Australian standards but I love it. Our house is on 760 sq metres land which again is tiny compared to years ago. Our first house was on 1/4 acre block. I think the concept of getting larger houses & smaller land is universal. Ridiculous.

Remember... size doesn't matter. it's what you do with it that counts.

AussieLass

I've been telling DH that for years.

Penelope_Penguin

HariboJunkie wrote: »

I'm happy with our house too and we've put so much work into restoring it from the filthy wreck that it was that it would be a shame to move but I want more land. We have a decent veg patch and somewhere for the girls to play as well as a decked area upstairs but I have no room for the chickens and goat that I covet.
(is it a sin to covet a goat?)

I think it's only a sin to covet your neighbour's goat. Does your neighbour have a goat you can covet

I agree with RJ's points on reducing spending. When interest rates dropped and our endowment did so badly, we didn't reduce our monthly mortgage payments. That way, the fluctuations in the stock market were ironed out and we ended up in the same position as we would have done had the endowment fared better, but the monthly mortgage payments had been higher.

Penny. x

rosieben

Its sad if people discount the blog because of the size of a garden, there's so much more to it than that. Rhonda says in several posts that she isn't telling anyone how to live, she's only telling how they live.

I'd have no interest in 'growing' my own fish, or in a wormery (I cant imagine anything more gross to be honest), but I've found so much else of use there, ideas that I've been able to adapt to suit my own situation. What impresses me most is her attitude - to their life style, to housework, to what she does for her family.

She challenges us to examine our own lives and make whatever small changes we can towards the life we want to live.

As with anything else in this life - use what you can, let the rest go by

I'd have to 'pass' on the goat if you don't mind Haribo (too many horror stories from a female colleague who was the owner of a particularly amorous billy :eek: ) but its a def yes to a jam teacake lilmisskitkat!

HariboJunkie

rosieben wrote: »

I'd have no interest in 'growing' my own fish, or in a wormery (I cant imagine anything more gross to be honest), !

Wormeries are fab!!! They don't smell in the least and you don't even really see the worms as you;re usually just popping stuff into the top layer. It makes the most incredible compost.

lilmisskitkat

I agree with what others are saying about things being different in Oz re: the garden space etc but i think the key is to take from this blog the things that are relevant to you and your circumstances.

I don't grow veg, we have a tiny little back yard which barring the few hanging baskets and pots to make it look nice is solely for the kids (DD and jellybean when he's toddling round) to play safely. I like herbs in the window basket and i do want to change some of the pots from flowers to veg this year but it certainly wont be on any grand scale but it will fit in with what we have.

My favourite thing about Rhonda's blog is the way she says that you dont have to live 'big' to be happy, to take pleasure in the simple things which in the hustle and bustle of todays life may have been fogotten. The stuff she says about familys not being separated in the home but sharing the same space for their different activities struck a chord with me, i hated sharing a room with my sis when i was younger but looking back it was also fun and we're so close now. We had a tv and a games console in our room but that was for rainy days, we weren't up there stuck in front of it all the time or anything. We used to play board games with our parents, bake with our mam, go walking in the country with my dad, help collect eggs from my Grandads hens etc which was lovely.

And even if you dont feel anything from Rhonda's life is relevant to you - its still a lovely, soothing read imo!! A bit like watching River Cottage, i love that programme!

Kate xxx

Kaz2904

I love river cottage too!
I have my forever house but it would be nice to have a bigger garden and a garage. I'm not willing or able to pay for those though so I'm content with my lot. TBH my garden is a wreck at the moment so it would be a waste to have a huge wreck of a garden.
My neighbours have the same size garden and they do alright. They have an apple tree and a cherry tree. They grow stuff in their greenhouse. I'm in the middle of sorting mine out and have just bought 2 more fruit trees which I need to get some sorting done to fit in the garden. Then I will plant around the bases of them with my veggies and things. I'll put up hanging baskets for strawberries and I think it might be interesting to try tomatoes this year from baskets!