Our homestead Journey.
The early years
Lanky and I (Kezza) first crossed paths at the age of 13, our lives intertwined almost immediately, we became best friends, and later partners, by 18 we had our first child on the way (Anna) and by the time she was 2 we set our minds towards getting ourselves an homestead becoming self sufficient and financially secure.
During this time, I gradually transformed our family home into a flourishing food chain. We raised quail and chickens, and I cultivated an abundance of vegetables and fruits. At its peak, our home sustained 80% of our family’s vegetable intake, 20% of our fruit intake, and 10% of our protein (mainly from eggs), this was all on an urban block with about 158m2 space (front and back yard combined)
The downs of life
Life, however, had its share of setbacks. Lanky faced challenges due to injuries sustained during his time in the army, undergoing seven different operations over several years. Meanwhile, our youngest, Daisy, was born with a chromosome condition and later developed significant health issues. Around this time, my mental health decided to take a leave of absence as unresolved childhood trauma caught up with me, and I developed some autoimmune conditions. My garden was my mental solitude, between hospital visits for Daisy and surgery for Lanky, I would spend as much time as possible working my hands into the soil.
New horizons welcome new challenges.
Towards the end of 2021, a job opportunity arose for Lanky, but it required us to move from the state we had always called home to a place we had never considered – South Australia. Despite my reservations and fear of the unknown, fate intervened. A rental, perfectly suited for our family, became available in the Adelaide Hills – a house on 16 acres of land.
Having not rented since our eldest, Anna, was two, we quickly secured the lease after a video walkthrough. The move happened swiftly, almost giving me whiplash. The first year on the new property came with challenges, including frost, rocky garden beds, and relentless winds. Undeterred, I embraced the opportunity to experiment in the garden, addressing issues with mulching and improving soil quality, planting natural wind breaks where I could.
Deciding to set roots and stay put.
By the start of 2023, we had fallen in love with the region, sparking our quest to find an acreage to call our own. After a fair few unsuccessful attempts, we decided to take the risk of finding land and building. That’s when we discovered our current property – 30 acres, town water, a bore, and a dam. The council assured us that getting approval to build would be straightforward. We sold our investment portfolio to fund the land purchase and build, arranged an extended settlement period of 3 months and now here we are, in the process of getting council approval to build.
This journey spanned 14 active years of investing and pursuing our dream. Our daughter was just two when we first envisioned having a homestead. Now, in 2024, we stand on the brink of building our dream on this acreage, reflecting on the path that brought us to this transformative moment
If you would like to read about the projects we are doing head here.
Maybe you would like a recipe idea head here.
