Our own home at last!

We have been in our new house for six days!    Amazingly, all our furniture fits perfectly so we won't be having the anticipated garage sale.  It feels fantastic to be in our own home again.  The garden hasn't been touched for many years, there are some beautiful mature trees and shrubs but it is very overgrown and needs a good clear out to get rid of all the saplings, bamboo and flax that have sprung up everywhere. We are finding new parts of the garden and hidden treasures every day, so far we have discovered:  two cartwheels and a plough, a stags head, five antique radiators, a large sturdy dog kennel and run, an aviary and a loom.  The kennel is already in use.  Poppy is a ten week old huntaway puppy, she is very cute and friendly, her parents look as healthy as butchers dogs and she was free!  We don't spend anything unless we have to anymore, part of our plan to change our lives was to become debt free.   No more credit cards, store cards or overdrafts!   If we can't afford it, we don't buy it, and if we can make do, mend or buy second hand instead of new, then we do.  Although we have gone from two salaries to one, we actually seem to have more money left in the bank at the end of the month than we ever did before.  We are spending more time together as a family and more time doing fun things outdoors that don't cost anything.   I live my life in shorts and tee shirts now, so I don't have to buy smart clothes and shoes.  I have a wardrobe full of clothes that I can't imagine ever wearing again!   I dig the garden and take the kids to the beach instead of answering emails and writing reports. 
 Growing our own food is an important part of our new "back to basics", spend less lifestyle.  I couldn't wait to get started on our vegetable garden. I am experimenting with permaculture or "no dig", organic gardening.  This basically involves making loads of compost and getting chickens and worms to help you with weeding and feeding the garden.  I have made a start on the first two beds and a plan for the rest of the garden is slowly forming in my brain!   We already have a chook house and a very sturdy former dairy which could be used for pigs or lambs.  There are also a few fruit trees, vines and a giant walnut tree but I want to add some citrus trees, apples, pears, figs and some peach trees.  Chickens will be our next purchase, we are hoping to try hatching our own, rather than buying point of lay pullets.  We will have to wait longer for our eggs, but the initial outlay will be much smaller and the kids will get more out of the experience. 
 This has been such a good week,  so many of our new friends have come to visit, given us practical help with moving and fixing the computer and brought us gifts - eggs, cream, potatoes, wine and a rice cooker -, in return we have sent them all home with boxes of plums and walnuts!  We are rediscovering what we knew in our hearts already, the best things in life really are free!

The chook house

 The start of the vegetable garden

...and the work still to come!

 Fish pond (needs some work!) and hills behind the house

 Puppy pen

 Part of the verandah and driveway

 The dairy (pig pen is just behind)

 Masses of bamboo and flax growing along the creek

Poppy and Patrick