Welcome to The Hope Homestead. Join my family and I on our journey back to the land to reclaim traditional skills, grow our own food and heal our home. In this space I share snippets of our story as we learn about gardening, animal husbandry, cooking nourishing foods like Granny used to, and living a healthy simple life.
I am a happy wife and grateful mum to seven amazing young people, 6 sons and 1 daughter. I love home schooling my kiddos, gardening, handicrafts and finding new healthy recipes to try on my tribe. Or better yet sitting on the verandah with a freshly brewed cuppa and a good book .
But beyond all that my greatest passion is to be a messenger of hope. Where there is life, there is always hope. So no matter where you are on your walk… take heart, grab a cuppa and read on.
The Back Story
I grew up on a sheep and cattle property in southern NSW Australia and later a dairy farm in Victoria. In many ways it was an idyllic childhood and I am forever grateful for it. It gave me a deep love for creation and a connection to the land that I didn’t appreciate until more recently.
After university I got married and we lived in the city. For many years I thought my life on the land was over. I missed the quiet peaceful life but was content and happy in this new season. Slowly, as we walked through various health challenges with several children and watched friends who were beginning to grow their own food, we began to feel a pull away from the modern day norm.
We began to question everything about our food system, our healthcare system, our education system and our 21st century 9-5 work life. I began to rid my home of toxic chemicals and use natural products instead. I started reading labels. Then determined to learn more about natural health and cooking from scratch meals for my family. I started growing herbs and tomatoes in pots. Finally, after years of yearning for them, we got some backyard chooks.
Then in 2019 when our youngest was just 9 months old our world was rocked. My husband was diagnosed with advanced cancer and given 5 weeks to live. That year is a blur now as I look back on the weeks of hospital admissions, wading through hundreds of possible natural treatment options and agonizing over medical protocols and procedures. Pacing hospital hallways trying to settle the baby in the ergo, watching helplessly as my husband endured the trauma of chemo and coming home to try to continue some semblance of normality and comfort for the children.
It was a great trial but at the end of it all we were given a miracle. In November of 2019 he was declared cancer free. It was the hand of God for sure and we are so grateful.
My husband now says that cancer was a gift. It was horrible at the time but it became like a reset for our family. The point at which we decided to get serious about what was important in our lives. No more going through the motions. What are we here for and what matters?
Family time and raising the children we were given to be healthy, strong and truly free. Body, mind and soul. That is what matters to us. So we changed course, sold everything, bought a caravan and started travelling the country… but that’s another story. You can click here for the back story to the back story.
Learning While We Wait
After months of living on the road and seeing some amazing country, we stopped in a little town in central Qld and decided to stay. We bought chooks again and started growing food. We couldn’t have it all but we decided to do what we could with what we had. In many ways we are still doing that. We aren’t on the acreage yet. The HOPE Homestead is still that… our hope, our dream. But in the words of a mentor, we have turned our waiting room into a classroom (thankyou Jess Sowards).
So now we have chooks, ducks, worm farms, compost bays and lots of gardens growing wholesome yummy food for the family. We learn and practice the skills that we need to not only grow our own food, but harvest, preserve and prepare that food to nourish our bodies. And the cool thing is that as we do that, our souls are nourished in ways we never expected. As we spend time together as a family, learning together, making mistakes together and seeing the fingerprints of God in every experience.
A Few Fun Facts About Me
I looooove coffee! (In a fussy snobby only organic brewed or espresso kind of way)
I was and still am terrified of heights but went abseiling down a 300ft waterfall on our property when I was about 11.
My most embarrassing gardening moment was the day I stuck a garden fork through my foot while turning compost barefoot.
Favourite books are Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkein and pretty much anything written by C.S.Lewis… but especially the Chronicles of Narnia.
Before motherhood I was a journalist.
Walking through the bush in the quiet of the day is my therapy.
I have a deep affection for large ancient trees and outback sunsets.
