Hello and welcome. My name is Candice. If you have stumbled upon my blog, I am so excited to have you here!
In September 2022, my husband Sven and I, along with our two gorgeous cats made the big interstate move from cold Canberra to sunny Queensland.
We got tired of the cold, it gets old quickly when it is not the climate for you. We have always been inspired by these amazing, go for it YouTubers who pack up everything, take a gamble and try something new. I have always personally loved the idea of farm life. I am not sure why, as I do not come from a farming background and neither does Sven. Originating from South Africa though, that was not a dream that could ever become a reality for us there due to the violent crime on farmers.
Now that we are in this gorgeous country, our dream of living a more self sufficient lifestyle has become more attainable. It took us 5 years to get to where we are, and we finally found some land in Queensland. The one beauty of where we live is that yes it is semi rural and very country like, BUT the beach is also only a mere 20 – 30 minutes away depending on which one you go to. It truly is the best of both worlds.
We have just shy of 2 acres to play with (7 000 sqm) As you can tell it is pretty much a blank canvas for us to develop as we see fit. Our aim is to develop a food garden that we can primarily harvest our fresh produce, with the idea of food preservation, as our skills develop. We are looking at adding bees and chickens to the ‘homestead’ to provide fresh eggs, honey and pollination. I don’t think either of us have the stomach for livestock for the purpose of meat. We are also planning on getting solar, but we won’t be fully off grid as our current lifestyle commitments (insert jobs) do not allow for this as yet. We do however harvest rainwater, and do not have council water at our property. This has been fantastic so far! Who doesn’t like one less bill to pay?
Is the task daunting? Absolutely! Have we quit our jobs? No ways! You see, unlike our favourite YouTubers, we do not have the resources or the guts to go at this full steam ahead. The reality of our situation is that we have a mortgage now and we are in our mid to late 30s. Would we like to do this full time? Hell yes!!
Follow and read along as we tackle life in the country one baby step at a time. There will be many failures and some (hopefully) triumphs in our efforts as we try to cut it as ‘mini homesteaders’.