I love the word village ...

The word village is one of my favourite words. It conjures up wonderful feelings of inclusion. Life lived at a more leasurely pace, witnessed by people who genuinly care with the edges blurred between family and friends.

When we holidayed in France in 2008 I fell in love with the french villages, particularly the way they utilised their landscape to create wonderful food ... slow food permiculture they call it now ... I just call it beautiful food in a beautiful setting where the desire to create delicious farmstead food is created from produce grown within cooee of the farm gate. Where home and family intertwine with the environment and culture is shared in a simple meal after a hard day working in the vines.

We were there in September, when harvest was in full tilt and seemingly everywhere we looked there was abundance. Every fence (hedgerow) sheltered animals that they later cooked into wonderful casseroles with berries made into pies and each season would bring a different delight. Each region had its own personality and this was particularly evident in the cooking with variations literally from village to village. It was a wonderful experience and one that gave me enormous insight into the world that I want to create.

"Moronga" has been my home for 24 years now and I can't think of a better place to begin this adventure. The house is large and we haven't done much to it in the last 15 years. The cattle yards and sheep yards and really all the infrastructure has had no love or money spent on it for years and whilst I wouldn't call it neglected ... it's easy to see where the money has not been spent. We have lovingly put our two children through boarding school and I can say with passion that if we have been able to do it … then anybody can.  It has simply required planning .. scheming .. scraping and generally going without for a really long time but now we are almost there. Our eldest son is in Year 12 and the last bill has arrived to be paid. It has been a roller-coaster of wonderful experiences and we have been so thankful that we have been able to achieve one of our biggest goals which is to give both our children a good start in life ... however ... now it's our turn and I'm loving building the picture of what the next 30 years of our lives will look like.  Its thrilling to me that I can choose my future and make it happen.

All is well in my world.