There is nothing better than country life - and being able to record it
through scrapbooking.
I've lived on small hobby farms since the age of 8 and was able to realise
every girl's dream of having a pony. Pony Club, gymkhanas and horse shows ruled
my childhood right up until I went away for uni. When I look back on those times
the one word that comes to mind is FREEDOM. I loved nothing better than to come
home from school, pull on my jodhpurs and canter into the wild blue yonder on
one of my horses! On a farm, life revolves around the outdoors and the animals.
I clearly remember the day Mum arrived at our small primary school to pull my
brother and I out early - our Jersey house cow was in labour and about to
deliver our first calf! Exciting stuff!
It was not until adulthood, 10 years ago in fact, that I moved to a
"proper" farm. We have 650 beautiful acres of rolling hills, paddocks, dams and
trees on the Northern Tablelands of NSW. Our property is still considered quite
small to most, and both hubby and I must work off the farm to earn a living. We
have around 120 Angus and Murray Grey cattle, a big fat cranky Angus bull, a
handful of cross-bred sheep, 3 working Kelpies, 7 chooks and one fairly useless
but lovable Jack Russell-cross RSPCA rescue dog.
What I love about being here: looking out onto open space with not a
neighbour's roof in sight, the lack of other people's noise - just birds and
cows, always having something to do outdoors, growing and eating our own beef
and lamb (happy meat is the best kind!), the magnificent sunsets, the
friendliness and generosity of country-folk, the small village school my girls
attend, being able to walk for hours and not come across a soul, and being able
to turn up my music as loud as I want!
It can be tough too: we rely on the rain for our water supply, ducking out
to the shops because you've run out of something is not an option, flooding and
drought is not much fun, no ASDL internet - and we can forget about NBN for
years yet!, money tends to be spent on farm needs before house repairs and
renos, there is always so much work to do - and it must be done before and after
work or on the weekends, a blackout means no water as well as no power (and they
tend to happen quite frequently), .....honestly, I can't think of much else to
add to this list!
I am so happy to be a country girl, and to be sharing our little slice of
country with you!
Lovely to hear Penny's story, I understand all the pitfalls of the country life with the blackouts and lack of water at times but I still think its a great place to grow up. Being in the suburbs for all of my married life has shown me the difference in, not only lifestyle, but people in general. Gotta love country people.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're following along and enjoying all this Sandra. Nothing beats country life!
ReplyDelete