We are a family of 4, Mike, me and two teens all living with our cat whom we couldn't decide on a name so all hopeful suggestions were slung together to create a name of note : Shanti Shakti Shiva (named from some of the gods in India) Punjabi (where our neighbours were from) Kamikaze (from her antics when still a little ball of fluff, when she would go hurtling after a ball or toy carelessly tossed for her and unable to stop in time, she would go head-first into the walls and then sit and shake her head) Green (our surname of course)! Shanti, for short.
She is a little bit of this and a little bit of that, so she is a tri-colour tabby and she rules the roost. Sleeps on anything new, or newly positioned, clean folded laundry, newspapers (while you are trying to read them), the computer keyboard (for attention) and even the newly vacated laundry drier, still warm. I fear one day, I won't see her hop in and then I'll bung in some semi-dry clothes and send it for a whirl, cat and all...........
Anyway, this was really about our background, and although I digress a little, she's always there, in the background! Major events. Even gardening. She LOVES the garden! A real little gardener in her own right. She is never too far away from a pruning or weeding job, in fact, she will sometimes lie right under a tree we are pruning!
Anyway, we live with our cat and we grow up to 80% of all of our food ( perhaps a little less over winter, but still then we live off a lot of our preserves and frozen produce). We have a Mediterranean-cum-Indian style home surrounded by about 600m2 of garden, which is intensively cultivated with edibles. Both Mike and I work full-time outside the home and then come home to a "farmers" lifestyle, albeit on a much smaller scale. We contemplated a lifestyle block but we're pleased we settled for a section in our little village as we see too many "life-stylers" without a life! And when the going gets too busy, Shanti will instinctively hop up on our laps and lie down for the long haul. And who has the heart to push a contented feline off their lap?? Not I. And there is wisdom in that - taking a little rest during the day is good for our health.
Our food is grown organically, though I won't lay my head on a block to keep it that way - there are some coddling moths I have been fighting organically for the last 5 years (unsuccessfully) and now hard-core chemicals are looking rather tempting!
So there it is............. a big of background. I wanted to put this together to show others that it IS possible to grow your own food, live sustainably as possible, keep a 40hr a week job and come out better off for having done it all the way it was meant to be - simply living.
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