About

Hi, my name is Nadene. I started this blog back in the Summer of 2010 as a means of keeping a visual diary of my veggie garden, chickens and new lifestyle up on Sydney's Northern Beaches. It quickly became a means of showing my family and friends what I was doing in my fun time, and before I knew it I was addicted to keeping a visual diary.

There have been times when I have disappeared from blogging for months on end, due to all sorts of reasons....like the addition of my daughters.

My family (2015). Photo Sheridan Nilsson.

I'm guilty of having grand plans of achieving a hundred things in one day, but am learning to give myself a break, and do the fun stuff first, because the housework will never go anywhere. My idea of a perfect day is waking up to a spotless house, cooking up a delicious breakfast with my family that consists of goodies picked freshly from the garden, and a cleaning fairy coming in and dealing with the mess whilst we dance, play piano and head down to the beach.

If you were to visit us at home you would more than likely find me pottering around the veggie garden and chicken coop with my four babies; my two fur babies Jet and Baxter, and the humans who have debunked them, Lara and Olivia. Since having children, the house is the cleanest and tidiest it ever has been, but I have learnt not to kid myself, I can happily go and play in the garden, sit and craft or write and ignore the dusting that needs doing. I can also just as easily leave the house without the beds made to go and have ladies lunches with some very lovely friends and family. That's my balance, and I encourage everyone to follow suite.

My little helper (Lara) and I were out in the garden together from the very beginning.

Before having Lara I put a whole heap of energy in to the veggie garden in an attempt to grow food to feed my family a healthy, organic diet that I can pick from the soil rather than a supermarket shelf. This was a very successful venture for quite some time, but with added responsibility to keep tiny people alive, vegetables are no longer the priority.

The best part of gardening is that my children love picking strawberries, beans and mint straight from the garden and eating them. Thanks to our herbs and chickens, we still consume something from the garden most days, but nothing like I used to before becoming a Mum, so I'm taking slow steps to get back to that. We are a very long way off being self sufficient, but we do have the goal of getting there. Nothing makes me feel better than watching my daughters go 'mmmm' when they are eating something I've grown for us.

I'm proud to say I'm raising two little eco-warriors, and each and every day we do our little thing to look after the planet and make a difference. We are far from perfect, perfect simply isn't sustainable, we just mindfully do what we can every day. Occasionally we do succumb to the odd take away sushi container, but we balance that with taking our own chopsticks to sushi train. Everyone can chose to make less of a negative impact on our precious world, and together we can learn how to make a difference.

Lara and I enjoying nature.