The Good Life
‘I think that growing your own food, composting and leaning into community are the simplest and easiest ways to make your life more sustainable. And the best part is, it can be done on any scale.’ Gillian Swinton
Gillian Swinton is focused on living self-sufficiently: living off the land and adapting to the seasons. On their 2.7-hectare property in Central Otago’s heartland, Gillian and her partner Hamish lead a lifestyle that harks back to a time when people led a simpler life. ‘Here, we are trying to be as self-sufficient as we can manage,’ says Gillian, ‘living with the seasons, building community and remembering not to take it all too seriously. We just want to live an honest, simple, good life.’
‘On our property, we grow herbs, fruit and vegetables, raise sheep for meat, and keep bees for honey and chickens for eggs. We utilise everything we produce, and I mean everything — from our kitchen waste to our bountiful summer harvests and the animals we raise. We want everything we grow, produce or make to serve a purpose.’
In this gorgeously illustrated guide, Gillian shares all the tips and tricks she’s learned about how to be a modern-day homesteader, and how you can be one too — whether you’re looking after livestock on a lifestyle block, tending to an inner-city garden or planter box.
‘Homesteading and creating a life of self-sufficiency doesn’t mean you have to own land or live on a lifestyle block. Many of the things we do on our farm are a continuation of what we’d already been doing on a smaller scale in rental properties, incities,andevenwhileworkingoverseas.Bysharingwhatwedoandhowwegot here, I hope to show you what homesteading really looks like for us and hopefully inspire you to try out some of our ideas at your home — wherever you are reading this.’
Broken into the seasons — and the kitchen, pasture and garden — this comprehensive guide you will learn everything from composting, making garden fertilisers, raising livestock to making your own cream and preserving eggs. Everything you need to know to be self-sufficient. The Good Life includes more than 25 recipes for pickling, preserving and delicious meals to help you get the most out of your kitchen, garden and paddock.
‘My goal with this book is to sprinkle some inspiration to you, wherever you are, to incorporate some more self-sufficient practices into your life. You don’t have to have your own farm; you just need to have some imagination.’
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Hailing from Edinburgh, Scotland, Gillian Swinton has called New Zealand home for the past 15 years, after falling in love with the Kiwi life – and a good Southland farmer. Ski lift operator, snowmaker, DOC Ranger, farmer, station cook, vet tech, relief milker and calf rearer… she’s a bit of a ‘Gill of All Trades’. Animals, food preserving, beekeeping, gardening, trapping – they love it all.
‘Images and text from The Good Life by Gillian Swinton, photography by Francine Boer Photography and Gillian Swinton. Published by Allen & Unwin NZ, RRP $45.00.’
