The Nourisher - Editor’s Blog

It has become increasingly difficult to live in Byron Bay. Rents have sky rocketed and there is a general lack of housing options such as I’ve never seen in my life. Our family has looked for a new house for two months with no success; the owners of our home told us they were redeveloping and that they needed us to leave. Getting toward the time to go, there was no possibilities in sight and we weren’t the only ones. Every storage operation in our region was full of belongings of people who had nowhere to go and were living in caravan parks. I dare say we’re not the only ones in this predicament. It seems the whole of Australia is experiencing a housing shortage.

At the same time 15% of our population live alone in 3 bedroom houses…

You can imagine how I, chief Nourisher and mother of three, was coping with not knowing where or when or whether our family was moving to a new home. Right down to the day we were due to leave, we seemed to have no hope of finding an appropriate place to live. No grounding, nowhere to put my foot, I swung violently between frustration and fear. I don’t mind telling you, dear Nourishers, I had quite a few ‘pity parties’, weeping in the pantry so my family didn’t see me.

All the while 15% of Australian’s live alone in a 3 bedroom house…

One morning Wes awoke with a decision in his mind. He’d had enough of not knowing where we were going. The landlord was breathing down our neck, house mates were jumping ship and we were going to be left with the huge rent bill that comes with living in Byron, to bear alone. Wes woke me saying, “I’ve got an idea.” I love it when he says this. I’m Piscean, he’s a Leo, I love to follow his lead. We decided, although we had legal right to stay until appropriate housing turned up, we would leave that weekend regardless of having nowhere to go. We decided to just Let Go. I was relieved but also frightened, we were letting go of the only stability we appeared to have. We decided we’d go on tour around Australia, visiting Nourished Mag’s potential major sponsors and those who answered our call last month to work with us building the directory. And that’s what we’re doing as you read this. We still had no home to move to but hoped one would turn up while we were on the road and we could return to move into it.

The next thing we needed to organize is storage for our houseful of furniture. As I mentioned, there was no commercial storage available either. We called up our friends who just bought 20 acres just out of town and asked them if we could put our yurt on their land and put our gear into it until we found a home. They agreed and as we went to see the land. While we were there, they showed us the shed they were converting to a two bedroom unit (due for completion in three weeks). We promptly decided to rent it and work on building a small kitchen for our yurt, the one that served as our office, and a deck to put it and our new slightly smaller yurt on. With electricity and water, an outdoor compost toilet and a canvas awning between both yurts, we will have our dream home.

As you may know, Wes and I have a deep desire to live in community. We’ve experimented with living in large houses with many housemates, living, eating and working together. We love it. Living this way is cheaper, more efficient and more fun for our children, but it does require a big learning curve and to make it a long term solution two things are paramount 1. some privacy for all and 2. some investment from all. The way we had been living, being mummy and daddy to all who lived with us, paying bills, organising every part of living in the house, signing the lease and paying the bond… may have been functional but neither of these requirements were present, no one who lived with us had ‘ownership’ of our situation. This new option is entirely different. We are not mummy and daddy, we aren’t taking all the organisational and financial risk of the communities living arrangements. Whew, relief.

Majikally, Wes and I had written in our dream books for many years our desire to live on 27 acres between Byron and Mullumbimby, in community. We told our friends this and marveled at how our dream had come true, while only a few hours before we were homeless and hopeless. There was one thing missing from our dream however, we had wished to own the land. Our friends promptly said, “Well we are hoping to share the mortgage with others. Perhaps that just may come true also.” Wow. A group of friends sharing the enjoyment AND responsibility of caring for some beautiful land. Growing fruit, vegetables, chickens, jersey cows, children and friendships.

And 15% of Australian’s live alone in a 3 bedroom house…

It just goes to show, dear Nourishers, dare to dream, it may just come true. Dare to Let Go, you just might be caught.

Wes and I are currently on the road. The children are off with family members so we’re free to meet with our wider community of Nourishers, gathering support for Nourished Magazine, while our home is prepared back in Byron Shire.

In other news…

Nourishing the Community

Last month we had many wonderfully inspiring conversations about grains, sourdough bread, eating animals. Welcome to Suzanne who started her blog this month.

Nourishing the Magazine

Filippa, who joined us with a new blog this month called Green Dream, is also joining the editorial team to produce future editions of the Magazine. She’s actually responsible for most of our exciting and very Nourishing articles this month. Filippa is learning how to garden and she’s due for her next baby this year so expect more inspiring stories about gardening, parenting and nourishing our children. Pop over and welcome her on board.

Nourishing the Directory

We’ve gathered quite a few Nourishers who are keen to help us build the directory in their region. We’re still looking for partners in Brisbane, Sunshine Coast and Tasmania so if you live there and want to earn a little extra cash while connecting your local Nourishers with our readers, send us and email and let us know.

Welcome to new sponsors, And watch this month for many more joining us to share more of their vision. Please pop over and give them your Nourishing feedback, testimonials and any suggestions you may have to help them serve us better.

Nourishing March

This month is set to be lots of fun. For a start, it’s my birthday on the 9th - I’m 35 yay!

Also, more lovely prizes to subscribers this month. In a few days we’ll tell you the winner of the last Nourishing Pack and we’ll announce our next subscriber prize. Also, this month we’re giving our bloggers and readers an opportunity to share their story and win. We’ll fill you in soon, watch your email.

About the Author...

Joanne Hay, Editor of Nourished Magazine, Chief Nourisher and Mother of three is very grateful to live in Byron Bay and be able to share all she has learned about Nourishment. She has trained as an Acupuncturist (unfinished), Kinesiologist (finished) and parent (never finished). She serves the Weston A Price Foundation as a chapter leader. She loves sauerkraut, kangaroo tail stew, home made ice cream, her husband Wes and her kids Isaiah, Brynn and Ronin (in no particular order…well maybe ice cream first).