A big and sincere thank you to all the wonderful villagers who through their kindness made our summer holiday the most amazing stay ever. Through your thoughtfulness and generosity, we were able to enjoy the beautiful bird singing every day, having the scenic views over the surroundings, spend time amongst the nature every day learning catchy tunes of the butcher birds and seeing glimpses of elaborate display of the satin bow birds. Visit to the magical forest of Strickland will stay in our memories for a long time as will the taste of the ripe and juicy black apple that happen to be there at our footsteps. We also had a chance to enjoy the freshest and tastiest of the garden produce, as well as to look after the chickens, understand their funny characters, see the amazing weather display with myriad of stunning sunsets and the wildest storm of all with the hail enough to make a snowman. That, by the way, provided a rare evening treat of “eat as much hail damaged greens as you can” and a chance to learn 5 things you can do with the green cherry tomatoes (one of them you can see right there on the picture).We also very much appreciated the most dedicated and skilful cafe baristas that brightened few workday mornings for us with the tastiest of coffees and muffins.At the end of it we can say that we felt really at home. It also made us to realise that:
- Living in the village changes the perception on what’s important. We spent more time enjoying the life, plants, wildlife, interesting conversations, music, helping out, looking after the land (air and water). We became healthier and thought more of the people around us and less of what, perhaps, does not matter that much.
- We realised that it is possible to be self-sufficient and happy, we reduced the spend to the outside, less supermarkets and more local gardens, Triplespan produce, food coop, local eggs and sharing what we have with neighbours as well as appreciating what other share.
- Even these few weeks made a difference in health, we became more energetic (even when cafe cart was closed), lost (or gained 🙂 weight. We did enjoy spending more time outdoors whether that was hauling chicken manure, cleaning admin, walking 45 min to the shopping and back, or going for an evening walk into the forest after rain (and taking leeches off next 45 minutes while jumping on one leg with a torch on – a great exercise for the balance). We will do it all over again given the chance (may be not leeches).
Thank you once again, we already miss watching kookaburras diving into the mulch, constant delight of finding an overripe cucumber in the garden, and a few tomatoes saved by pure luck after an overnight raid of local wildlife. We miss frog songs every evening, the smiles on the street, amazing neighbours, and a quick 45 min walk to the bins, just because you never know who you’ll meet and what you discover when you get out of the door in that amazing place called Narara Ecovillage.
R&O