This web site is all about simple wholesome living.  Whether you are an anti-globalization activist, a health-food fanatic, a lover of the outdoors, or simply short on cash, we have help here for you.  This site will serve as a resource for anyone attempting to move into the slow lane, get back to nature and generally... live the good life.

There was a time not so long ago when almost every household in Ireland and the British Isles generally, was a homestead.  That is, it was a place in which food and many basic necessities were created on-site by those who used them.  It was a living, thriving project in self-sufficiency as far was was practically possible.

Whether it was a large farm, a small farm, a modest small-holding or even an urban dwelling, family members had a much greater role in how their food was grown and prepared and they had a closer relationship with the land and the seasons.  We have forgotten how exciting it was to look forward to Summer because that is when strawberries ripen, and when local new potatoes are ready to dig, boil, butter and salt. Many of us have slowly but surely lost our wonder with even these simple seasonal aspects of the natural world.

Life on a homestead was not easy. The conveniences of modern life were welcomed with open arms by most of us. But we lost something tremendously important when we exchanged our connection to our food and environment for commercial products, brands, and gadgets.   We traded a life of connectedness, calm and purpose for a life of mere pleasure, convenience and amusement.

The homesteading tradition never died and may even be undergoing a small revival.  We are but one of many families who have been drawn to the spiritual and moral values of homesteading.  The draw is even stronger when we consider our need to live responsibly, given the large scale damage lives of pleasure, convenience and amusement have caused to our planet and our health so far.  Many modern homesteaders want to remove their support for the consumerist system of living that ensures that even more damage will be done.  They are doing it on farms, they are doing it on small holdings, but most exciting of all they are doing it in urban settings with whatever space they can get their hands on.  See this link to be inspired by what Americans are calling Urban Homsteading.

Living gently is a pleasure. The process of converting your habitat into a thriving homestead is deeply fulfilling.  Once the insight has been made to the joy of living gently, the process almost takes care of itself. Transformations arise in how you value food, the way in which you begin to care about its origins and environmental impact, the way in which you use cleaning agents in your home, how you heat your home, how you dispose of refuse, and how and why you purchase anything at all (see this website if you want to see who much damage recreational shopping is doing to us and our world).

This website will serve as a diary of our progress in our living gently project. We hope people will use this as a resource for doing the same.  We will share from our experience and provide some of our favourite recipes and homesteading tips.

We will NOT provide lots of technical details on how to create an allotment and grow food. That information is easy to find on-line and in books.  But we will provide personal advice, some support and encouragement and some good starting points for your homesteading project. We will tell you what supplies you might need, where to buy stuff. We will warn you of things that the books and products won’t.  We will help you begin your urban or rural homestead with the same helping hand we wish we’d had when we first started.  We will also provide some basic information on the problem with supermarkets and supermarket  food and why you should avoid almost all of it - yes - even the “organic” stuff. 

We look forward to getting to know some of you so that we can all share this journey together.