HOME FARMER Volume 1 Introduction

Welcome to the first issue of ‘Home Farmer’. Many Australians daydream about a simpler, healthier lifestyle but have no idea if it’s all pie in the sky, or if people really ‘do it’. Well, the answer is a resounding yes — people really do lead the good life, and they don’t have to go bush to achieve it.

Many of the fulfilling activities we’d like to take up — instead of watching endless rounds of tv, eating junk food, and being stuck in traffic — are within our reach wherever we live.

The pages of ‘Home Farmer’ can show you how to achieve the sort of lifestyle you want, because the people writing in these pages are doing it — not describing it.

Practical advice, heartfelt and honest tips, and memories of pleasant lifestyle adventures — they’re all here for anyone who wants to dip into a happier way of living.

We’re lucky to live in a country where we have access to clean water, clean soil, abundant supplies of heirloom variety vegetable seeds, fruit trees, and natural building materials.

For instance, my two year old son, Bertie (on the back cover), just loves a good session of munching raw sweet corn in our backyard corn patch.

If we take advantage of these abundances, and learn to tread a little more gently on the Earth, we’re part of a worldwide movement towards a better way of living, and a better way of teaching our children how to live.

We hope you enjoy ‘Home Farmer’. We aim to make it the first of an annual series of books, so if you enjoy volume one, tell us, and we’ll start work on volume two (and we did! - Ed.).

PS. Back Yard Farmer is here to stay and we need you!  If you'd like the opportunity to contribute to a future volume, please email editorial@earthgarden.com.au with your idea – we'd love to hear from you.