Gillian Swinton grew up watching her grandmother maintain a family farm in Northern Scotland - and used her experience to cultivate the rural lands of New Zealand.
Now based in Central Otago, Gillian and her partner Hamish live on a 2.7 hectare property - embracing their own journey of living a self-sufficient and more simple life.
Gillian has shared her own story of homesteading with tips and tricks in her new book The Good Life.
"All of a sudden, we've got two-and-a-half hectares and sheep and bees - and it snowballed."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jillian Swinton's first experience of home setting came from childhood
visits to her grandmother's farm in northern Scotland. Now based
in Central Attiger, Jillian and her partner Hamish live on
a two point seven hectaar property, embracing their own journey
of living a self sufficient and more simple life. Jillian
has shared her own story of homesteading with tips and
(00:32):
tricks in her new book The Good Life, and Jillian
Swinton joins me now, good morning, Jillian, thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you, thank you for having me here this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Tell me what is homesteading?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Oh gosh, it's a big question. I think home setting
is quite a big umbrella term. But for us here
on our we Central Attago lifestyle block, it's just China
grew as much bet as we can, working with her
community and her neighbors and learning together and sharing all
that beautiful produce and trying to leave the land a
little bit better than how we've take from it.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So yeah, it's just those three key principles for us.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So a lot of preserving a lot of gardening, a
lot of time in the kitchen, but it's all kind
of a little bit self sustaining.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, but that's the great thing about homesteading. It can
look different for everybody and you kind of just do
what you.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Can exactly exactly we you know, this is our first
reefarm that we've bought together. So before that, we've been
in rental properties, or we've been in working accommodation, and
there's been this invisible thread through it all where we've
always either been on a really tight budget and had
to make the most of what we had, or we
had a little backgarden where we were able to grow
(01:46):
a little bit more produced. But wherever we've been, we've
kind of always been on this journey. So it doesn't
really matter where you are, you can do a little
bit of something.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Your love of homesteading in the simple life stems back
to your childhood in Scotland and you spent your summer
holiday on the family farm in northern Scotland.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yes, my grandmother's from the Outer Head, Bidie, so a
lot of family time spent out there.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You talked about your grandmother Kate being your inspiration. Tell
me about her oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Well, you know, I guess she'd probably be laughing at
all of this stuff now because, you know, homesteading to
her was just life, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
But my childhood spent on the farm.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
There was a lot of feeding lambs, there was a
lot of digging up pete or SPADs, so yeah, going
for cockles and filling the freezer with the abundance. So
she's always been living that lifestyle. And it wasn't actually
until I sat down and trying to, you know, flesh
out the bones of this book that I was like,
hah hah. We've kind of always been doing this on
(02:46):
some form or another wherever we've been. So yeah, it
was really interesting to look back on that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And I now that I know that your family's kind
of trackling away at how you've become kite in a way.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Yes, when my parents came out for Christmas a couple
of years ago, and they spent most of the time
either doing laundry or digging up spuds, And whenever we
went away somewhere, I don't know, to Cromwell for some
wine or something, I would always be worried about, you know,
the animals here, and my mum would definitely agree that
(03:18):
I had turned into my grandmother.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Then. Yeah, so how.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Does a Scott end up living in rural New Zealand?
What brought you here?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it's a long story, but I guess I finished
university pretty young at twenty one, and then I just
went as far away as I could without coming another
way back around, And yeah, I fell in love with
New Zealand. And then I met a good Southland farmer
and here we are, fifteen years later, still here.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You've obviously always been interested in living self sufficiently and sustainably,
but did you see it going this far? Did it
start out as a goal to be a little more
sustainable and then snowball?
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Oh, I really don't know where like it's stemmed from.
I think my partner, he's proper Kiwi farmer number eight
wire into and I'm just quite a frugal Scottish person,
So I think that combination really catapulted us on this
journey of you know, trying to do every like not everything,
but as what we can on our own, try and
(04:19):
save some money. And yeah, all of a sudden we've
got two and a half hectares and sheep and bees
and it's just kind of snowballed?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
What do you love about this way of life?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I think you know, my favorite things are the meals
that we can say we grew everything on the plate.
There's just something it's not bragging, but it's just something
to be proud of everything on this plate for dinner.
I think these dinners don't have to be too flash,
but with like sausages, buds and beans. You know, it's
it's it makes me proud that we did this.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Is it time consuming? Jillian? What kind of ours are
you putting in? Preeping and preserving and running the land,
et cetera.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, yeah, it can take up a bit of time.
But I say in the book you gotta do what
you love. So there's lots of things that I don't
enjoy and I don't do that, but I do enjoy
preserving and I do enjoy gardening. So those are things
I would we want to do it anyway, So yeah,
we just kind of lean into that, and yeah, it
does take up a bit of time.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeap.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
What don't you love doing?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Just like anything with the chainsaw or anything too noisy,
Like I just leave that to Boss. He can do
what he wants out there. But if it's just something
I can put an audio book on and chip away something,
it's just something methodical with my hands, like whether that's
preserving or gardening.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I'm in my happy place.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I mean it's worth mentioning that both you and Haimish
also work full time as well as running your family,
and somehow you've found time to write this beautiful book.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yeah, yeah, we am. Oh gosh, I think we've just
got a bit of energy. We don't have a TV.
You know, you got to do something, so we like
we're doing what we love. I think if we didn't
enjoy it, we wouldn't be doing it. But yeah, if
I would love to not work full time, but unfortunately
in twenty twenty five, we kind of got to do
that with a lifesele block. There are things that we
(06:12):
do to try and make it a little bit easier,
like we sell our excess spuds and some honey, but
that just goes back into the.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Seed mund fund. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
The book is broken up into seasons. Which season is
your favorite?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Probably now probably Autumn.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I really enjoy just the slowing down of autumn where
we are as well in Central We've got the beautiful colors.
Popping up and the fires on, and it's just cozy
meals and we aren't in the doldrums off winter yet,
you know, everything's just it's still nice and sunny in
the afternoon. We've still got things that we can potter
(06:52):
around with outside. This slowing down season is definitely my favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
It was interesting when I was reading your book. I
was thinking about a book i'd called called Wintering by
Catherine May and it's sort of a book about the
power of rest and retreat in difficult times and appreciate
eating winter all the dark season as a moment to
look after ourselves. And you mentioned that too, to sort
of lean into that season just to rest. You can't
do much in winter, that's fine.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, And that's the main part of it. Like we're
trying to work with the seasons, not against them. And
you know winter is pretty big winter in Central with
the fire on pretty much until November, you know, so
it's a big summer, big season.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Winter definitely is a time to sit down by the
fire and catch up and all your reading and just.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Take jobs off slowly.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
We're always still doing something, but it's not the full
tilt pace of summer and autumn.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yep, we've lost a bit of this way of life
through the generations, haven't we. Most of us would just
think that we're far too busy to be thinking about homesteading.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yes, yes, I think so.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
But I think, well, now, with the cost of the liveing,
I think people are looking for something that they can
actually action to make life a little bit easier. And
like growing a few spud plants or some extra herbs,
or serving those herbs and the freezer into herbs bombs
do make a difference. And I feel like having something
that you can actually do to make life a bit easier,
(08:16):
it's definitely something that can be done anywhere. And so yeah,
I think I think now is a great time to
start and just get your hands in the soil or
do something actionable to make life a little bit easier.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
As you say, encourage us a little bit more to
give this a go. It doesn't have to be an
all or nothing approach. What else can we do? What
else could we think about doing?
Speaker 4 (08:41):
I've well, you know we're going to winter, so now
it's a good time to kind of reevaluate. But I
think just starting, you know, people are already thinking about
what's plant next year. And I would just I always
say it starts with your shopping trolley, Like what are
you putting in your shopping trolley that you could probably
grow a few plants at home. And you know, not
everyone has a massive garden, but you don't necessarily need
(09:02):
a big garden to do something productive. And if you're buying,
you know, tins of tomatoes each week, maybe plant a
few extra tomato plants and see what you can preserve
a few tins next year.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
You know, it doesn't have to be now. It's always kind.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Of looking ahead and planting those seeds in your brain
as to what you can do or what you can replace.
But just having a look at what you have in
your shopping trolley and seeing if you can.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Do any of that at home.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
It definitely, it definitely does add up. And yeah, like
I said, you don't have to have a farm to
do that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Is there anything that you haven't mastered? Are you still
relying what are you still relying on shops for?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Oh my gosh, I think carrots are my nemesis.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I have an issue with carrots too.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, I think every gardener has their nemesis plant. And
I think it's good. I think it's good to have
something that kind of keeps you humble. So we are
improving with the carrot face. But yeah, like I'm still
happy to buy them, but one year, one year, I
won't have to buy them, and that that's coming I'm hoping.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
It can sound like quite isolating, but this is a
this what's a community activity for you, isn't it? It's
not just about you and your partner Haimish. You work
alongside and you find like minded people in your community
and you're able to sort of share goods and batter
and things.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, I mean the book is say you know self
a modern self sufficient guide, but I think self sufficiency
in this time only can really happen if you, you know,
reach out and involve other people. Like it's about community.
We share quite a lot of appliances and produce with
(10:39):
our neighbors, and we'll often get together if somebody's doing
something new to try and learn together. And it's really
cool that we find those people. We're lucky to find
them in real life, but we've also met people online
that we can have those conversations with in times of
need when we're struggling with something. But yeah, it's finding
people that you can do this with, and I think
(11:00):
that's a lot more fun and I think it's actually
a little bit more sustainable to do it that way
in this time.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Is it kind of an ever evolving way of life
for you. I'm sure it's quite a learning curve, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Oh gosh, yes.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
I mean like we've always been preserving or doing something
along these lines in some shape or form, and I
think we can get easily overwhelmed now that we have
the I guess the space to do it all, but
we just don't have the time to do it all,
so we really have to evaluate what we need to
do and that kind of limits it overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
But yeah, there are.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Times, so it's definitely I would definitely say, like February March,
it can get overwhelming where the garden's just pumping and
there's not enough room the fridge and it relies on
somebody doing something with that project. But we love it,
like we won't be doing it if we didn't enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Julian, you're not just frugal, but you're also very practical.
I was really surprised but really pleased to see at
the back of the book the emergency supplies and boxes
and just reminding us all that, you know, life in
New Zealand can be a little unpredictable. Some of us
have been through a lot of you know, have been
through natural disasters and a well prepared, but a lot
of us aren't. And you've got a great little list
here for making sure that we're organized.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Well.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Coming from Scotland and moving to New Zealand, I can't. Yeah,
the amount of natural disasters has panicked me a little bit,
and I think doing something productive with that emotion was
just actually making the boxes rather than just thinking about, oh,
I need to get an emergency box. It was just
sitting down one day and writing a list and be like, right,
let's just do it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Have them there, make a plan with everyone in our house.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And it's just kind of like having insurance. Like once
you've got it, you're like, sweet, we're sorted, well, not sorted,
but I just know that if there was an emergency,
we've got those things that we can grab and go
and everyone in our house knows where they are and
what to do with it. So it's just one less
thing that keeps me awake at night. And yeah, it's
(12:56):
something that We're always working on whether I see something
somebody else is doing, or talking to a neighbor, or
talking to our friends up in North Island who've been
through it. They've given us some real practical efface. So
it's a kit that's always evolving, but it's nice. It's
definitely a good feeling knowing that it's at the back door,
ready to go.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Gillian, thank you so much for your time this morning,
and for the book, a beautiful book, and for sharing
your homesteading journey with us.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Oh, thank you very much. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
That was Central and Tigo homesteader Gillian Swinton. He'd like
to read more about her life and journey. Her new
book is called The Good Life, and it's in stores now.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talks EDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Jillian Swinton's first experience of home setting came from childhood
visits to her grandmother's farm in northern Scotland. Now based
in Central Attiger, Jillian and her partner Hamish live on
a two point seven hectaar property, embracing their own journey
of living a self sufficient and more simple life. Jillian
has shared her own story of homesteading with tips and
(00:32):
tricks in her new book The Good Life, and Jillian
Swinton joins me now, good morning, Jillian, thanks for your time.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
Thank you, thank you for having me here this morning.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Tell me what is homesteading?
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Oh gosh, it's a big question. I think home setting
is quite a big umbrella term. But for us here
on our we Central Attago lifestyle block, it's just China
grew as much bet as we can, working with her
community and her neighbors and learning together and sharing all
that beautiful produce and trying to leave the land a
little bit better than how we've take from it.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
So yeah, it's just those three key principles for us.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
So a lot of preserving a lot of gardening, a
lot of time in the kitchen, but it's all kind
of a little bit self sustaining.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, but that's the great thing about homesteading. It can
look different for everybody and you kind of just do
what you.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Can exactly exactly we you know, this is our first
reefarm that we've bought together. So before that, we've been
in rental properties, or we've been in working accommodation, and
there's been this invisible thread through it all where we've
always either been on a really tight budget and had
to make the most of what we had, or we
had a little backgarden where we were able to grow
(01:46):
a little bit more produced. But wherever we've been, we've
kind of always been on this journey. So it doesn't
really matter where you are, you can do a little
bit of something.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Your love of homesteading in the simple life stems back
to your childhood in Scotland and you spent your summer
holiday on the family farm in northern Scotland.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yes, my grandmother's from the Outer Head, Bidie, so a
lot of family time spent out there.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
You talked about your grandmother Kate being your inspiration. Tell
me about her oh gosh.
Speaker 4 (02:14):
Well, you know, I guess she'd probably be laughing at
all of this stuff now because, you know, homesteading to
her was just life, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
But my childhood spent on the farm.
Speaker 4 (02:26):
There was a lot of feeding lambs, there was a
lot of digging up pete or SPADs, so yeah, going
for cockles and filling the freezer with the abundance. So
she's always been living that lifestyle. And it wasn't actually
until I sat down and trying to, you know, flesh
out the bones of this book that I was like,
hah hah. We've kind of always been doing this on
(02:46):
some form or another wherever we've been. So yeah, it
was really interesting to look back on that.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And I now that I know that your family's kind
of trackling away at how you've become kite in a way.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
Yes, when my parents came out for Christmas a couple
of years ago, and they spent most of the time
either doing laundry or digging up spuds, And whenever we
went away somewhere, I don't know, to Cromwell for some
wine or something, I would always be worried about, you know,
the animals here, and my mum would definitely agree that
(03:18):
I had turned into my grandmother.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Then. Yeah, so how.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Does a Scott end up living in rural New Zealand?
What brought you here?
Speaker 4 (03:27):
Yeah, it's a long story, but I guess I finished
university pretty young at twenty one, and then I just
went as far away as I could without coming another
way back around, And yeah, I fell in love with
New Zealand. And then I met a good Southland farmer
and here we are, fifteen years later, still here.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
You've obviously always been interested in living self sufficiently and sustainably,
but did you see it going this far? Did it
start out as a goal to be a little more
sustainable and then snowball?
Speaker 4 (03:59):
Oh, I really don't know where like it's stemmed from.
I think my partner, he's proper Kiwi farmer number eight
wire into and I'm just quite a frugal Scottish person,
So I think that combination really catapulted us on this
journey of you know, trying to do every like not everything,
but as what we can on our own, try and
(04:19):
save some money. And yeah, all of a sudden we've
got two and a half hectares and sheep and bees
and it's just kind of snowballed?
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
What do you love about this way of life?
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (04:31):
I think you know, my favorite things are the meals
that we can say we grew everything on the plate.
There's just something it's not bragging, but it's just something
to be proud of everything on this plate for dinner.
I think these dinners don't have to be too flash,
but with like sausages, buds and beans. You know, it's
it's it makes me proud that we did this.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Is it time consuming? Jillian? What kind of ours are
you putting in? Preeping and preserving and running the land,
et cetera.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Yeah, yeah, it can take up a bit of time.
But I say in the book you gotta do what
you love. So there's lots of things that I don't
enjoy and I don't do that, but I do enjoy
preserving and I do enjoy gardening. So those are things
I would we want to do it anyway, So yeah,
we just kind of lean into that, and yeah, it
does take up a bit of time.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeap.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
What don't you love doing?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Just like anything with the chainsaw or anything too noisy,
Like I just leave that to Boss. He can do
what he wants out there. But if it's just something
I can put an audio book on and chip away something,
it's just something methodical with my hands, like whether that's
preserving or gardening.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Yeah, I'm in my happy place.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I mean it's worth mentioning that both you and Haimish
also work full time as well as running your family,
and somehow you've found time to write this beautiful book.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
Yeah, yeah, we am. Oh gosh, I think we've just
got a bit of energy. We don't have a TV.
You know, you got to do something, so we like
we're doing what we love. I think if we didn't
enjoy it, we wouldn't be doing it. But yeah, if
I would love to not work full time, but unfortunately
in twenty twenty five, we kind of got to do
that with a lifesele block. There are things that we
(06:12):
do to try and make it a little bit easier,
like we sell our excess spuds and some honey, but
that just goes back into the.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Seed mund fund. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
The book is broken up into seasons. Which season is
your favorite?
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Probably now probably Autumn.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
I really enjoy just the slowing down of autumn where
we are as well in Central We've got the beautiful colors.
Popping up and the fires on, and it's just cozy
meals and we aren't in the doldrums off winter yet,
you know, everything's just it's still nice and sunny in
the afternoon. We've still got things that we can potter
(06:52):
around with outside. This slowing down season is definitely my favorite.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
It was interesting when I was reading your book. I
was thinking about a book i'd called called Wintering by
Catherine May and it's sort of a book about the
power of rest and retreat in difficult times and appreciate
eating winter all the dark season as a moment to
look after ourselves. And you mentioned that too, to sort
of lean into that season just to rest. You can't
do much in winter, that's fine.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, And that's the main part of it. Like we're
trying to work with the seasons, not against them. And
you know winter is pretty big winter in Central with
the fire on pretty much until November, you know, so
it's a big summer, big season.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Winter definitely is a time to sit down by the
fire and catch up and all your reading and just.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Take jobs off slowly.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
We're always still doing something, but it's not the full
tilt pace of summer and autumn.
Speaker 2 (07:43):
Yep, we've lost a bit of this way of life
through the generations, haven't we. Most of us would just
think that we're far too busy to be thinking about homesteading.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yes, yes, I think so.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
But I think, well, now, with the cost of the liveing,
I think people are looking for something that they can
actually action to make life a little bit easier. And
like growing a few spud plants or some extra herbs,
or serving those herbs and the freezer into herbs bombs
do make a difference. And I feel like having something
that you can actually do to make life a bit easier,
(08:16):
it's definitely something that can be done anywhere. And so yeah,
I think I think now is a great time to
start and just get your hands in the soil or
do something actionable to make life a little bit easier.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
As you say, encourage us a little bit more to
give this a go. It doesn't have to be an
all or nothing approach. What else can we do? What
else could we think about doing?
Speaker 4 (08:41):
I've well, you know we're going to winter, so now
it's a good time to kind of reevaluate. But I
think just starting, you know, people are already thinking about
what's plant next year. And I would just I always
say it starts with your shopping trolley, Like what are
you putting in your shopping trolley that you could probably
grow a few plants at home. And you know, not
everyone has a massive garden, but you don't necessarily need
(09:02):
a big garden to do something productive. And if you're buying,
you know, tins of tomatoes each week, maybe plant a
few extra tomato plants and see what you can preserve
a few tins next year.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
You know, it doesn't have to be now. It's always kind.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
Of looking ahead and planting those seeds in your brain
as to what you can do or what you can replace.
But just having a look at what you have in
your shopping trolley and seeing if you can.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Do any of that at home.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
It definitely, it definitely does add up. And yeah, like
I said, you don't have to have a farm to
do that.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Is there anything that you haven't mastered? Are you still
relying what are you still relying on shops for?
Speaker 3 (09:37):
Oh my gosh, I think carrots are my nemesis.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
I have an issue with carrots too.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Yeah, I think every gardener has their nemesis plant. And
I think it's good. I think it's good to have
something that kind of keeps you humble. So we are
improving with the carrot face. But yeah, like I'm still
happy to buy them, but one year, one year, I
won't have to buy them, and that that's coming I'm hoping.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
It can sound like quite isolating, but this is a
this what's a community activity for you, isn't it? It's
not just about you and your partner Haimish. You work
alongside and you find like minded people in your community
and you're able to sort of share goods and batter
and things.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Yes, I mean the book is say you know self
a modern self sufficient guide, but I think self sufficiency
in this time only can really happen if you, you know,
reach out and involve other people. Like it's about community.
We share quite a lot of appliances and produce with
(10:39):
our neighbors, and we'll often get together if somebody's doing
something new to try and learn together. And it's really
cool that we find those people. We're lucky to find
them in real life, but we've also met people online
that we can have those conversations with in times of
need when we're struggling with something. But yeah, it's finding
people that you can do this with, and I think
(11:00):
that's a lot more fun and I think it's actually
a little bit more sustainable to do it that way
in this time.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Is it kind of an ever evolving way of life
for you. I'm sure it's quite a learning curve, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Oh gosh, yes.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
I mean like we've always been preserving or doing something
along these lines in some shape or form, and I
think we can get easily overwhelmed now that we have
the I guess the space to do it all, but
we just don't have the time to do it all,
so we really have to evaluate what we need to
do and that kind of limits it overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
But yeah, there are.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
Times, so it's definitely I would definitely say, like February March,
it can get overwhelming where the garden's just pumping and
there's not enough room the fridge and it relies on
somebody doing something with that project. But we love it,
like we won't be doing it if we didn't enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Julian, you're not just frugal, but you're also very practical.
I was really surprised but really pleased to see at
the back of the book the emergency supplies and boxes
and just reminding us all that, you know, life in
New Zealand can be a little unpredictable. Some of us
have been through a lot of you know, have been
through natural disasters and a well prepared, but a lot
of us aren't. And you've got a great little list
here for making sure that we're organized.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Well.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Coming from Scotland and moving to New Zealand, I can't. Yeah,
the amount of natural disasters has panicked me a little bit,
and I think doing something productive with that emotion was
just actually making the boxes rather than just thinking about, oh,
I need to get an emergency box. It was just
sitting down one day and writing a list and be like, right,
let's just do it.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Have them there, make a plan with everyone in our house.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And it's just kind of like having insurance. Like once
you've got it, you're like, sweet, we're sorted, well, not sorted,
but I just know that if there was an emergency,
we've got those things that we can grab and go
and everyone in our house knows where they are and
what to do with it. So it's just one less
thing that keeps me awake at night. And yeah, it's
(12:56):
something that We're always working on whether I see something
somebody else is doing, or talking to a neighbor, or
talking to our friends up in North Island who've been
through it. They've given us some real practical efface. So
it's a kit that's always evolving, but it's nice. It's
definitely a good feeling knowing that it's at the back door,
ready to go.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Gillian, thank you so much for your time this morning,
and for the book, a beautiful book, and for sharing
your homesteading journey with us.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Oh, thank you very much. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (13:22):
That was Central and Tigo homesteader Gillian Swinton. He'd like
to read more about her life and journey. Her new
book is called The Good Life, and it's in stores now.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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