Ordinary 2 Extraordinary is heading north!

Wow, where has time gone! It’s been quite a while since I last wrote and there’s a very good reason. In a couple of days, we’ll be starting a whole new chapter of Ordinary 2 Extraordinary as we move on to an exciting new permaculture project.

To understand where we’re at, I’ll go back to the beginning of 2014 when we decided to buy a little farm on the north coast of New South Wales. Initially we weren’t going to move up to the farm for a couple of years; the kids would live there and we could rent out the dual occupancy dwellings in a snack, but only a few months passed before the longing became too much and the temptation to sell at the height of Sydney’s property market boom was a compelling reason for us to make the break sooner. So in August we started getting our house ready for sale.

It’s been a big decision to move, especially after all the hard work we’ve put into our Sydney property but rather than waste time dwelling on that thought we’ve decided to take all the positive skills and experiences we’ve gained with us instead.

We’ve learnt so much over the last few years not only in transforming our ordinary backyard into an extraordinary urban permaculture paradise and retrofitting our home with resource friendly systems, but also in the personal changes we’ve made, new attitudes we’ve developed and the visions and ideas we’ve been able to share with and gain from others. We have so much to take with us to our new property and we’re going with absolutely no regrets. We’re ready and excited and can’t wait to start transforming our new place into an abundant Permaculture property.

When I think back to my earlier attempts at decluttering all I can do is laugh. The reality of fifteen years of kids, clothes, hobbies, a garden, a shed, cars, spare parts, tools and just general living only hit home when we started to prepare for the move. Where we could, we were as ruthless as possible knowing how little storage space we have in our new home but I can assure you we have a long way to go. We’ve made a commitment to declutter again once our crates finally arrive at their destination but in the meantime we’ll slowly start to unpack the contents of our shipping container which was freighted up to the property by train some months ago. From what I can remember it mainly contains gardening equipment and a whole double garage worth of tools, timber and lots of other bits and pieces the majority of which, as it turns out, do not belong to me!

The selling and moving process has been epic and it feels as though we haven’t had a moment’s rest since August. Many times over the last few months my family and friends have been subjected to my rantings along the lines of ‘never doing it again’ and now as we rapidly approach our new destination, I can say that I am relieved to be on the other side of it all and can’t wait to get on with it.

We will take some good elements with us though particularly the experience of living with very little over the past few months. We’d like nothing more than to be able to start our new journey in the same fashion but do realise that it’s going to take a lot of energy and a major commitment to change those old habits of ours. Let’s hope those memories of a more simple less cluttered life remain fresh in our minds.

Next post I’ll be going into the details of our new farm, where it is, what it offers us and what we’re planning to do once we settle in. So hope you’ll be back to follow our story.