On a summer day a couple of years ago I was in the vege garden with my girls. We were having a passionate debate about how broken the world is – how hard it is to change our own habits and what might become of the planet. It is a conversation we have too often and one that never really has a satisfactory resolution. But this day my daughter looked at me hard and asked me in a way that made me feel it was actually ‘MY’ responsibility ‘what are you going to do about it?!’ and I answered her with a sudden brain flash ' I am going to teach my kids to grow their own food, lead by example, and share our story.’

And so our journey home began ....

This is all about our commitment to living lightly on the earth, growing our own food and generating our own power.

Making a dream a reality can take real grit and commitment. Sometimes you can lose your way and it is very easy to doubt yourself - But there is no room for doubts if you want to actually get there. You have to back yourself, even when it all seems impossible and the people around you think you are bonkers!

I say this as someone who has just embarked on a bonkers journey. Sold up in the Auckland boom housing market and is following a crazy hippy dream that started with my parents in the early 70’s.

I am now camping out in Northland with a pen and paper and a head full of crazy dreams. My youngest child has just started a new high school a two hour drive from where we will be living as the schooling options aren’t that great. I have no building permits or plans as yet, and I’m not even sure where exactly I will build our house, but I do know that it just makes sense to me that if I don’t start now I never will!