THE EARTH DIARY: COUNTRY STYLE LIVING & ORGANIC FARMING WITH HANNAH
June 2020 - Posted by The Sisterhood of Sustainability
We've been following Hannah's journey for years now and have always been inspired by her slow, seasonal and country style lifestyle. We're so excited to be able to share her story because The Sisterhood of Sustainability is just as much about creating a beautiful and meaningful lifestyle as it is about appreciating the small moments in life and reducing your environmental impact and Hannah's journey perfectly aligns with all of these ideals.
ABOUT HANNAH THOMPSON
Hannah was born in Lismore, NSW and spent some time in small country towns before moving to Toowoomba QLD which is a big country city, surrounded by farm land. Hannah describes her next chapter as 'her dreams coming true' after meeting a country boy, that lived on his family farm that raised organic and free range beef & chicken which is situated on the far south coast of NSW in Tilba Tilba. She then packed her bags and moved down so that she would be closer and has now been happily married for three years.
Hannah and her husband are now in the middle of building a little cottage on the farm and she currently has small flock of chickens and ducks which she tends to. She says that she has always had a passion for art and being creative and also has a love for animals. Growing up, Hannah always had a vision of living on a farm and having lots of animals with a little country style home, so she feels very blessed, because she is now living her dream.
At the moment, Hannah is focusing on her small flock of chickens and ducks and her plan is to be able to sell small batches of fertilised eggs and also supply her local area with free range organic eggs, with a little twist - because most of them will be coloured eggs! We also love that Hannah has incubated all of her chickens and a few of the ducks.
SUSTAINBILITY & ETHICALITY
After asking Hannah why sustainability and ethicality are so important to her, she replied with "having married into a family that was already raising organic free range chicken and eggs, beef, pork etc. I began to learn and be inspired a lot with the importance of being sustainable and ethical when it comes to farming. I think its so important to know were your food comes from and to have a hands on approach, knowing that each animal has lived in an environment where it has been able express itself as the animal it was made to be, such as graze on fresh pasture and forage for little bugs." Hannah implements sustainability into her everyday lifestyle by living as organically as she can and says that some of the things that she has been really appreciating lately are natural fibres such as linen and natural skin and hair products.
- - - A NOTE FROM HANNAH - - -
I think it's important to be more kind to ourselves. I feel that I don't do this enough myself. I think its so important that we do take the time to relax and enjoy our hard work and to be able to love and embrace who we are at every present moment.
SLOW & SEASONAL LIVING
Hannah and her husband don't currently live on the farm and so she enjoys getting up early and heading over to the farm to feed her flock and to check for freshly laid eggs! She spends the rest of the day tending to her garden, spending time with her horse Sunny, baking delicious treats or drawing at her desk. Hannah has recently planted all her spring flowers and we're just as excited as her to see them bloom!
We asked Hannah what she loves the most about living in the country and adopting a slow, seasonal lifestyle and her response was "I love our small community, I have been very inspired by the people in our little area. As much as I now love living in the country, and its slow lifestyle, adopting to slower pace living was a little hard for me in the beginning as I did come from the city, but since starting to live a seasonal lifestyle it really as taught me to be much more slow and mindful."
Tilba Tilba is also located at the base of Mt Gulaga, it is a little quaint historical town with a few shops and private homes. Living in the community of Tilba Tilba many of the people have a love for growing their own food and living sustainability and sharing it with others at the local market held at the Tilba Hall once a week. It is Hannah's dream to be able to share her eggs at these markets in the future.
My husband grew up on the family farm called ‘Symphony Farm’, which is situated below the base of Mt Gulaga and the farm is so beautiful when we get a good season. I love the tall deciduous trees, that were planted by my husbands Grandma and just love that there are so many beautiful places to have picnics.
ORGANIC FARMING & COUNTRY STYLE LIFESTYLE
When we asked Hannah what tips she has for other women wanting to have free range chickens and ducks and grow their own produce, her advice was "Start small. You really don't need a big area for a couple of chooks or ducks, although ducks can be messy with their water. Chickens are great for a small space. Also veggie gardens don't need heaps of space. There's nothing like growing the things you will eat. I think the important thing is that you just start! The most important thing when growing vegetables is the soil. So digging in things like cow manure or horse manure is a great way kick-start the soil and then using straw on top to stop it drying out and keep the weeds down."
Hannah believes that being involved with raising animals and growing plants, especially ones you plan to eat, gives you an appreciation for the environment that you live in and makes you naturally develop habits that are sustainable. Hannah said that one of the things that she loves is being able to see something small grow, then to flourish, and says that it really does give her a spark of encouragement.
Hannah is a beautiful source of inspiration for anyone wanting to start their own garden or begin their sustainable and ethical journey in a country style way. We love the photos she shares and are always excited to see what's next. To discover more about her sustainable and ethical journey or to learn more of her organic gardening and sustainable living tips, head over to Instagram and follow her beautiful account.
The Earth Diary blog series was created to highlight the importance of reducing your environmental impact, adopting a slow and sustainable lifestyle and appreciating the small moments in every day.
We’ve chosen beautiful women from within the creative and earth friendly community whom we believe have something inspiring and empowering to share with you and have dedicated each of these blog posts to these amazing women, their stories and their beautiful photos.