Today I went to one of the local community markets that happen near where I live. This market is small and intimate and it always turns into a nice social event. It gives local people the opportunity to sell their goods or instead trade with one another. I have been going there the last 2 weeks to sell cake. I make a gluten free vegan carrot cake and it has been a big hit. Selling a slice at 2 euro each makes me 30euro for the whole cake.

I then bought some oats, potatoes and banana's from two people in the market. Both of them I know. In that way I put some of the money I made back into the community. I also traded some of my cake for sushi. Tomorrow I will go to the town market and spend the rest on fruit and veg. I do grow some of my own food , at the moment it is mainly kale and salad, and I am patiently waiting for my carrots to be ready.

The land I live on is currently providing me with an abundance of oranges, mandarins and lemons and I have now got my olive oil from the harvest I done a month ago. I also still have quite a few kilos of almonds left over from the harvest I done in October.

I consider myself very lucky, because in exchange for looking after the land , I get to live here rent free. The truck that we live in is ours and I have 6 x 240 watt solar panels and 4 x 280 amp batteries that give me all the energy I need. I collect water from the local springs to drink and I mostly hand wash all of my families clothes. Every now and again I take a load of our clothes to the laundrette and to me that is a real treat. There are lots of people living a similar life to me in my community and there is no other life that I want to be living.

Two of my beautiful friends enjoying my carrot cake.
So why am I writing this, well because for one it allows you all to get to know me a little bit better and also because I really do live the life that I promote. Life is too short to spend time time thinking about what one can do to live a simpler life, or live a life that is closer to nature. My daily life is hard work, I am the main provider and carer for my 3 girls and I also home educate them.

My days are full and at the end of each one I am always exhausted. But exhausted in a good way. Each day I am happy with what I have achieved. For me one of the most important things I can do for my children is provide them with nutritious food and make sure that I am always available for them. I have no problems in telling them when I do need time to myself, as how else will they get to learn about self care, if I am not practising it.

See here's the thing, I want my children to live a life where they are surrounded by a community that looks out for one another, a community that is creative and full of people who are willing to trade in exchange for produce or their time. I want them to be stimulated by the environment they live in and I want them to know that every decision they make is something that they are responsible for.

I want them to have the freedom to become who they want to be. The best way I can achieve this is by living this way myself. By being the person I want others to be. So that this way of life, is just normal for them, so that this way of life is what they take with them out into the world. The future really sits with us as much as it does with them.

I have had people ask me, but isn't it stressful, isn't it tough not always knowing whether or not you will be able to support your kids, to provide for them. But if there is something that I have learnt in my time on this earth, it is that we can make things happen, we are the creators of our reality.

I will always find a way to provide for my kids, because as well as being very resourceful, I also live in a community where we all look out for one another. Nobody goes without, around here. I have only been living here 3 years, but I have found a part of my tribe and we have one another's backs. We all know that the person we help today, will very likely become the person who will help us in the future.

This is how it works, this is how the love and generosity flows around here. I want my children to grow up and see that this is what is normal, this is what community really looks like.

I have read so many posts about community on here recently, posts that have been written with a lot of passion. What is most important from my point of view, is the actions that we each take, the way that we behaviour and the message that we each spread. What matters, is that we each take responsibility for the decisions we make, so that they are inline with the best interests for the community as a whole. We are all in this together and everyone of us has something to offer our communities, be it on here or offline.

It is up to all of us to create the communities we wish to be a part of!

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