About Us and Who we Are: Owners of Countryfarm Lifestyles

Phil and Kathy Bax

In case you were wondering more about us, and who we are, we thought we would fill you in. We were born proverbial gypsies. My first move from my hometown came a year before the birth of my first child, and we found ourselves the owners of a lifestyle block, where we owner-built our first house. Here we grew our own vegetables and fruit. We collected strawberries by the bucket-load during the season and we made jams, preserves and canning when the fruit from the extensive orchards was harvested. Two Welsh ponies were added to the picture with chickens next on the list.

More children were added to the family, and they thrived on the fresh air and had access to the fruit and vegetables that were all organically grown. Nothing was wasted. The horses and chickens provided good farmyard manure which went back on the veggies and fruit trees, enriching the soil in preparation for the next harvest.

Over the years we improved in what and how we planted and gained more knowledge of natural pesticides for our produce. In addition, we were lucky enough to be able to buy raw milk from a neighboring farm and had lots of fun making yoghurt, soft cheeses, butter and buttermilk, and waiting impatiently for the cream to rise so that we could scoop it off.

For a while our self-sufficient lifestyle was forced to come to an end due to unforced circumstances and we ended up living far away from home in diverse places such as Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. However, no matter where we lived I grew my own vegetables and fruit on a smaller scale, and even learnt the art of spinning, natural dyeing and pottery while living in these places.

Another move was on the cards, this time in a place where one finds it difficult to be have some semblance of self-sufficiency; the Middle East. However, even there, we have managed for five months of the year when the weather is cooler, to grow vegetables in raised bed gardens built off concrete floors, make marmalades, cordials and lime aid from the lime tree, use the dates that grow prolifically and even the mulberry tree obliges from time to time. We still make our own compost, but this time from kitchen scraps, newspaper and some horse manure from the racecourse horses a block away.

Wherever we have lived, be it on a small holding, the suburbs or even on a large farm, we have always had some degree of self-sufficiency in our food. I try not to use too many chemicals in my home and so am also big on homemade cleaning products, homemade beauty products, healing herbs, making soap and homemade crafts.

Now, in our mature years, another exciting phase has opened up to us. We are the owners of a farmhouse in Tuscany where we are busy at present renovating the old farmhouse and plan to grow grapes, olives, cherries and have a truffle orchard, along with an orchard, vegetables, nut trees, chickens and ducks.

We are no experts in growing grapes, olives or truffles, but with a lot of hard work and research we believe that we will continue the same level of satisfaction we have always enjoyed in our path to self-sufficiency.

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