In 2017 – 3 young kids in tow – we returned to Australia after 4.5 years living in California. Part of the reason for returning was a decision to make a huge lifestyle change – leave the corporate world, buy a few acres of land somewhere and do something entirely different.
However late in July 2017 Scott was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
Suddenly the idea of buying rural acreage didn’t make much sense. But we were determined to not give up entirely on the dream.
By coincidence a house next door in Thornleigh (Sydney) came up for sale. On the spur of the moment we bought the property, renovated and rented the small cottage at the front of the land, and retained the large garden at the rear to create what we now call ‘Highland Farm’.
It’s been a steep learning curve and we’ve reconfigured the garden several times, trying to find something that works for us – a busy young family with two parents that work full-time. Recently we’ve embraced wicking beds and begun the planting to support a move to more of a food forest approach (rather than heavy cropping of seasonal vegetables throughout the garden).
