The Wildest Dream
When I originally wrote this I was growing food and flowers on my little blue balcony in the city, grateful to be able to do that. It was a real joy to grow my own veggies from seed, nurture them, harvest them, cook and eat them. But there was a steadily growing itch, a wish for more… And by now I’ve actually already taken a few important steps towards this dream…
I’ve been a city girl for most of my life, I grew up in what I guess you could call a suburban town but always wanted to live in the heart of a city and that’s what I as soon as I went off to study art. I moved to Antwerp and I’ve enjoyed living in the city, having wonderful cafes, restaurants and shops just on your doorstep and friends near, but in recent years after I had a burnout (while growing my illustration business) I also have come to realise I have an ever growing need to connect more with nature too, to connect with the land, the soil, to get grounded…
It started slowly with an ever growing collection of house plants and more and more flowers on my little balcony. And during the first covid lockdown in 2020 I started growing vegetables on my balcony, it was so much fun and it led me down a rabbit hole, learning about growing your own food in an organic way, permaculture (which goes so much further than just growing veggies) and I did this amazing Regenerative Future course which tackled themes like growing food, economy, health, spirituality, culture, … It was so incredibly inspiring and made me just want to do more than just grow a few veggies on my very small and limited balcony, so I slowly started to dream of finding a place with a big garden or land to create a beautiful abundant vegetable garden, with lots of flowers for the pollinators too and fruit trees. Becoming a steward of the land, growing special varieties that you can’t just buy in the shops, being able to make wonderful food with freshly harvested vegetables from my own garden, getting out of this consumption system that is so incredibly bad for the environment, ultimately trying to become as much self-sufficient as possible.
The vision
I envision living in a beautiful small dwelling, I’m not entirely clear on what sort of building this should be, maybe a cottage, a yurt, a tiny house or something else, but I know I’d like it to be bright and light, modern and built or renovated in a sustainable way, using sustainable materials and incorporation renewable energy sources and waste reducing/eliminating systems for living there.
And of course there would be land, as much as would be manageable and affordable, with space for a wonderful vegetable garden with annual and perennial plants and fruit trees and bushes, maybe a food forest. Growing food in an organic way, using permaculture principles to shape the land and the house. Working towards self-sufficiency, nurturing the soil and letting the soil nurture us. Creating a natural sanctuary, a place for connection with nature and with other people.
It would be great if it’s in an area with lots of nature, not too far from some sort of big body of water and not too far from a nice city. I have to admit that living far away from a decent town or city would scare me a bit, it would be great to have certain amenities like proper healthcare options and a few nice restaurants and shops close by, but who knows, maybe I’ll absolutely love being very remote once I try it!
Obviously, this is the beautiful perfect vision and in reality it may take some time and money (that I still need to find somehow 😅) to create this sort of wonderful project. But it’s a vision and a goal to work towards. In the mean time I can learn about all sort of regenerative practices and step by step try to implement more and more in my life…
An Update
In November 2021 I moved to Portugal with this goal of maybe one day having such a place of my own in this beautiful country. I’d been looking at different southern European countries and honestly there are lots of places that have so much potential and could be amazing to live but ultimately Portugal seemed to have the right energy for me.
I flew to the Algarve and have been staying in Portimão to get used to this country and just get grounded a bit while also working on some work projects but the idea is that I’ll be moving around to explore different regions and to visit and even volunteer at different regenerative projects, farms, retreat centers to learn from them, connect with likeminded people and be in nature.
If you like to read more about my adventures and my thoughts about everything, the struggles and the joys in Portugal check out these posts.
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