The life-purpose block
There’s a tongue-in-cheek term I’ve heard mentioned a few times lately that’s gotten right under my skin: “Life-sentence block.” It’s the idea that running a large rural property or lifestyle block requires so much time and effort that it’s akin to a life-long prison sentence. While I get the term is a joke made in a light-hearted manner, it still got me thinking hard about the reasons people choose to live in the country, and why it would ever be viewed as a burden. Most people can only dream of having a large rural property on which to raise animals, grow fruit and vegetables, make compost and create renewable systems. In this world of recessions, pandemics and increasingly extreme weather events, there are few people more primed to enjoy a relatively stable quality of life than those with the resources to produce their own food and harness renewable energy.
Yes, running a large property is hard. But that’s the point isn’t it? We choose this way of life not to enjoy the comforts and convenience of urban living while doing an easy spot of farmwork on the weekends. We choose it to enjoy a more fulfilling, self-sufficient way of life, and to reap the mental, physical and spiritual benefits of working with the land. To view owning a large property as anything but an enormous privilege is, to my mind, quite absurd.
This is why it was so amazing to meet Dan and Merve of Hakea Bush Retreat, who
I feature on page 22. Having lost their jobs during the pandemic, the pair took the plunge deep into the soil of their 16-hectare bush block, drawing fulfilment, happiness and wisdom from the ongoing experience. Embracing the support and guidance from those around them, they have managed to produce much of their own food, and have created a vibrant off-grid permaculture hub where others can come to learn better ways to connect with the land.
Even those who have to work to pay their mortgages can take some inspiration from the way the couple employ resilience, innovation and thrift to adapt to the unpredictable rhythms of nature.
What they do is far from a life sentence. It’s not even a lifestyle.
It’s a life purpose.