Personal & Practical. Taking better care of our selves, our families, and the world around us.
Personal & Practical. Taking better care of our selves, our families, and the world around us.
You value ethical living, real food, and healthy families. You want to live in ways that don't keep unraveling life on earth so your kids and grandkids can get a fair deal.
AND, you need to do it in ways that are manageable for you.
You need affordable steps that make your life easier, not harder.
And you need to hear ideas and concepts that bring a sense of relief and hope, not guilt and despair.
Is that how you feel?
Me too.
Hi. I'm Kate.
I’m a homeschooling mother of two. I'm an advocate for real, local food and simple, natural living. And I'm a writer and teacher.
I’m deeply interested in health. Not just physical, but also mental/emotional and spiritual health. And not just my own and my family's, but also the health of the social and ecological systems we are part of.
For more than 15 years, years my mission has been to learn to care for myself and my family in ways that re-build and regenerate all these aspects of health.
Yes, that's big. But it can be broken down into small, simple steps. I've found that the simplest ways are the most effective ways and that the smallest steps are the most sustainable.
I don't expect ever to get it all entirely figured out. But I’ve come a long way, I feel confident in my direction, and I’m ready to help you out if you're heading in the same direction and feeling like you could use some support.
Hi, I'm Kate
I’m a homeschooling mother of two, an advocate for real, local food and simple, natural living, and a writer and teacher.
I’m deeply interested in health. I believe that “health” is not only physical but also has social and spiritual dimensions, and that for individuals to be healthy our families, communities, and environments must be healthy. And vice versa. It’s all connected.
That’s why for the last 15 years my mission has been to learn to care for myself and my family in ways that build and regenerate all aspects of health.
It’s complex. I don’t have it all figured out yet, far from it. But I’ve come a long way, I feel confident in my direction, and I’m ready to help you do the same for yourself and your family.
A Real Green Life is about being able to...
- rely less on supermarkets, pharmacies, and the whole industrial complex -- so you can live a healthy life that doesn't cost the earth
- grow some of your own food and feel a sense of accomplishment and improved health
- meet your family's food and basic healthcare needs more economically, using simple ingredients with less toxins, less packaging, less waste, more meaning, and better ethics
- parent yourself compassionately so you can be more effective at taking care of what matters to you
- feel connected and comfortable in the relationships, communities and ecosystems that hold you, knowing you're supported by them and also accountable to them
"Food for thought...
I subscribe to quite a few homestead/green lifestyle newsletters. Yours is so relatable, informative, and gives excellent food for thought; Get Off the Bus is a great example. Thanks so much for your work. Cheers from a Nova Scotia!"
Jessica
Raven's Ridge Permaculture
"Wisdom I can sit with...
Kate, I really like "When Nothing You Can Do Makes a Difference." It's wisdom I can sit with -- wisdom I've been looking for as I think about how to prioritize things going forward. I have it right next to my journal as a reminder."
Lorraine
I write about two broad topics on A Real Green Life:
Practical Skills, as in "how to do things," and Personal Skills, as in "why to do things."
1. Practical Skills
This is about practical skills to help you decrease your dependence on industrial foods, pharmaceuticals, and toxic cleaning products. I write about how to:
- grow some of your own food (One Small Serve is my new book about how to grow and use 7 beginner friendly plants to establish a home-grown food habit that's easy to maintain).
- gradually replace packaged convenience foods with real, whole, foods and wise, frugal kitchen strategies, without taking as much of your time as you might be thinking (check out my free guide as a starting point, or these free posts)
- ditch the two most toxic aisles in the supermarket—the cleaning aisle and the bathroom aisle—and replace them with simple, healthy alternatives that you can make at home from basic ingredients for a fraction of the cost
- make some of your basic healthcare needs cheaply and simply, to reduce your exposure to the health threats hidden in pharmaceuticals
You can read browse all of my free Practical Skills posts here, if you like.
2. Personal Skills
In this category of writing I explore topics like these:
- how our ways of perceiving and relating shape our lives and our world
- why tending to our inner world is critical if we want to make a positive difference in the world around us
- how we can develop our ability to live a self-directed life as opposed to a life directed by the consumer culture that surrounds us
I share stories and ideas about empowerment, perspective, and hope. My goal with this part of my work is to examine the stories we've been living in--about who we are, how our world works, and our role in it--so that we can make a conscious choice about whether we want our lives to extend these same stories or tell different ones.
You can read more about my Personal Skills philosophy and browse my free posts here, if you like.
"Well researched, honest and inspiring..
Kate is a regular contributing author to Permaculture News and I always look forward to receiving her articles. They are always thought provoking, well researched, honest and inspiring. Kate's articles either present different perspectives (Personal Skills) or share valuable knowledge, hints and tips (Practical Skills). I know the wider Permaculture community also appreciate Kate's contributions; many comments are shared on her posts. Thanks Kate."
Anna
Permaculture News Editor - PermacultureNews.org
About the "real" and the "green" in A Real Green Life
I use the word "Real" in the sense that it's focused on what's real and important to you. It's living according to your values, as opposed to allowing your life to be driven by capitalism and consumerism.
I use the word "Green" in the sense that it's about
making choices that are as regenerative as possible, or at least that do as little harm as possible. Industrialization and colonialism have conditioned us to live in ways that are extractive and destructive. A Real Green Life explores ways to undo that conditioning.
When you sincerely commit to simply caring for your self and your family with a focus on your truest values, you are indirectly taking care of the Whole because you and your family are inextricably connected to the Whole. This is what I call living a Real Green Life.
(Perhaps I could have called it "a whole green life," but I didn't think of that at the time.)
"Business as usual" vs "a real, green life"
Business as usual | Real and green |
|---|---|
Industrial farming and food manufacturing, supermarket food, fast food, people eating in a rush or eating alone | Real food, grown in healthy ecosystems, local, seasonal, slow, homemade, people eating and sharing with enjoyment |
Giant mono-culture farms, depleted ecosystems, shrinking biodiversity, disappearing top soil and dwindling indigenous knowledge about food and place | Small diverse farms, cottage industry, stable farming communities and ecosystems, room for indigenous people to continue their traditional lifestyles and ways for them to share their wisdom and perspectives |
A growth-at-all-costs global economy dominated by a few giant corporations who sell to the entire world | A steady state economy dominated by millions of small businesses who serve local communities |
Low-quality mass produced products, poorly paid workers, world-wide distribution, a linear progression from raw material to disposable products to landfill | Locally made, fair trade goods, designed to last, a circular economy recycling and re-using materials |
Dependence on supermarkets, superstores, government institutions, and experts; loss of personal autonomy | Increasing self-reliance, learning/remembering how to think for ourselves, re-building the skills of self-sufficiency and interdependence |
People living lives of quite desperation on the up-sizing treadmill | A meaningful life, with fewer possessions and richer connections to family, community, and nature |
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Wondering where to start? I have a suggestion...
What we put in our shopping trolleys and baskets impacts our own health, obviously, but it goes way beyond that. Our basic shopping choices also directly effect the ecosystems and communities that produce our consumables and those that absorb the by-products and waste-products of what we eat and use.
Since we're making these choices every day anyway, paying more attention to them is a small but significant way to help - without adding anything extra to your to-do list.
Use my free Guide to Healthier Shopping Habits as a starting point. The ideas in it will help you think through your shopping choices more clearly, and they might also save you money.
Recent posts...
(and recently updated posts)
Whole foods require more planning and organization than processed convenience foods, but the pay-off is worth it. The benefits include: better nutrition, a feeling of empowerment and reconnection as you learn to engage with your food closer to its source, and the satisfaction in knowing you’re taking better care of the Earth just by how you eat.
Our physical and social environments have huge influence on our habits and behaviors. People who design supermarkets and sell products know this and take full advantage of it. This post will help you examine what’s shaping your shopping routines and your buying decisions, and learn how to change them.
In frost free areas we’re blessed to be able to grow tropical food plants in the summer and better known European style veggies in the winter. This time of year, spring, is especially abundant with its overlap between the cool weather and hot weather plants. This post shares pics and links to info for a small selection of food plants from our garden.
Spring is the time to look at the “seeds” or intentions we’ve been gestating over winter, to choose those with the best chances of surviving and thriving, and to let go of the rest of them. As in the garden, so in our inner lives. Otherwise, your coming “growing season” may be filled with too much stuff, or with stuff that isn’t serving you. And if it isn’t serving you then it also won’t be serving your world, which is an extension of you.
Our physical and social environments have huge influence on our habits and behaviors. People who design supermarkets and sell products know this and take full advantage of it. This post will help you examine what’s shaping your shopping routines and your buying decisions, and learn how to change them.
Whole foods require more planning and organization than processed convenience foods, but the pay-off is worth it. The benefits include: better nutrition, a feeling of empowerment and reconnection as you learn to engage with your food closer to its source, and the satisfaction in knowing you’re taking better care of the Earth just by how you eat.
"Honest, genuine, thought provoking...
As a homeschooling Mum pursuing a more meaningful life for my family, ARealGreenLife supports me in questioning and expanding my existing world view."
Melita
"Love your non-threatening, easy to read, commonsense style. Reading A Real Green Life offers people the opportunity to question why they live the way they do."
Gina
"Insightful ideas and concepts...
I love your stuff - you come up with very insightful ideas and concepts. For example, I never realized that essential oils had become such a big industry that it was impacting on the environment.
Cathy
"Realizing how numb we are...
Dear Kate, Thank you for posting such deep and thought provoking blog posts. ... I think you are doing a great service to make us all aware of the consequences of our actions. It makes me realize how numb we are, and how comfortable it is to be numb, just doing what everyone else does and not questioning the real, true and deep impacts of our lives."
Anonymous
"No fluff.
So much interesting and important info, neatly packaged, no fluff. "
Gunter
"Lucid insights...
Thank you Kate. You express your insights and understandings lucidly...
I appreciate the broad perspective you share on subjects that are meaningful to you—social, spiritual, environmental, economical—and the research and reading you do to inform your writing."