Mother The Mountain Farm

Daily Routines in the Mountains: Finding Purpose in Traditional Skills

Off Grid Paradise: Permaculture Living in a Jungle Food Forest

Discovering a Hidden Magnolia Forest, Cooking & Building in our Rural Cottage

A Secret Path: Finding Purpose in an Ordinary Life

Struggles and Dreams: The Truth of Rural Living

Rural Living in our Rainforest Cabin: Painting and Cooking from the Garden

The Hardest and Most Beautiful Days in our Rainforest Cottage

Finding Home in a Tiny Stone Cottage: Life, Loss and Change

A Magical Simple Life in the Australian Rainforest

Calming Sounds of Harvesting Fruit and Cooking in the Rain Forest

Spring Routines: Life in a Hidden Rainforest

Routines of Forest Life: Gardening, Cooking and Building

Morning Routines in our Rainforest Cabin

The Endless Summers of the Rainforest

Springtime in the mountains feels like change and we're learning so much from these simple routines. This slow life has taught us to redefine our ideas of success and what a happy life is, to learn from the simplicity of caring for the animals, sewing our own clothes, and facing problems.

Living alone in the jungle can be scary, but in this solitude, we find so much peace, joy and beauty. This week has been magical, we’ve been painting, planting rare rainforest trees and hiking all alone deep in the forest, meeting so many snakes and wildlife

We’ve been living alone and off grid in the Australian rainforest for 3 years now and we’ve achieved a lot! We’ve built an art studio to live in, grown a cottage garden following permaculture techniques, cared for so many animals, planted tropical fruit orchards, painted, sewed and learnt more than we could have imagined.

This week has been really tough, living in the rainforest creates extremes of hardship and beauty. The rain returned and a massive flood came, but then in an instant, the storms cleared! The magical sunshine has returned and it feels like the landscape is celebrating, the sun sets in a thousand shades of pink, the creeks are flowing freely and the garden is blooming. Join us on some real days of our life, gardening, swimming, sewing and creating!

Daily Life in a Tropical Fruit Forest

The Art of a Slow Life

We are sisters, Julia and Anastasia Vanderbyl. A few years ago, we began a journey to live a life in perfect harmony with nature. A life of caring for animals, growing fruit, planting trees, gardening, cooking, creating, building and learning to live with the land. In this time, nature has taught us more than we could have ever imagined.

We are sisters, Julia and Anastasia Vanderbyl. A few years ago, we began a journey to live a life in perfect harmony with nature. A life of caring for animals, growing fruit, planting trees, gardening, cooking, creating, building and learning to live with the land. In this time, nature has taught us more than we could have ever imagined.

We are sisters, Julia and Anastasia Vanderbyl. A few years ago, we began a journey to live a life in perfect harmony with nature. A life of caring for animals, growing fruit, planting trees, gardening, cooking, creating, building and learning to live with the land. In this time, nature has taught us more than we could have ever imagined.

We are sisters, Julia and Anastasia Vanderbyl. A few years ago, we began a journey to live a life in perfect harmony with nature. A life of caring for animals, growing fruit, planting trees, gardening, cooking, creating, building and learning to live with the land. In this time, nature has taught us more than we could have ever imagined.