Thread: Getting back to living off the land.....

Heh. I started practicing for retirement when I first started work.

I served my time as a fitter, turner and machinist with the Ministry of Works in Nelson. It was a great job with a good variety, plus they were a good employer. I've worked as a fitter, safety coordinator, purchasing officer, recruitment coordinator, salesperson, customer services officer and security officer.

Back when I was about 53 I married for a second time. My new wife is a glass artist, having worked a lot with stained glass (leadlight windows etc) and more lately with fused glass. She also paints like a genius. It didn't take long before I became her assistant (although I did a few odd jobs for employers here and there after this time). We made jewellery from dichroic glass and our biggest outlet for this was at the Nelson Saturday Market, although we did go to a few other markets and events. Some years we made a really good living at this.

We still make a few jewellery pieces, but we gave up the market. Sales dropped there... possibly because our stuff had lost some of its novelty value, and another factor was all the cheap factory-made jewellery coming in from overseas, which enabled a lot of people to get more bling for their buck.

One day we were asked if we could produce a wall hanging using metal and a certain colour of glass. We did that, and the customer seemed pleased with it. So then we started making wall hangings from stainless steel and glass, and sales of these have provided the bulk of our living for several years. I started getting NZ Super last month, but we still intend to continue with the artwork for now.

We currently live on a fairly small section in a semi-rural area. We grow fruit and vegetables (but generally not things like potatoes and corn). I have owned a larger lifestyle block where we had a pig, a calf, sheep, chickens and rabbits along with fruit and veg. It is a lot of work though, especially if key people in the family like things to be perfectly tidy. I don't want to spend all my time dealing with weeds etc.

I am so blessed to have friends with lifestyle blocks who give me access to their place. It is wandering around in the scrub in my own neighbourhood which gives me the majority of my 'outdoor' pleasure and satisfaction. I am content now to have a smaller, more manageable property and the freedom to hunt and explore elsewhere.