Very insightful, and a topic that is dear to my own heart. In these inflationary times I have cut our budget for food spending, but we are eating better than we have in years. By going back to skills I have cultivated since childhood I switched back to making essentially all our food from scratch. I can buy organic pasta, organic beans, choose New Zealand grown oats, flour, etc and still save more money than we used to spend, even before inflation started biting. Lots of eating in season, preserving, and eating what grows right here. Plus I grow a massive vegetable garden (and worked years in orchard horitculture), so I certainly understand the work that goes into growing! This is all only possible because I am not currently working full-time, which is a privilege. You are absolutely right that it is not a case of food affordability but the high costs in other areas, plus our squeezed lives leaving no time and energy to feed ourselves delicious and nourishing food. I do look at all the savings I've been able to achieve by NOT working full-time, it amounts to at least 12 hours of my wage per week (savings on food because I can grow/preserve/cook it, savings on fuel, savings on car maintenance, savings on buying work clothes and shoes so often...) so any extra 'job' work I might consider has to be looked at from that context.
Newly subscribed. To completely ignore the thrust of your article, what is the vibe of the festival like? Our family go to Timber Festival every year but we are falling out of love with it. Is there a family vibe at all - storytelling, performances etc? Timber has enough interesting sustainability talks to keep me interested but also plenty for the kids (both under 10). Is there anything like that at Groundswell?
Hi there - thanks so much for subscribing! Actually there are very few kids there, and I think I read in the FAQs of the website that they don't encourage people to bring children / they are trying to keep it an industry-focussed event. There are definitely no "family" tickets or anything. For adults though it has a lovely vibe, in the morning there are a few more wellness-focussed sessions like meditation and yoga, and then it becomes a bit of a party in the evenings and they have live music etc.! Hope that helps
Thanks Olivia, yes I saw that in the FAQs too. I'd probably enjoy it if I went on my own but little chance of that, so I think I'll need to look out for a different festival that I can take family to but is more practical and less right-on than Timber. (I have enjoyed it though, don't want to dunk on it too much!)
Very insightful, and a topic that is dear to my own heart. In these inflationary times I have cut our budget for food spending, but we are eating better than we have in years. By going back to skills I have cultivated since childhood I switched back to making essentially all our food from scratch. I can buy organic pasta, organic beans, choose New Zealand grown oats, flour, etc and still save more money than we used to spend, even before inflation started biting. Lots of eating in season, preserving, and eating what grows right here. Plus I grow a massive vegetable garden (and worked years in orchard horitculture), so I certainly understand the work that goes into growing! This is all only possible because I am not currently working full-time, which is a privilege. You are absolutely right that it is not a case of food affordability but the high costs in other areas, plus our squeezed lives leaving no time and energy to feed ourselves delicious and nourishing food. I do look at all the savings I've been able to achieve by NOT working full-time, it amounts to at least 12 hours of my wage per week (savings on food because I can grow/preserve/cook it, savings on fuel, savings on car maintenance, savings on buying work clothes and shoes so often...) so any extra 'job' work I might consider has to be looked at from that context.
Newly subscribed. To completely ignore the thrust of your article, what is the vibe of the festival like? Our family go to Timber Festival every year but we are falling out of love with it. Is there a family vibe at all - storytelling, performances etc? Timber has enough interesting sustainability talks to keep me interested but also plenty for the kids (both under 10). Is there anything like that at Groundswell?
Hi there - thanks so much for subscribing! Actually there are very few kids there, and I think I read in the FAQs of the website that they don't encourage people to bring children / they are trying to keep it an industry-focussed event. There are definitely no "family" tickets or anything. For adults though it has a lovely vibe, in the morning there are a few more wellness-focussed sessions like meditation and yoga, and then it becomes a bit of a party in the evenings and they have live music etc.! Hope that helps
Thanks Olivia, yes I saw that in the FAQs too. I'd probably enjoy it if I went on my own but little chance of that, so I think I'll need to look out for a different festival that I can take family to but is more practical and less right-on than Timber. (I have enjoyed it though, don't want to dunk on it too much!)