A Taste of the Good Life

SIMPLE LIFE

OH THE GOOD LIFE

Having lived now in our beautiful Valley for three years I have started to take the Good Life for granted.

Most of our fruit and vegetables are either home grown in our ‘orto’ or locally grown. They have blemishes, are eaten ripe straight from the tree, bought from our local market at the village then placed in brown paper bags.

Food tastes real here.

Making the change from the rat race to the good life hasn’t always been easy but it has totally been the best thing we could have done for our health, our children and our wellbeing.

Our neighbors keep ducks, chickens, goats, cows and sheep, and we raise rabbits which we swap with them. Our little community is thriving, a ring of the bell and Anna is giving us a tray of strawberries from her orto, our friends offer to help us with planting the potatoes, herbs are picked fresh from the garden, it’s a chef’s delight.

This year our little ‘orto’ is packed with veggies, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, a large potato patch, we also have an orchard bringing apples and cherries, and neighbors willing to swap surplus with us.

Our potatoes and apples will be stored to last through winter, our friends are busy making jams and life is busy as always.

As well as picking from our veggie patch we also go foraging along paths that lead into the mountains. It has become a daily competition for us to see how many wild strawberries and raspberries we can gather, we eat them as we walk.

Of course that first taste of a wild raspberry is something I’ll never forget, such an intense burst of flavour.

In autumn blackberries, walnuts and chestnuts will be gathered, along with wild mushrooms.

Our valley is rich in natural goodness and I can’t imagine ever returning to a suburban life in Australia.

IN LOVE WITH THE GOOD LIFE

Apples picked straight from the tree with a crisp, juicy freshness that I’ve never know before, antique varieties with a soft pink hue under the skin that are so sweet I gasp as I bite into the flesh.

THE GOOD LIFE

Are we living in paradise?

That’s what it feels like, are we living the Good Life here in our Valley at the foot of the Alps, YES I know we are.

Do you yearn to live the Good Life? Are you living it already?
We’d love to hear about it ……

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and the gang x

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10 replies

Bettina says:
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Thanksfor sharing! The slow pace,rich,healthy life, is exactly what I am trying to start, as well!!
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Emma. says:
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Thanks for freely sharing your life and lessons via this blog Lisa! My husband and I have just moved to Greece to do the same thing after spending the past year volunteering around the world gathering skills and ideas. We started this journey about 3 years ago while living in KL, Malaysia completely out of love with careers, the city and the rat race in general. Lucky my husband is a hippy or I may never have had the belief or courage to abandon my 20 year successful career for a totally mad adventure! I daily doubt myself and our vision and spend a lot of time and energy trying to explain our idea to family and locals who just cant imagine why we would leave ‘rich’ western world countries (US and Australia) to come to Greece where so many people are struggling. What they fail to realise is that being rich in the western world means being a slave. The more successful you are, the more of yourself you must give to ‘the man’. I thank the universe every day for giving me the courage to make a change but its people like you who keep me on track and inspired. So THANK YOU!!! xx
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Ivan Jordon says:
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Yes, that’s a good life… Makes me miss living in a farm..
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  We’d miss country life now, I don’t think we could go back to the suburbs. x
Orna O'Reilly says:
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Lisa, I completely with you about the “good life.” Even though we don’t grow our own vegetables, we eat fantastic fresh produce – including a huge variety of freshly caught fish – on an ongoing basis. We love the quality of life here in Italy and could not possibly consider living anyplace else. Happy!
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Just talking about this today, the general lifestyle here is so wonderful especially the food. Glad to see you happy and join you in your love of Italia xxx
Maureen Brocardo says:
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Looks fabulous! Your hard work is paying off. Good luck in all you do, certainly is the good life!
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Thanks Maureen, I feel like finally we’re making headway with our life here….love it
Sandra Mangiagalli says:
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So glad it has all come together for you and your family!xx
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- Lisa Chiodo says:
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  Thanks so much Sandra, it’s still a work in progress lol x

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SIMPLE LIFE