hey hey, its been a while dear friends & readers
2025 is truly underway, the past month I have taken a break from social media & spent more time with friends & family who came to visit for Christmas & we have been cooking lots of pizza, which is our main income source. January is always a slow month for us business wise so it is a good time to cosy up at home, work on the homestead projects which are endless & to reflect on what I learnt in 2024 & what I want to learn or unlearn in 2025.
The world seems like it is a bit crazy right now with the wars, the inequality, the advancement of AI, the increasing prices & inflation rising every year since COVID, which makes it all seem like a scam to divide us, keep us locked into our social medias & take as much of our money as possible so that the struggle for existence remains, does it not.
Please bear with my while I record myself reading this for you…. I have never done that before, it is quite daunting.
I don’t like to read the news or worry too much about what is going on in the world because it gives me a lot of anxiety & I cannot have the weight of the whole world on my shoulders, but I do know that every cafe, restaurant, supermarket & service that I use in this rural region of Portugal has increased again between 10-100% since the end of 2024. One large reusable bag of groceries is now between 50-80 euros, when we arrived in Portugal in 2017 this is what we spent in a month sometimes, considering we had a veggie garden too & were not buying meat because we had no fridge to store it in. My accountant for the pizza business once again increased the price of their services, it doubled last January & it has doubled again, making it basically unaffordable for me to use them on the money that I earn here, so now I am back to doing my own accounting & taxes in Portugal are a bitch to understand!
It seems that everything, everywhere is increasing price wise, making me angry at the system that allows basically 1% of people to own 99% of the wealth & resources on this planet. People are forced to charge more in their business because of the increase in large companies prices elsewhere, higher up the food chain. I have stopped spending money like I used to since we moved to the land, out of necessity in the beginning & then even now when we do earn a small wage, I still refuse to spend my money on “luxury” items that are not strictly necessary. We spend all of our income on food, fuel for the cars, phone bills, insurance, pizza ingredients & things we need for our business & drinks in our local café. I don’t remember the last time I walked into a clothing shop & spent money on something, this does mean that my pants are indeed falling apart! haha. But I rely on secondhand clothing sales or swaps to boost my wardrobe, I also like to make my own clothes since I got a secondhand sewing machine a few years ago. I don’t want to come across like a crunchy wanker but seriously, there are some super simple ideas here, mixed in with some others which i understand do come from a place of great privilege because I have a piece of land which I am able to execute them on but i think we can all take one or two of these things & put them into action…
Here are some things I am doing to stick it to the consumerist land of 2025
bees for pollination ( sadly my bees died :( BUT we have a new swarm moved in who seem to be very happy )
planting wild flowers / allowing the wildflowers to bloom right until the land clearance deadline…
planting more native species, soil erosion, fire protection etc
learning how to make your own clothes or mend the ones you have - perhaps change the size or mend holes etc
just stop buying clothes basically or at least use apps like vinted to get them secondhand
reuse fabrics to create a wardrobe that is ideally suited to you & your body
don’t upgrade your electronics every year ( i am still using an iphone 7, i was gifted a samsung by my mother in law, it was her old phone )
knit your own socks
crochet your reusable grocery bags
make your own cleaning products - orange peels & white vinegar make an amazing cleaning spray, I make one using our homegrown oranges every year
read some books about it or find some people online to educate yourself on how to reduce your spending & help the earth where possible
I made myself an off grid slow cooker to save on gas during the months we cannot make fire to cook on - I will write a whole post about making this because I believe they can benefit everybody, not just us people who live off grid
we went to Spain to get our gas bottles because they are half the price of Portugal
WOW… if you made it this far then good on you, I can ramble on & on sometimes & it doesnt seem to make sense when I read it over again. Anyway, I wrote most of this stack until now in January of this year… in February I discovered that I am pregnant & I didn’t take a look at this writing again until today, it is now the 25th of June… Where does the time go!!
But my thoughts on consuming & capitalism remain the same. I am lucky enough to have spent 0euros so far on this baby who will be arriving earth side some time around September. The generosity of friends & other Mothers in the community has cracked me wide open this past few months, I have everything from clothing, reusable nappies, wash cloths, blankets to car seat, pram & bassinet. We will be bed sharing so I don’t need to buy her a crib & I have 4 or 5 baby carriers already given to me which should see us through the first year of her life. My instagram is now bombarded with baby content & I see people buying carriers for 1000 euros & spending hundreds on prams or carseats or gadgets which make no sense to me at all. I think pregnant women are such an easy target because of our changing bodies & intense hormonal shifts, our desire to do the best for our children & the guilt of not being good enough or worthy enough as a Mother if you don’t subscribe to all of the stuff that the internet is throwing your way.
In regards to my learning so far of 2025… Today is a new moon in the sign of Cancer. Jupiter joins the sun & moon in Cancer once every 12 years so today is rare & meaningful… for me it marks the 30th week of my pregnancy & therefore the final 10 weeks have arrived before baby is due. It feels as though the future I want is manifesting itself, because I am a Taurus my love & emotional fulfilment are getting a massive boost, this is one of the luckiest moments of the year & I can honestly say I feel so lucky & blessed at this moment in time. I am so excited for the next 10 weeks as I have been loving pregnancy so far & then to finally meet the little one.
Marley & I started living together 12 years ago this month, when I followed him out to Australia, I guess that our stars are still aligning. He really is my superhero,
And if you want a quick update on what is being done on the homestead… he has laid the floor in the kitchen of the tiny house which is amazing! He also finished building the solar shed at the back of the house which will have our new solar equipment inside. This means we can finally get some real life appliances, like real life adults, who are going to be starting a real life family… it all feels so real. Hello fridge ! Hello air conditioning ! No more suffering in this insane heat. I am so glad we went through the hardships that we did to get to this place because it means we are resilient in ways I could never have imagined when I was waitressing in Brighton or Australia or studying fashion in London. We can survive with nothing & we have learnt all the skills needed to thrive on a piece of land that was empty prior to our arrival, I think that is the the ultimate F you to the capitalist world that we live in today, we don’t rely on others or government or society for everything that we need.
Added a pic of the cat in there just because she is cute & it made me giggle.
Have a beautiful Wednesday & new moon
Thanks for reading my ramblings…. Please share my substack with friends if it is something you like
J xx
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