Hey there! 

My name is Jessie and the good looking bearded guy to my right is my husband Andrew (he loves it when I compliment him publicly), and we are 'slow living' devotees - passionate about living a clean, self-sufficient and as sustainable lifestyle as possible. We have studied and practiced Permaculture Design and Horticulture for nearly 10 years, with plans for further study in Holistic Agriculture and Nutrition. Andrew has also trained as a chef (I know lucky me right?!)

We are both avid readers and practical learners (which give us the opportunity to learn from our mistakes) and we have certainly learnt a lot along the way so we are here to not only share our journey, but to hopefully help others to lean towards a greener, more nourishing lifestyle. You will mainly be reading my musings about life, though Andrew will be jumping in for his words of bearded wisdom.  We think we have a good sense of humour, and will either share a joke, or poke fun at ourselves.  Life is way too short to take things too seriously don’t you think?

We LOVE growing food, and we mean we LOVE it! We also love showing others how awesome it is to grow their own food too, no matter the space you have to work with. After harvesting your food we can show you how to cook and eat delicious meals knowing every part is not only super tasty, but super good for you. It's fun getting creative when you have a glut of zucchinis to work with.

Andrew always had a love affair with where food came from and even had a well-established urban farm in his early 20's. Though for me I was born in the USA and grew up on a stereotypical American diet, full of sugars, numbers and empty calories, and never really thought about how the food I was eating was made or how it contributed to my health.  This was until Andrew showed me an episode of River Cottage back in 2004 and I had one of the biggest epiphanies of my life! I first became a little addicted to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and River Cottage (we have even travelled to the UK more than once to visit and do a cooking course at River Cottage HQ, but that is a story for another time). I then started to question everything about where our food came from, along with how we can move back to a cleaner, more wholesome way of living. Though I didn't realise then just how important addressing my health would be until I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto's. Which basically just means my immune system likes to attack my thyroid... Not a bunch of fun, but if it wasn't for this extra little kick up the butt I wouldn't be where I am now. I became a woman on a mission when it came to completely transitioning to a low tox, clean lifestyle. I think our friends would agree, we were all in!

Eliminating the foods causing inflammation in my body was one of the first steps in my healing. Yep, I first started with eliminating sugar (one of the hardest things I have done but soooo worth it). Then came gluten in all its forms and dairy (again hard when you were raised in the dairy state back in America) along with some grains. Luckily for me Andrew embraced this dramatic change in my diet, and started to cook meals for us both along these guidelines (husband as a chef win!). With his guidance, I then started my own culinary journey and teaching myself how to take traditional recipes and recreate them with a completely healthy and spin.  I now feel I have extensive experience in cooking and catering for multiple food allergies (top food allergens - dairy, wheat, egg, nuts, soy and seafood) and lifestyle choices. Our food motto is: To eat clean and whole foods, for your body to work at it's optimum.  It's all about celebrating food everyone can eat!

Why Home Amongst The Green?

When we think of the word ‘home’ it brings feelings of safety, being at ease, it is a place that is familiar, where you can relax, and always come back to. And the word ‘green’ makes us think about nature, sustainability, wholesome, health and life. So Home Amongst The Green is about coming back to our true nature, and all the ways we can do exactly that. 

In a nut shell, it’s green living made easy.

We will share as much as we can with you, the good and the bad, and welcome conversations around our area of interests (provided it is constructive and without malice, we are peaceful people). We are on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and now we have our own website! (Little excited!) Just another step to building our dream, which involves all of you too!

The dream is to continue to keep learning, share our journey, but to also work for ourselves, so you will see Home Amongst The Green hit the road helping others set up edible gardens, along with selling our goodies at local markets.

Thanks again for stopping by and we look forward to seeing you all in the green!

Come back to where you belong… Come home amongst the green