Introducing myself! living offgrid in Spain, solo mama of 2 kids, family, nature, community, creativity and love!

in #introducemyself7 years ago (edited)
Hello Steemit Community! Im Franchi, a boot making -eco building
-fundraising travelling Irish girl (mama!) living off grid
in my campervan with my 5 year old boy
and my 11 month old baby, nice weather here allows
us to be outside in nature most of the time :-)

So....what i have been getting up to! In the past 5 years I have been busy doing the things I love...Being with my kids, sharing in our community, Building 2 strawbale houses and one cobb (I will post later on how to build a comfortable house yourself with no prior experience for 500 euro ;-)

I started a free school (forest school) so that my son and other kids can enjoy fully their school in nature and not be put into a concrete box with bars on the windows 7 hours a day :-O (posts to follow on how i did this and 4 years on the wonderful results), I Set up my handmade womens leather boots making business,  I would like to share skills here too, Also last year me and a friend and our 3 small kids did a 2 month long trek walking with 2 horses across the mountains to raise money for Syrian refugees.

I cant say that its all been easy! there have been some very hard times, but i choose this life, I could work in a normal job (i used to design shoes for Sergio Rossi in Italy!) or teach horse riding full time, but i choose to live without rent, work less hours because I have very few small bills to pay, I try to recycle, reuse and fix when i can and to avoid the temptation of new shiny stuff!. This way i have less cash but I also need less cash, I have lots of time with my kids and to enjoy the beautiful surrounding mountains, nature and time and food sharing in a wonderful creative dynamic community of like minded souls.


I love to travel, meet new people, be in the big wild places, connect with animals, try to live as simply as I can with as little possesions as possible, It feels so good to visit the clothes recycling site and offload unused things for others to enjoy, and to also collect some needed items ;-) 

Im planning in the near future to build a 'Post Partum Support center' for women who have new babies (but not the support they need)  in the first 3 months after birth, more on this project later.



Sort:  

Thanks for sharing your story, I've always been fascinated by the off-grid folks and their lifestyles. Btw, that is a great username you picked! Steemit will benefit greatly from free-spirited people such as yourself.

What a wonderful life and I would be interested in your postpartum series. We used to have large families help us when we gave birth and now new Moms and Dads are alone and also have to work. Besides lack of good nutrition and sleep, support is so important!

Thank you! I was lucky enough to have good support for my second baby with postpartum, so i know the huge difference it can make, yes sleep soooo important, and support love and yes good food!

such luck you had @steemama to get good post partum support... I guess somebody really loves you somewhere there. xx

Welcome to this crazy train we call steemit. I found your post through @markwhittam , he's great and if you are a friend of his, then you are a friend of mine.

Hey! Yep he is my neighbour at the moment! thanks for your support :-) love your oatmeal cookie recipe, I looooove all things oaty!

Wow you sound like one kickass mama ;) welcome to Steemit. I'm sure you're a wonderful addition to the community and I look forward to your posts. I'm very curious to read about your offgrid life. Definitely following!

Welcome home, sister @steemama ! We have cookies on the other side! Beautiful intro post! So good to read about you!

Upvoted, resteemed, fallowed.

xx

Hello! This are very nice pictures. Enjoy!

So very cool! we are happy to have you here on Steemit!!

I have a few tips for you......:

  • find a community. Maybe join the @minnowsupport project.

  • comment and follow other's articles for your first 1-4 months here more than you do your own posts. This will actually help you to gain Followers. And improve and refine your Posting style(by seeing other's good examples and bad examples).

  • don't plan to get rich. If you come for money, it will probably be a struggle.

  • it will still be a struggle when you are new.... for 2 or 3 months. As you meet more steemians and ask questions and figure things out, it will get easier.

  • only Post original work. Many new Steemians get into trouble when they copy and paste things from Google or from the internet, AND IT IS NOT their photo, writing or work. IF you can't post your own things, better not post. Otherwise @cheetah will get suspicious!

  • comment and make friends, but don't ask "Follow me" or "please Upvote me" Maybe after you have become friends... maybe. But never as your first, second or third comment to them. Never!

  • Use appropriate tags. If the tag doesn't match. Don't use it. Tags are important to help people find what they are looking for. Misusing tags causes many problems here on Steemit.

  • have fun!

I am a community volunteer. I try to stop SPAM and trash and things that hurt Steemit. IF you see anything like that, please feel free to let me know, I will look into it!

so inspiring to me and really a blessing to read at this time. i gave up my career to be with my daughter and as a single mother, most tell me that i'm crazy or that im not setting a good example by not working two jobs. i follow my intuition but sometimes when enough friends and family question you, they start to plant seeds of doubt. i look forward to following your journey and for continued inspiration. thank you for posting <3

Good on you, the way i see it is there will be time again for career if we so choose after the little ones fly the nest, and right now you have the most important career in the world - being a great mum to your daughter :-), i found that my family disapproved until they saw how confident and happy my son is, then they see the benefits of having lots of mum time, your doing a great job :-)

good point! pressure should die down as time passes. hopefully. but either way, i feel good following my heart. thank you for the encouragement and inspiration!

Welcome to Steemit @steemama...... Let the games begin. :)

loving your intro post :)

followed, upvoted, Resteemed.

Wow, that's amazing. I couldn't ever imagine living off grid myself and I have so much respect for you to do it with 2 kids. Incredible. But I truly believe you are happy. Great having you here and I'm looking forward to your posts and updates on this amazing way of life :)