When was the last time you spent a day without using electricity, your mobile phone, car, or internet?
Springfield residents Gregory and Bethany McCallum moved to the North-East six years ago to pursue a lifestyle free from the demands of modern technology, so they could spend more quality time with their family.
Mr McCallum said prior to this, they had been running a chicken tractor business in Queensland that became so successful, it was taking over their lives.
“We started a family business to spend more time with our children, but we ended up so busy we couldn’t do that as much as we wanted to,” Mr McCallum said.
“We were on this constant treadmill and wanted to get off.
“So then we had a vision to move to Tasmania and lead a slower pace of life.
“We now have no mobile and no internet and it is great. You’ve got to have time when the noise machine turns off.”
Mrs McCallum said before moving to Tasmania, they spent a year living in America learning from the Mennonites and Amish.
Today, the McCallum family grow organic produce, which they sell on their ‘Farm Fresh’ road-side stall.
They have a springhouse (cellar) in place of a fridge, where they store a wide range of preserves, homemade cheese, and meat.
Their cooking is done on a combustion stove and their clothes are made using a treadle sewing machine.
They have several work horses that have been broken in by their daughter Hannah, and they do much of the farm work.
“We do still use a tractor though because we don’t quite have the work horses down pat yet,” Mr McCallum laughed.
At night, their living room is lit with candles and a gas lamp.
Each of these choices give the McCallums more time to spend with their eight children, aged two to 17.
They are almost self-sufficient, making the occasional 25-minute journey to Scottsdale in a cart drawn by their horses Terry and Toppy.
Mr McCallum said selling their car two or so years ago was the biggest change.
“It means you’re not running here, there and everywhere, just because you can,” he said.
With not as much work to be done through Winter, Mr McCallum said there is more time for family read-a-louds, cups of teas on the veranda and Pictionary nights.
“It’s not about how much you can earn but how much you can live without,” Mr McCallum said.
“What I’ve found is that contentment is within me, rather than in things.”
This article was first published in the North-Eastern Advertiser in July 2018.
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