Today I am featuring the last of the 'this is where I work" photos and travel to Laura Jeanne's home in Canada to see just what it is she is getting up to there. I'm pleased we are finishing on the work spaces of a woman who seems to be a true worker, making do with what she has right now and working for the good of the family unit.

My name is Laura Jeanne and I live with my husband and three children in Southern Ontario, Canada. We are trying to move towards the simple life, and dream of living in the country--but right now we are living in a townhouse in the city. I wanted to share pictures of my workspace because this is the first time in my life I've had a place just for work, and I'm enjoying it.

My work space is the other half of our laundry room/storage room. We used to use this area as a room for movies and video games--but as our values have changed, this room has gradually morphed into something quite different. In the first picture, you can see the area where I wrap up packages for our business--natural wooden toys that my husband makes in our garage. The toys and boxes are stored above on shelves my husband made, my "table" is a chest freezer which we bought used a while ago in an effort to live more frugally by stocking up on sale items. To the left you can see the solid wood storage shelves my husband built, which now hold my new growing collection of canned goods. Come to think of it, he also built the bookshelf in the centre of the picture that's holding all the packing supplies, and the little shelf next to that which is holding my canning supplies. Above the cans of jam is a little hand-cranked radio which I use to listen to classical music while I work.

The other picture shows my new sewing area. I've been wanting to start sewing for so long now, but I am intimidated by the machine, which always seems to tangle the thread no matter what I do. I am determined now though to just do it. Scattered around the machine (which is sitting on a desk which is also homemade) are various projects I'm going to finish over the next little while--altering a slip, making some new hankies, and adding a panel to cover the slit in a jean skirt. That lovely blue and red fabric on the side table came from my grandmother's stash, and I'm going to use it to sew a cape for my youngest's second birthday. At least, I hope to sew a cape--I've never constructed an actual garment before so I'm a bit nervous about it.

This room looks out over the small backyard, which houses my favourite work space--my tiny garden. This year is the first that we are trying to grow some of our own food. You can read about our efforts to live more simply and self-sufficiently at http://gettingthere.typepad.com

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I'd like to thank everyone who has sent work space and kitchen sink photos. I really enjoyed seeing where a lot of you spend your time. We'll do something similar in the future, but for now, we'll give it a rest.

Today we're travelling to South Africa to visit Wendy who is living simply on her urban homestead, homeschooling her four children.

We are a South Africa homeschooling family of 6 (mom, dad, 2 girls, 2 boys, 3 dogs, 5 chickens, 1 goldfish - oops that's more than 6!) living in Cape Town, South Africa. Nestled between the Two Oceans (Indian and Atlantic) and beautiful Table Mountain where we work from home, homeschool, home church and enjoy a simple life in this urban centre. I have sent this photo with my front door open as "Where I Work" encompasses our whole home and garden.

In 2008 we started on our urban homestead journey by exchanging rose bushes and lawn for growing vegetables. This second photo is of our first veggie garden. Two other sections were soon converted to grow more vegetable which means in summer and autumn we only eat vegetables from our garden. This simple step in growing our own food has spawned new interest in a simple lifestyle and other homesteading skills, like canning and preserving, cooking from scratch, sewing and knitting, keeping urban chickens and a move to a more organic lifestyle.

Wendy's blog is here.

Please note: I'm not taking any more submissions for this where I work series.

Today we travel across the Tasman Sea from Australia to New Zealand to visit Amy and see where she works.

Today we're travelling to a Canadian dairy farm.  Look at all those cute cow bottoms waiting patiently.  I love this workplace and I'm sure Marlyn, whose home we are visiting, enjoys her work very much.  

She writes:

"I wish to share with you my favourite work spaces. I would love to say I have just one, but rather I enjoy two.

There is nothing more joyful then to arrive in the barn at 5am to the sounds of sheep calling you by name "MaaaMaaa" and cattle waiting to be milked. Animals unlike humans know patience. The cows come in one at a time know exactly which stall is theirs and start to munch on their morning feed waiting to be milked. They also enjoy a human hand on their flank and kind words. Sheep are noisy critters in the morning. They seem to want your attention all at once. They can't go out of the barn yard to pasture until all dangers that lurk in  the dawn is gone. On 250 acres of Canadian farmland there are many dangers of coyotes and wolves. They too, even though in  hurry to get to the green grass, leave the barn one at a time with some of the little ones jumping all over the place once they are free to roam.

My sewing & craft room is my love of heart. I have only had my own room for a year now, as we are slowly becoming empty nesters. My sewingroom is my Eldest daughters old bedroom, which I now on occasion need to share with grandbabies. I have always had a passion for sewing, mostly heirloom and smocking. Lately I have taken to stitching cards instead of purchasing them. These cards have become an encouragement for friends needing a smile. I also love knitting, making socks, and sweaters. And quilting of which there is always one in a frame. I was taught to sew, knit and quilt from my mother. A typical Memnnonite mom, she can do everything that needs doing ,at just the right time. She has been an huge encoragement to me as she taught me all the wonderful skills of homemaking. My sewingroom has a lovely large closet in it. I can actually fit the crib in it, but rather have wooden shelves in there to hold sewing projects and stamping/card making supplies, my ironing board. It also has a clothes rack to hang working on projects like quilt tops. I have a large cutting table and a small childs table for my grandchild to work on their artwork and sewing while Oma works on her projects.

Come visit us at Sweet Locus Lane Farm as sweetlocuslane.blogspot.com. You are always Welcomed."

Ann writes:

"This is my Music Room here in the small village of Scullamus on the Isle of Skye, a western isle off Scotland UK.

I teach here for three days every week, and enjoy the peace and quiet and slow pace of life.  I also travel away to judge singing competitions and give masterclasses, but I can never wait to get back to my own piano and home.  I  was a voice professor at the Junior Royal Academy of Music in London for 18 years and the fast life almost killed me off!

 

 

You can see the bird tables hanging just outside the window, and it is amazing how they sit there and cock their heads and listen to the singing - I always wonder what they think! I have a daughter who is also a singing teacher and two beautiful grandchildren of 7 and 3. We are a musical family, but being professionals the children never get 'pushed' - we know how hard the life of a musician is!

I have over 36 pupils here on Skye, from 6 years old to 70 years old, and we give concerts, do full show productions and we even toured giving concerts in Vienna in 2006 and 2008. In the photo you can see the racks of music, and the table for the dreaded theory! Mostly I love watching the confidence growing in them as they become better and better.  I have even persuaded my ladies of a certain age to take exams!!  I have a beautiful old garden with plum trees and lilac bushes, and two raised beds with a few salads and veggies, but I do not have the time for much more.  You can find me at http://singinginparadise.blogspot.com/, but I realize that reading about a classical singing teacher may not interest everyone! I love Rhonda's blog and have followed for a number of years - Oh that I could retire - or at least slow down enough to bake and garden.  Maybe when I am 70!"

Today we're in the Australian bush to see where Carole works.  With changing scenery like this most days, and mail coming in from all over the place, who could complain about going to work.

Carole writes:

This is the sorting room in our little post office.All the parcels are for me to sort into streets and which side of town they are to go to, I deliver these when I get back from the bush. The little pigeon holes are waiting to be filled with mail from the row of letters that await.Some days it is "where do I start"!! but of course there is a routine and rhythm otherwise it just does not work.The bundles of catalogues you can see are also delivered to the country households the towns people get theirs in the local paper.

The second picture is of why it is pure joy to go to work, while the roads are shocking,full of potholes and corrugations, the scenery is to die for. I go past this little waterfall each day, on my blog it shows it flooded. The road you can see is one of the better ones I drive on and yes my car is 4 wheel drive or I would not get to the farms. Lambing time and foaling time is the most joyful as we watch the little ones born and grow until we can't tell the mums from bubs anymore. The best part of my job is I can take my 89 year old Mum with me and she thrives on it all.The bumps at times make an interesting ooh and ahh time but all worth it.I am back home at lunch time and still have time to do other things."

Click here for Carole's blog.

Now here is a sewing room I'd feel very comfortable in.  It's packed with interesting fabrics and threads and it's organised well to enable some fine sewing sessions.  This is Leila's working space in the USA.

Leila writes:

"I have a big house and yard and I work all over them both, of course. I am currently doing a couple of posts about my pantry/sewing room, because it's the room that energizes me and sparks my creativity!

For many years I've been raising my seven kids, homeschooling, and being wife to my wonderful husband. I've always been interested in sewing and then quilting, but I've never been happy about my crafting space until about two years ago when I figured out how to get everything into this little room (well, not everything!).

I would love to see anyone over at my blog, Like Mother, Like Daughter (www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com), which I write with my 4 daughters and mother. We try to show that home is all-important to family life, to loving, and to learning."

From an allotment in London to a small apartment in Sydney, today we see where Samantha works. I can't tell you how how much I love it when I find that young women, like Samantha, enjoy my blog and relate to what I write about.

Samantha writes"

"I am a 25 year old who lives in a small apartment in Sydney, Australia. I share my 2 bedroom flat with my husband and our cat. I have set our spare bedroom up as a sewing studio, and in it I create all sorts of crafty wonders! I enjoying making patchwork quilts, clothes, and childrens toys. Just recently, I have begun working with fabric from clothes purchased at thrift stores (often much cheaper than buying the fabric new in fabric stores, and better quality). 

 

 

I love country-style living and yearn for the day when I will have a real backyard. Currently I make-do with a small balcony, and tiny plot of land three stories below it. I have managed to grow herbs, lettuce, capsicums and snow peas in pots on my balcony, and get a real 'kick' out of growing my own food. I have been raising seedlings on my balcony ready to plant in a tiny plot of dirt I have dug in the apartment garden down stairs. I love to record all my quilting, crafting, and gardening adventures: http://hand-quilter.blogspot.com"

 

Well done, Samantha.

Dee writes:

"Hello My Name is Dee and I'm from London UK I have an allotment that I work on almost daily, basically its a piece of land I rent from my local council to grow fruit and vegetables. My plot measures approximately 1/16 of an acre.

Living in a flat with no garden this is my only means of growing my own for my family and I'm so grateful for this opportunity as land here in London as you can imagine is scarce with waiting lists for council plots between 10 to 20 years. I was lucky, or as some might say, "not so lucky" to get my plot 4 years ago after nobody was prepared to take it on. It had been lying derelict for ten years and was covered in bramble, ivy and plum tree seedlings. I still have around a third to clear with the remainder in full production. Its been hard work at times but well worth it and yes I would do it all again. I cant explain the joy and satisfaction I get from feeding my family with fresh produce that I've nurtured from seed."

You can visit Dee's blog here.  <--  I fixed the link.

This post is another in the series, This is Where I Work.  Today's workspace comes to us from Mel who lives in Canada.  Mel is also one of the moderators on the Down to Earth forum, so it's lovely for me to get to know her a little better.

Mel writes:
"Life for me here in Canada is never dull. One husband + two kids + 3 dogs = chaos. While I don't work outside the home, I work very hard inside of it and decided that I needed my own space. So, when we purchased our home last summer and started renovating it, this was at the top of my list. I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. The table is so large and gives me lots of room to work. The wall above it is a bulletin board that we covered in fabric and framed in. I am always tearing recipes and such out of magazines and now have somewhere to put them. The shelves to the left of the table hold a lot of different supplies. It is nice to have everything within reach.

While it started out as my 'creative space', it has turned into more of a 'work space" for me. I never realized just how much time I spend here working on various things - menu planning, budgeting, scrapbooking and card making just to name a few. I have spent many hours sitting here this spring pouring over seed catalogs and planning our first garden. In fact, it was here that I decided I wasn't too old to learn how to knit. I find this space to be very inspiring and it is my favorite part of the house."

 

Thanks Mel!

 

Jill writes: "About me :) My name is Jill, I live in the United States in Fredericksburg Virginia. I love my job, but I also love to do homey things. Right now I am painting a few rooms in my house. I'm really happy with my color choices. Always good, right? My favorite hobby is gardening. I'm hooked. I've dabbled with gardening here and there over the years, but this is my first time going all out. I have a squarefoot garden, into my second year. Here is my blog about my garden http://jillsgardenblog.blogspot.com/ I am married and have three kids ages 20, 16, and 10. The photo attached of my garden was taken just last Thursday. Fun!

Now about my work :) My work space is outside, all day long! I am a pet sitter. It's such a great job. My clients LOVE me and they are so cute, furry and fun! They are always happy to see me. I walk them Monday - Friday while their owners are working. I get to wear tennis shoes everyday, shorts and jeans. I try to look nice but in a comfy way to stay cool or warm. I wear sunscreen and a hat most of the time. I walk dogs in snow, ice, sleet and rain...oh and sun. It's sunny most of the time, that is good. So that is my work space, outside all four seasons. I enjoy them all!!!

I made this video about two years ago for my clients, just for fun. It's of me driving all around my town and visiting my clients. They're great! I have known them many years now, some of them since puppies.
http://www.youtube.com/user/harrisonfivehere#p/u/19/mzeeooMcfag"

 

If you would like to be part of this series, please send me two photos of where you do most of your work - rhondahetzel@gmail.com. Reduce the size of the photos down to about 25% before sending to save me reducing them.  Add two paragraphs describing you, your work and how you use the space.  I am featuring the photos in the order in which they arrive.  Thanks!

Here is the work space of one very busy lady, Rebecca.  It never fails to amaze me how we all live in different countries where expectations and conditions are not the same, yet we share similar values and a desire to live simply.  Those values and desires unite us and therefore when I look at Rebecca's workplace it it familiar to me.  I feel like I could walk in there and start helping her with the children and garden and although it's thousands of miles from my place, I'd feel at home there.

Rebecca writes:  "My name is Rebecca and I live in the Netherlands. I am a childminder who works from home and so this is my work space. 

 

Since I am watching 1 yr old twins, the huge play pen is very handy indeed. The children get to play safely and when they have been picked up again by their parents, it folds up and stores away in a corner. It was quite hard to get a good overview picture of my living room but in the foreground you see a small part of our dining table. It is the biggest we could find in Holland. (2 mtrs 40 long and 90 cms wide) Since we have 5 children ourselves and always eat together at the table we needed one that was big enough. It also serves as folding surface for laundry, sewing table, crafts table etc. We do have central heating but we prefer to use the coalheater you see on the right.

The second picture is taken from the front of my house. It is where I grow as much veg as I can possibly get away with. There's brassica's under the netting, lettuce, beans, beets, kohl rabi and well quite a bit more. It is all the space I have available and it makes me so very happy to potter about in the soil and to feed my family fresh food.The neighbours think I'm nuts but I don't really care.

On the right you catch a glimpse of our Canadian Canoe. We just love to take that out onto the water and make trips with it. It is great family time and wonderful exercise too!

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on the radio interview.  I'm back at my voluntary job today so I'm going to introduce you to Andrea in our This is Where I Work series.  I had a little chuckle when I looked at the first photo, Andrea.  In addition to your very tidy and organised desk (much tidier than mine), you have Down to Earth on one screen, a beach on the other and a map on your wall.  I think your thoughts are outside that office.  Congratulations on your engagement, love.

Andrea writes: "My name is Andrea, and I live in California in the USA.  I'll be 40 this year and am recently (amicably) divorced and even more recently engaged (that *is* the correct order of events, last time I checked - lol).  My fiance lives at the other end of the country, 2000 miles away, but will be moving into my house as soon as he does something with his house.  We plan for him to be a house-spouse and get the garden going.  The property isn't big enough for us to grow a ton, but it will support enough veggies and some chooks to give us a little more independence.  And thanks to you I've been researching aquaponics, so maybe some fish too!

This is where I spend my days.  I'm a programmer for a manufacturing company, so the view out my window is of the production floor.  It's a beehive of activity, which is good for motivation when I find myself lacking energy.  As workspaces go, it's fairly good.  Quiet, comfortable, with the equipment that I need to get my job done.  And I do like most of the people.  But this is not where I want to spend my life.  I don't even know what the weather is like all day!  But when we get my mortgage paid off and some more savings built, I'm hoping to trade this small, enclosed cubby for a lot of time in the sun with the fiance, garden, chooks, and fish."

I'll see you all tomorrow when I'll be writing about processed food.

I'm really pleased to open the new series of work space photos with Margy's place in Canada.  This, my friends, is spectacular!  Margy writes:

"Hello from Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. I live in a float cabin about twenty minutes by boat up Powell Lake. We bought it in 2001 as a summer cottage, but now that my husband and I are retired, we spend about 75% of the year living here. We love the remote lifestyle. We have propane for the stove, refrigerator and lights. We also have solar and wind power for some electric lights and to charge devices such as our satellite radio, computers and cell phones. We have chosen not to have television or the Internet. We check in with those things when we go to town for supplies, mail and other city chores. In the first picture you can see my cabin. It is anchored in place with steel cables and a log called a stiff leg. In the foreground is my floating garden. I grow tomatoes, squash, potatoes, peppers, lettuce, beets, onions, asparagus, strawberries and herbs. We don't have much space, but pack a lot in. In the background is our floating woodshed. Our woodstove keeps us toasty warm all winter. Stairs lead to shore and our outhouse.

Here's my kitchen. I get water directly from the lake below with a hand pump. As you can imagine, we are extremely careful with greywater. What goes down could come back up. We boil the water before using just to be safe. The cabin is 20X21 feet with a sleeping loft. The kitchen is at one side of the downstairs great room. One thing I like about my kitchen is that it's so handy. I have everything I need, but nothing extra. Thanks to blogs like Rhonda's, I've learned a lot about becoming self reliant. You see, I'm a transplanted city girl from Los Angeles, California. Last year I tried canning and making jam for the first time. I've also learned to make bread using my own sourdough starter. It's been great fun and I know i'm going to enjoy it for many more years to come. Thanks for visiting my little kitchen up the lake.

You can read more about my kitchen, cabin and off-the-grid living at my blog http://PowellRiverBooks.blogspot.com."