Growing Notes are short field notes from our family journey: what we are trying, what we are learning, and what we are changing as we build a more capable, intentional life.
We created Growing Our Way because we wanted a place to document the life we are building as a family, not just the finished version that looks neat from the outside.
We are Charles and Michelle, raising our three girls on a small rural property in Tasmania. Our life includes homeschooling, chickens, ducks, garden beds, renovations, food systems, family routines, practical projects, technology, and a long list of things we are still figuring out.
Growing Our Way is not expert advice. It is not polished lifestyle theatre. It is a working notebook.
Why document it?
Part of the reason is simple: life moves quickly, and small progress is easy to forget. The morning jobs, the projects that half-work, the lessons the kids pick up by doing real things, the repairs, the mistakes, the seasonal changes, and the little decisions all add up.
If we do not document them, they disappear into the background.
The other reason is bigger. We want to build a family life with more capability, resilience, freedom, and time together. That means learning how to grow more food, manage the land better, teach useful skills, use technology wisely, spend carefully, and build systems that support the life we actually want.
That is not something we can fake. It has to be built in small steps.
What Growing Our Way will cover
Growing Our Way sits across a few connected parts of our life:
- Homestead life: animals, food, garden beds, weather, property work, repairs, and practical systems.
- Family learning: homeschooling, curiosity, chores, skills, reading, projects, and raising capable kids.
- Intentional living: choosing a slower, more self-directed family life where possible.
- Technology and the future: using AI, digital tools, online work, and new systems without losing sight of family values.
- The documented journey: what worked, what failed, what we would change, and what we are learning as we go.
Why write Growing Notes?
The videos show what happened. Growing Notes are where we can explain the thinking behind it.
Some notes will connect to a video. Others might be small reflections from the week: a project decision, a garden lesson, a homeschooling moment, a tool we are testing, or something we would do differently next time.
Over time, these notes should become a searchable archive of the systems, lessons, and choices behind the brand.
A note on honesty
We are not trying to present ourselves as experts. We are starting from where we are, with what we have, and building one step at a time.
Some things will work. Some things will not. Some systems will change after we test them in real life. That is part of the point.
If there is a useful thread running through Growing Our Way, it is this: a family can become more capable by paying attention, learning in public, and making steady improvements without pretending everything is finished.
What comes next
After this first note, we will start adding notes connected to the videos we have already published. Those will give a little more context around the actual jobs, routines, animals, weather, projects, and family rhythms that appear on the channel.
The goal is simple: document the journey honestly, keep learning, and build something useful along the way.