We started tiny strips of gardens around our house last week and the first thing Sebastian says when he opens his eyes in the morning is, “I have to check if the radish sprouts have grown!” There is something so magical to kids about growing food and picking fresh fruit. We live in a cottage that is on community property with mature tropical trees and plants but we are not exactly allowed to grow food or decide how to use the land. Someday I want to have Sebastian wake up on a farm where he is surrounded by different small fields of vegetables… a pumpkin patch of butternut squash and baby pumpkins, a plot of zucchini plants that have grown up to his chest, a little forest of hazelnut trees… I want to walk by happily grazing cows regularly and stop to stare into their eyes framed by extra long eyelashes, to capture spring water in a jug, to hear first the silence of the land, and then the little sounds of birds and breeze that fill it. I want to have so many cucumbers or heirloom tomatoes that we don’t know what to do with them and to have a property on which family and friends can camp at their leisure, resting in the womb of nature.

We’ve been living the tropical life on Maui and, especially for little kids, it’s awesome. There are countless beaches to choose from each day (Seb is only in school two days a week so we have a lot of beach time) from more rocky, secret beaches up north to big sandy stretches of beaches around our house. Dane has a handyman business so he is in a different location each day and can shift his schedule around to make time together. At night, Dane and I often scour the web for rich and colorful travel documentaries to watch because… if you haven’t picked up on it yet… we’re obsessed with dreaming about other cultures to visit or live amongst.

We always want Maui to be our home base. We want to be here during the Winter months, celebrating Christmas with our family and the close friends we have here.

But we’ve got a lot of dreams for the other chunks of the year.

This last Fall we flew to Portugal to film our first full length travel documentary with a videographer. We went into the true, quiet countryside and stayed in small, gorgeous villages near iconic rivers and mountains and local historic sites. We have a vision of creating a whole series of travel documentaries that take viewers off the beaten path in European countries to talk to the locals who don’t often see tourists- to hear their stories, eat their food, and find the amazing historical legends that you won’t find widely written about.

We also started a small YouTube channel to learn how to document travels ourselves and what it takes to film and edit. We are complete novices but the challenge is pretty addicting and it is preparing us to document our long awaited dream of purchasing and restoring a property of our own in the countryside of Europe. When the time comes, we want to show allllll of the details. I think it’s going to be hilarious. I’m in love with shows like Grand Designs and other ‘build a house’ series and I secretly bet on which spouse will crack first, how fast they’ll skyrocket over their budget, and how likely the Winter that they build in will be the worst Winter they’ve seen in the last ten years (haha, so cruel).

But even with the challenges in mind (sometimes too much so), we know that it’s a dream we need to follow. Our vision is not just a farm for the boys, or a traditionally built home for us, but for it to be a safe and sacred place to host healing spiritual retreats for others. A place to live together a few times a year and just share time, hiking, cooking, swimming, and heart centered connection. We’ve seen in the past when we lived on Duruxa and hosted volunteers that just the abundance of time spent together going about tasks on the farm, prepping ingredients for pizza in the wood burning oven, or sitting inside together during the rain can lead to an extraordinary depth of closeness and small heart healings. There is power in living life together, the day to day, and really having the time to get to know the fullness of the person in front of you.

So as we inch our way towards these dreams, this year will look like traveling to totally new countries for us (Croatia and Greece for a few months) and then potentially spending a few more months in Asturias to property search again.

If you know of any other blogs about restoring an old home or ruin please let us know! We love all things growing your own food, natural building, or sustainable living and would love to hear your knowledge on the subject or any similar passions or dreams.

XO. Jillie