Hello I'm Cate Ferguson

I'd like to share a little of my story and my life with you so you can decide if I'm the kind of person you might like to associate with.

I live in Australia in the state of Victoria at the foothills of the mountains.  It's glorious here and my place of peace and sanctuary, we have lived in large cities, small cities, small and large towns and now we have a 2 acre piece of paradise in a place that still retains some of it's wildness (at least around the edges!).

I live here with my partner and our son and I have two older sons from a previous marriage, who live in Sydney and a grandson who (of course) is adorable!

Now that might sound fairly normal and barely alternative until you scratch the surface a little....

• I home educate our son and that is not something that is very widely done in this country.  I love it and so does my son who is now at that pre-teens age, we have a wonderful relationship with each other and with many people in our community, all because we home school.  Just one of my passions - education!

• Then there is my home.  It's probably the most visually 'alternate' thing that most people will notice about me.  When it's finished it will be a eco-friendly, sustainable strawbale house. 

• We are owner building it, and so far have done most of the work ourselves with me acting as a reluctant project manager.  Gosh I'm learning so much and have had to face up to many of my tendencies to put things off for another day. 

It's hard work but definately worth it if an idea like that is hiding deep in the back of your mind.

A little while ago I realised that I had so many things I was interested in and I felt at a loss as to how to bring them all together. 

I sat and pondered this for a while and discovered the thread of creativity running through all of them.  That one discovery has led me down a new pathway and I've ended up here with the Alternative Lifestyle blog acting as a unifying force to help me bring my passions for being creative, helping people, education and goodness only knows what else into one place. 

You see there is one more area of interest that I am passionate about.  Planet Earth!!

That is why I live an alternative lifestyle - not hippy - I just make choices that may seem alternate to some people... or they used to. 

• I used to ask for cardboard boxes to pack my grocery shopping in, then I took calico or canvas bags.  Now the supermarkets all have their eco friendly bags and everyone is using them.  No so alternative now hey?

• Then there is our solar hot water service, our recycling habits, our conscious consumer attitude... all of these are now mainstream.  Well they are for a lot of people.  For others it's all so hard, too confusing, and often there is so much different information you just don't know where to start.  That's wherethe blog comes in.

There is some big picture stuff because that is important.  There are some high end solutions and options for people who are ready to go that road.  And there are some simple, cheap, effective solutions, ideas and attitudes you can adopt today.

So, that's a little bit about me.  Please sign up for my newsletter so you can be kept updated with all the latest and greatest, or simple age old remedies as they come to my awareness.  You can find the sign up form at the top of the page in the right hand corner.