About Me

Lisa Tsen

Media Designer. Photographer. Traveller. Writer.

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Way back when (around high school) I had a dream to one day live by the mountains, own an acreage and be self-sufficient. Then life came and I started to make some moola. Sure, I paid my education loans and my rent/mortgage but I also went on a long shopping spree. When you have a place of your own, you think, "oh I need some stuff." What kind of stuff? Not just your furniture, I needed some nice plates and nice decor. I'd like to throw in some nice kitchen small appliances too. Oh and how about some tech toys! I could go on. I'm sure it sounds familiar to most of people. Then I took a year off to realize another goal - to travel and work abroad for a year.

This goal had been on the back-burner since Junior High, but I finally went for it. Then what did I do? I simplified! I had to. There was no room to store all my "stuff" at my parent's place. Bye-bye car, blender, furniture, decor and knick knacks; hello Germany! And boy did I learn a lot being there. This really brought me full circle to my desire of being more self-sufficient. I had to divide my waste - food into a composter bin, glass bottles into a glass bottle bin, and take bottles into the store for recycling. I biked and trained everywhere. Then there was shopping, and I love shopping, I only bought one (yes one) shirt the whole year I was there. I was tempted but the idea of having to carry anything I bought back after the year was over was enough to deter me from shopping - that and money. I spent money on what I needed which was food, shelter and the occasional travelling. Before I left, I donated some clothing to one of the many second-hand stores in the city and left my bike to the next renter. It was such a simple life that I quite enjoyed though I did long to have my own furniture :)

So here I am back in Canada and hoping to continue the lifestyle. I did go on a cleaning spree of my leftover stuff and shop for bio/organic stuff when I can as it's expensive. The local farmer's market is also a great way to get some fresh foods and even stopping at local small bakeries. But it wasn't until a back problem appeared that I was moving towards gardening. It was a silver lining. I had to stay away from the computer (couldn't sit as long) for the first while and so I had a lot of time to think and was longing to do some hands-on work (instead of computer work) with nature and it all started with my friend Jenn wanting to compost! We took a class at the John Janzen Nature Centre and I was hooked! I loved it. I wanted to learn more despite the little knowledge I had but one thing my mother said reassured me I can do it - farming and gardening is in my blood as my grandparents and those before them were.

So here I am sharing with you my experiences and hopefully it will help some of you as well. I welcome any comments and suggestions to arm me with more knowledge and skills!