Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself...
Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself...
If you're new, start here
I’ve never been particularly good at the simple act of saying hello. I tend to get flustered with the protocol. Are we handshaking (too formal), maybe hugging (arms over or under?!), how about fist bumping (grow up), or, the most anxiety-inducing of them all… The peck on the cheek? (single or double… and what if we both lean the same way…) I’ll let you choose whichever method you fancy.
Now that we’ve jumbled through that merry dance, let me just say thank you for being here. If you’ve known Gabby and me through our Instagram or YouTube, then you probably have a rough idea about what wander, gather, settle and this tiny life are. But, for those of you who may have stumbled here through Substack’s snickets or even Google’s ginnels then hi! Welcome to our little corner of the internet… Pucker up and let’s get this show on the road.
Who are we?
I’m Jack and I live with my partner Gabby. We’re the two voices behind this Substack, which we put together from our home. A cosy little narrowboat, nestled in the Oxfordshire countryside.
For us, it’s a lifestyle that we adore. It’s slower, simpler and rooted deeply in nature and the seasons. We’re fortunate in that we’re able to have a small allotment near our floating home, which keeps us well-stocked in fresh veggies, and I also borrow a little plot of land nearby where I keep bees. It’s a wilder, yet gentler, life and one we had been searching for for a while.
For jobs, alongside running this blog and our YouTube and Instagram channels, we still dabble with freelancing in TV and radio. Please don’t judge us too much for being such media dahlings. They’re fun industries to work in and we’re very lucky to have been able to carve out our respective careers in them. However, the freelancer’s road is incredibly rocky and after a fairly major uprooting in 2019, we took stock and decided we weren’t really living a lifestyle that made us happy.
Having grown up on a diet of Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall’s River Cottage with a side order of The Good Life, I’ve long been interested in the empowering nature of being able to provide a little more for yourself. I’m not talking full hair-shirt and moving to a yurt in the forest, but there’s something about living a life that’s slightly less convenient that appeals to us both greatly. We happened to stumble across boat life and it presented us with the opportunity to start building a more grounded way to live.
Our current boat, Arti, is our little cabin on the water. Her insides have been almost entirely fitted out by Gabby and me. We’ve trimmed, sanded, upcycled, screwed, nailed, sealed, glued and botched our way from being ambitious DIY novices to slightly delirious DIY novices. However, she is a cosy little home. With a wood burner for heating and cooking on in the winter and she’s entirely reliant on solar energy for power. Our floating home may be a little rustic around the edges but each of those rustic edges holds its own story.
this tiny life is where we share our zeal for living a lifestyle that’s a little less ordinary. It’s not a blog that’s purely about boat dwelling and we’re not here to preach or lecture. Rather, we want to spread the joy of life’s simple pleasures. Small moments like home cooking, maybe using a few herbs you’ve grown yourself on the windowsill. Or by making your own non-toxic cleaner to use around the home… Or just the pure joy of feeling more present with nature, such as relishing the shock of needle-sharp air of a winter’s day or the soft warm glow of summer evenings.
It’s for those who seek to live deliberately and if this sounds like you, please do tap subscribe or read on to find out more.
What is this tiny life and wander, gather, settle?
In a nutshell, wander, gather, settle from this tiny life is our seasonal journal of slow, simple living from our narrowboat home, small allotment garden and occasionally my bees. It exists here on Substack alongside our content on other platforms and small lifestyle store over on our website.
If you’ve seen our YouTube and Instagram, you’ll know that we’ve been looking for a space to share recipes and natural living advice as well as general musings for a while. This corner of the internet seems to be a perfect fit.
Our aim is to cultivate this into a space where intentional living lies at its core. Jam packed with everything from thought-provoking podcast recommendations, all the way through to literal jam recipes.
Our general maxim in life is to ‘seek to live deliberately’.
It’s a slight play on the words of Henry David Thoreau in Walden. Where he set upon the challenge of living in a small cabin in the woods for two years with almost complete self-sufficiency.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
Whilst our life is nothing quite as stark as that of Thoreau’s, it’s a quote that has been an inspiration for a while.
this tiny life is about living that smaller, more deliberate lifestyle. Built on simple pleasures such as eating well, connecting with the outdoors and living a naturally richer lifestyle.
How does Substack work?
If you’re new to this platform, thank you for joining us! We have new posts every Thursday (gather) and Sunday (settle). These are delivered to you as newsletters in your email inbox as well as hosted here on Substack.
Occasionally we will write a third instalment, called wander. This is more ad-hoc and features mini-UK adventures. Whether that’s recommendations for places to stay, such as off-grid cabins that we’ve tried, or some of our favourite spots from the local food scene that we’ve discovered during a trip away, we hope you’ll find our suggestions useful!
Our regular features of gather and settle will be at least once a week.
Gather is more of a foodie instalment with recipes inspired by our vegetable garden and the best seasonal produce. Settle will be with you on a Sunday, and is intended to be the perfect accompaniment to your morning cuppa.
One thing we’d love to say is that the best thing we’ve found about Substack is the community. Please do comment on our posts. We love hearing from you and often your messages are far more interesting than our little scribbles!
wander, gather, settle by this tiny life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Do I have to become a paid member?
Not at all! Although, it would help us out if you were to consider it.
The way this publication works is that whilst most our writing will be available to all, a few features will be unlocked by becoming a premium member.
This does mean some recipes will be hidden behind a paywall, as will things like the ability to comment and access to audio versions of the posts.
In an ideal world we would be able to publish and produce everything for free, but to be quite blunt about it… Without our premium members, we would have to stop. You quite literally keep our boat afloat.
We hope you feel our content is of value and, if you can, we really appreciate any contribution you can make. Thank you x
We are conscious that times are tricky for some and so if you’d like access to premium features but currently lack the means… Please do reach out and we’ll see what we can do.
Why are you launching a blog? Isn’t that a bit old school?
I suppose, yes. It is old school... In a world with attention spans matching that of a gnat, the written word certainly has many adversaries. However, there is something about settling down and reading that we absolutely love.
Over the past 18-months we’ve lurked here on Substack, enjoying the work of so many writers. Gardening, cooking, book recommendations, life affirming joy, intentional living, you name it there is a Substack on it and to be honest, we wanted to join the party.
For want of a better phrase, writing allows us to be a lot more ‘real’. Not that our other platforms are a lie, but, there’s certainly an element of performance that comes whenever we’re presenting ourselves on camera.
With a blog, there’s the opportunity to be a lot more personal. To delve a bit deeper into passion projects and our minds. It’s a creative muscle that we’ve wanted to use and develop for a while, it just hasn’t felt like the right time… until now.
Equally, Substack is so much more than just a blogging platform. The community aspect is so important to us, as are options to host things like a podcast, voice notes and hopefully a few videos on here.
Even if our little corner isn’t for you, please do have a look at some of the other publications that are here.
For what it’s worth, we’d highly recommend Mark Diacono's Garden To Table,
by India Knight, and to name but a few!Can we help in any way?
There are two ways you can really help us with this venture. The first, is by signing up for our premium membership… And as a treat here’s a 7-day free trial so you can see what you make of it…
The second is to simply spread the word. If you like what you see and you have a friend that you also think would be interested in our ramblings… It would be amazing if you could share our Substack with them.
We are ever indebted to you and thank you so much for being here and giving us a try.
Yours,
Jack + Gabby x