polly's Blog
Polly Greeks: On never getting a second dog...
One dog is fun; two dogs are a nightmare, wails Polly.
Polly Greeks: A life lesson that stung
Seven-year-old Zendo gets lessons in courage, caution and comeuppance.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Guiding out of insanity
Polly attends to a relative. The truth can withstand any amount of scrutiny...
Polly Greeks' Blog: Puppy ponderings
Despite vowing “never again”, Polly gets a puppy.
Polly Greeks’ Blog: Rooster raises a ruckus
Polly Greeks has a run-in with a good rooster gone bad.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Conditional country loving
Polly and the children get positively broody, but news in the valley isn’t all good.
Polly Greeks’ Blog: The beauty of unpredictability
Polly muses over the lessons learnt when life doesn’t go to plan.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The new chooks on the block
Polly’s brood gets clucky over new chooks.
Polly Greeks’ Blog: The forest calls for minimalism
Polly and co welcome — with love — a large slab of concrete to their off-grid idyll.
Polly Greeks’ Blog: The fertile soil of marriage
Polly considers the anatomy of her marriage.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Pedaling forward
Polly needs a few breathers when teaching her daughter to ride a bike.
Polly Greeks' Blog: DIY debacle
Life whizzes past when James and Polly build a flying fox.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Contact tracing in the Far North
Polly is left scratching her head when her children catch an unwanted bug during lockdown.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The in between
Buddhists might describe the lockdown as a bardo state, a time of being in between, writes Polly Greeks.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Lockdown in a far north forest
One would expect Polly, lover of gloriously empty days, would embrace a mandatory lockdown. But like a wild animal caught in confinement, she can't stop pacing.
Polly Greeks' Blog: How to age well in the forest
Polly’s off-grid life hasn’t been good for the wrinkles. Turns out, trees are excellent teachers on ageing well.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Reclaiming menstruality
Polly embraces an honest discussion about periods.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Water wars
Polly considers the controversial use of the local water supply as the Far North experiences its driest summer yet.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Spiritual intelligence
Polly ponders life and death after bumping into Dave, an electrician and the victim of a nasty shock.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Embracing routine
Polly had long feared of a life built around routine. But just as seasons change and mountains rise, she realises that routines are a natural phase in life.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Making lemonade
Polly attempts to look on the bright side after a series of sour events occur at home – and across the Tasman Sea.
Polly Greeks' Blog: A festive tightrope
Polly considers the seasonal magic of the Far-North while avoiding the consumer extravagance of Christmas traditions.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Magic in the mundane
A big-city visit causes Polly to question the family's isolated lifestyle - if only for a moment.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Heat wave
The early arrival of summer in the Far North is a delight, reflects Polly, so long as it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Polly Greeks' Blog: A pampered pooch
A posh poodle learns to embrace the wild, carefree outdoors in an extended stay with Polly.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Mother tongue
Polly uses her cunning tongue – one of the many languages taught in her household – to get her mum's travel insurance paid out.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Lost in translation
Polly is deeply touched by the power of people when her mum goes missing in Spain.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The bunny boiler
Polly and co take their revenge on rampaging rabbits.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Writing retreat
Polly quickly gets distracted while attempting to write her second book at a writer's retreat.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The Big Bang
An explosive moment makes Polly reflect on the enterprising wilderness women in the Far North.
Polly Greeks' Blog: All in a lather
Polly searches for the recipe for success when she gives soap making another shot.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The Great Disconnect
Polly reconnects with land and life after losing cellphone coverage.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Cold discomforts
In an effort to beat a never-ending cold, Polly embraces an extreme athlete's chilly bathing method.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The rumpty retreat
Polly and co return to the rumpty caravan (and former tiny home), this time to test out their DIY fireplace.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Swapping clothes
It's clothes-swap time again. As Polly bids farewell to unwanted garments, she reflects on the snowballing effect of modern fashion habits.
Polly Greeks' Blog: What does the future hold for planet Earth?
Some predict Earth's imminent doom while optimists remain eternally hopeful. As a mum, Polly wonders where she should stand.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The kiss that cost a friendship
Polly's seven-year-old daughter gets a lesson on relationships after she steals an innocent kiss from an exciting new visitor.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The workforce
Polly makes an uncomfortable personal discovery when she enlists the help of voluntary workers from overseas.
Polly Greeks' Blog: When grief recedes
Grief is as much about loss as it is an expression of love, reflects Polly Greeks.
Polly Greeks' Blog: The rumpty caravan sees a new life
James and Polly breathe life into an old Oxford that’s more companion than caravan.
Polly Greeks' Blog: An advert for the off-grid lifestyle
A fish-fuelled weekend has Polly dreaming of how to write the perfect advert for the off-grid lifestyle.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Growing forest kaitiaki
While teaching her kids about the plight of threatened kauri, Polly hopes to propagate passion for the environment that will last a lifetime.
Polly Greeks' Blog: holidays and summer spots
Polly declares that fortune favours those who follow winding dirt roads over sun-scorched hills and people who keep abreast of their moles.
Polly's Blog: Potty mouths, revelations and #MeToo
When her seven-year-old expresses foul-mouthed fury, Polly reviews events in her own life that should have provoked absolute outrage but left her confusingly silent.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Power versus Peru
The family’s plan for electricity is jeopardized by a dangerous thought.
Polly's Blog: The fine print of the parenting contract
Polly plays doctor after four-year-old Zen’s latest misadventure — an unfortunate incident with a packet of crayons and a staple.
Polly's Blog: Bird calls and tubular bells
Polly digs deep to make sense of a world that keeps spinning despite the family’s ongoing efforts to slow it.
Polly Greeks' Blog: Just passing through
Polly and the family take a spiritual journey to Cape Reinga.
Polly's Blog: The Unfathomable life kaleidoscope
Polly and James are on nursing duties as the kids battle a nasty bug, but in the backyard Bugs Bunny has been at play.
Polly Greeks' blog: Bunnies and penguins
Natural bunny behaviour gives rise to far broader learnings than Polly had bargained for.
Pollys' blog: Wheelchair ballet
Wheelchair-bound Zendo discovers a new dance routine.
Polly Greeks' blog: A ghastly silence
Polly knows trouble is afoot when rambunctious three-year-old Zendo is suddenly silent.
Polly's Blog: Teaching in Iraq
Training young minds to think creatively is the best schooling possible – and Polly leaves no stone (or leaf) unturned in her mission.
Polly's Blog: Matariki musings
Our Far North blogger Polly gazes into the Matariki sky to see if the future is clear and bright or if it's a little hazier for struggling Northland families.
Polly's Blog: kiwi encounters
Polly and the kids delight in things that go whistle and scrape in the night while Pax the dog quivers in the corner.
Polly's Blog: Growing up in the olden days
Polly ponders the 'olden days' of her 1970s childhood and how her own children are growing up in different times.
Polly's Blog: A vegetarian quandary
When a pig ventures close to home, six-year-old Vita discovers country living cuts a short track from food source to the table. *Warning this post contains a graphic photo some readers may find disturbing.*
Polly's Blog: The grass isn’t always greener
Polly and the family escape the forest mud by visiting the South Island.
Polly's Blog: Solo rat-trapping duty
Left in sole charge of the children and the land, Polly connects with the wildness within.
Polly's Blog: Headlamp season
This week, Polly feels illuminated when investigating solar power.
Polly's Blog: Love thy neighbour
Tensions with a neighbour force Polly to learn lessons from the land.
Polly's blog: Easter camping misadventures
While townies flock to the campgrounds to get away from it all, for bush baby Polly the holiday park is a chance to reconnect.
Polly's Blog: A lesson from the children
All it takes is a different point of view to see wild pigs and whole grains from a new perspective.
Polly's Blog: A barefoot summer
The sensual joys of bucolic living include hardened soles and far better olfactory resilience.
Polly's blog: Rising rain
This week, storm horizons have Polly pondering about the world her children will grow up in.
Polly's Blog: Stacks of work to do
This week, Polly and James' to-do list reaches critical mass.
Polly's blog: heartbreak in the holiday season
A seaside town is brought to a standstill after a drowning.
Polly's Blog: Summer mornings
This week Polly learns rabbits can climb fences and enjoys her quiet summer mornings - thanks to the ducks.
Polly's Blog: The Sunday smoke
This week Polly's fishy tale all ends in smoke.
Polly's Blog: In hot water
‘Valve’ becomes an offensive word when Polly and co suffer plumbing problems.
Polly's Blog: Away with the fairies
In which Barbie is banished, and the kids are away with the fairies.
Polly Greek's blog: Taro misadventures and aphid rain
The children are fascinated by the sight of inky falling insects, while a spot of foraging nearly sends James to meet his maker.
Polly's blog: Meeting Far North Boogeyman
Polly comes face-to-face with Brutus, the local boar, and the Far North version of the Boogeyman.
Polly's blog: the circle of life
Polly's children learn about life and death in the animal kingdom.
Polly's blog: Please and thanks
This week, Polly finds manners put grease in social cogs while attending a children's birthday party.
Polly's blog: listening to the natural world
The family visit the local marae, and reap the mother of all harvests.
Polly's blog: Ducking for cover
The Pekin ducks are ruffling feathers again at Polly's mudbrick homestead.
Polly's blog: Things that go bump in the night
This week, when life gets scary, Polly goes on a witch hunt.
Polly's Blog: Pondering parenting styles
Polly tests an alternative parenting method on for size
Polly's Blog: A legendary stick-in-the-mud
Polly channels Crumpy and Scotty when she braves flood waters in a Hilux - and becomes a true bush woman in the process.
Polly's Blog: Pig hunting with the Scottish Bear Grylls
James hogs the limelight when he goes on the hunt for a pig and Polly wisely stays at home.
Polly's blog: 'Save New Zealand's rivers for our kids'
As the debate over the country’s polluted waterways heats up, Polly Greeks writes a love letter to Aotearoa’s rivers and streams.
Blog: treasure hunting in the Far North
In which Polly trades in foreign treasure-hunting for a more sedate seeking of materials and finds it just as rewarding.
Polly's blog: a whale tale
Polly turns to a whale when time rushes by.
Blog: the pros and cons of homeschool
The land is proving to be a natural classroom in more ways than one for Polly and her family.
Blog: traveling with kids
Polly finds traveling with kids a less-than-relaxing experience.
Blog: is it time for the ducks to get the chop?
This week, Polly defends her ducks from a date with the casserole pot.
Blog: wet, wet weather and harvest fever
Polly gets wet feet during the storm and discovers she has to reap what she sows.
Blog: no such thing as lazy summer days
Lazy summer days? Huh. For Polly and family the warmer months are too busy spent making hay while the sun shines.
Blog: No such thing as a stranger
At a time when travel bans and giant walls place severe strain on international relations, Polly reflects on the kind hospitality she received in the Middle East.
Blog: The case of the disappearing duck
In Polly Greek's blog this week: when a Pekin duck goes missing, James goes on stoat-catching duty.
Blog: boys gone wild
Young boys run wild on Polly's family camping trip.
Blog: The great Christmas debate
Polly debates whether to boycott Christmas and celebrate the Summer Solstice instead.
Blog: Insolent chickens and wayward eggs
Polly joins 'Team Duck' when her chickens send her on an egg hunt.
Blog: No walk in the park
A walk in the forest with the kids proves hard work for Polly.
Blog: Feature windows and communal beds
Polly laments the communal bed while a new DIY feature window brings some unexpected lessons – and just a little pain.
Blog: You can't get good help these days
As the mudbrick house construction progresses, Polly finds some workers are more help than others.
Blog: a phone full of memories
A Hungarian couch surfer's crazy music brings back memories for Polly Greeks.
Blog: The big packing debate
There are two types of suitcase packers in this world, writes Polly Greeks, the Johnny-Go-Lightlies and the Just-In-Case packers.
Blog: near noodle starvation
A new wwoof-er demonstrates his unfamiliarity with wholefoods and a spiral staircase sends the family’s spirits to heaven.
Blog: Big windfall and the big smoke
The big city beckons for a Kaitaia local, but sometimes the hitting the jackpot comes with a price.
Blog: fasting and furious
An all-liquid diet brings Polly to breaking point.
Rainy day ideas for bush babies
What do you do on a rainy day when you live off-the-grid? Make cider vinegar!
Blog: A bathroom at last
The demise of a local coincides with the near-death of the family’s bathroom plumbing.
Blog: The secret chocolate stash
Polly tries giving up sugar, but thankfully follows reason.
Blog: Online shopping fails
Why all-terrain roller skates are no match for a goat track in the Far North.
Blog: When compost loos go bad
This week Polly Greeks discovers the perils of a compost toilet.
Blog: Off-the-grid and online
In the first of her fortnightly blogs, NZ Life & Leisure columnist Polly Greeks shares an update of life in her mudbrick off-the-grid home in the Far North.
A batch of mud-brick batter
Mud, muck and madness … the family ditch the churn of house building and find peace (and perspective) on an unpeopled Pacific beach.
When it all feels a bit hard
James and Polly hear the gasp of the Grim Reaper but swiftly shut him up.
Sowing a kauri legacy
Kauri, puriri, totara and rimu – these are the leafy sentinals standing guard over the Greeks family. And, in return, the family is taking just as much care of them.
An ode to laundry
A gypsy arrives bearing trinkets, spinning yarns and sorely lamenting the fact the kitchen is now indoors.
Kiwis in the kitchen
When nocturnal noises interrupt Polly and James’ sleep, it could mean unexpected visitors of anything from iconic wildlife to decidedly dubious characters.
Ruffling feathers
Polly and James welcome a major upgrade to their culinary arrangements with the arrival of an indoor kitchen and a flock of chooks.
Hunting and gathering for our mud-brick home
Polly and James feel there’s a bit of magic involved in their hunt for building materials.
Gone with the wind
House construction becomes frustrating with unsolicited input from a three-year-old and a devil wind.
Raising a bush baby
Polly ponders the joys of raising babes in the bush
A beginner’s guide to bush fashion
Polly comes to the conclusion that although bush wardrobes owe nothing to fashion, friendships are more desirable than clothes.
Less than willing woofers
The ww part of wwoof is not always obvious.
Showers and cling film
With the arrival of hot water and some imaginative use of cling film, the level of luxury in life off the grid moves up a notch
A shaggy dog story
The newest addition to the family generates a case of puppy love.
Beware the posse of pillaging pigs
The idea of a gift economy works well in a weekend café but is not so welcome when garden pests help themselves
Meeting the neighbours
Although not exactly living next door, James and Polly’s new friends are models of neighbourliness.
Welcome to the Lighthouse
Polly and James bask in the (mostly) golden silence of their surroundings and become involved in a community venture run as a gift economy.
Preparing for guests – in an off-grid house
Polly and James welcome visitors to their one-roomed mud-brick house although cooking in their open-air kitchen is still something of a challenge
A roof at last!
At last there’s a roof over their heads and Polly and James hunt for recycled treasure tales from a rumpty carava
From Versailles to the mud-brick house
Polly and James’ mud-brick house in the bush begins to take shape with assistance from a Frenchman who helped restore the Palace of Versailles.
The definition of “rumpty”
Life in the off-grid remoteness of the Northland bush suddenly blossoms with social conviviality and the good cheer of neighbours.
A newborn in a caravan
Mason bees, mice and a new baby… there’s no room for them all in an off-the-grid existence
The start of a new adventure
It sounded so romantic… living in off-grid self-sufficiency in the country... but then it rained… and rained
