We built our house on formally farming land. It's pretty much beef cattle farming around here. Yes it sucks. I grew up on acreage and it scares me to think that the whole area could be carved up to surburbia. We live on a tiny block, but I've tried to do my best. My sideway hosts a vegie garden. My front yard has two apple trees and a peach tree (all that've yet to show me fruit). We bought on the edge of Melbourne's Green Wedge - land that has supposedly been locked out for suburban growth and I can only hope it works. We built here because it was all we could afford. We didn't care about our closeness to the city. We cared about the closeness to our family.

I hate it though, driving through these new estates and seeing house after house sitting empty with "for rent" signs everywhere. That drives me bonkers. Don't carve up the land unless there is a need for it. Only a handful of houses in my street are owner occupied. There are a couple that are rented, the rest are sitting empty. There is no train or tram out to us, only a bus that is notorious for not stopping, so not really ideal for renters unless they're working nearby and have a car.

I know my post sounds totally hypocritical seeing as I built my house in a new development. But I'm trying my best to be a little more self sufficient and I totally agree that there needs to be better options.