She and her husband – musician Jonathan Brain – have three children.  They built a straw bale house in Darlington. ‘I first fell in love with straw bale homes when I was a young WWOOFer’, Rosie said. 

In one of her WWOOFing jobs she helped plaster a straw bale house on the beautiful Snowy River. She then saw finished homes at the Moora Moora intentional community.

‘These homes are so quiet, so peaceful – the walls are great insulation, and they absorb sound, so the acoustics are wonderful!  The bottom part of our house is a regular 22C-24C every day, all year round.  We’ve never had to heat or cool that area.  And even on the top floor, where there are unfilled cracks in the doors and windows, even on the hottest days, we’ve only needed to cool the area from 3pm – 5pm.  And for the first 10 years of living here, we never paid a power bill!’, she said.

‘We live a simple life.  Jonathan and I both work part-time.  We’ve done this so we have time for our children, creativity, our personal passions, and for each other.’  

‘For me this means contributing to building a sustainable community.  I’m one of the founders of the Darlington Community Garden, and we’re working towards a local waste reduction and recycling education project.  We’re hoping this can help transition our community towards a low carbon, sustainable, future’ she said.

Rosie added ‘I feel that it’s so important for children to see their parents acting for a better world, for a positive future. Given I used to work in mental health, I know many young people carry a sense of despair, knowing our generation has caused so much harm, and that their futures are not as positive as they could be. 

It’s so important that we find a way, in our homes and in our communities to work towards that better future’. Rosie – you and your family are an inspiration!