Two years ago, a normal day for Debbie Quinn would involve putting on a suit, getting in the car, fighting traffic, sitting in an office, then doing it all in reverse come the evening. Sound familiar? But now she’s to be found in wellies and an old jumper, milking goats, riding a horse, making soap and teaching others long-forgotten handicrafts at her smallholding in Geel. And she’s never been happier.

British-born Debbie, 45, and husband Stuart ditched the rat race in the Netherlands and crossed the border to Geel, in Antwerp province, two years ago. She gave up her job managing a team of social workers and followed the dream of self-sufficiency. Now, she manages chickens, sheep, pigs, rabbits, turkeys, bees, a horse and a particularly stubborn billy goat. She also passes on her expertise to others.

Entirely self-taught, Quinn invites people into her home for a day or a weekend of lessons in sewing, quilting, soap-making, sausage-making or cheese-making. Guests bond quickly during the journey from tentative incompetence to the beginnings of a skill; the combination of a patient teacher who happens to be a warm host and a great cook is a winning one. Make do and mend “I started giving lessons and workshops last year to local people, and a year later I spread my wings to a wider clientele,” Quinn says as she tries to teach me how to thread a sewing machine. “It was a great success and people reacted really positively to it. I heard regularly that these were skills they wished they had learned from their mothers or grandmas.”

It’s a return to the good old days of make do and mend; of creating tasty, healthy food from scratch and of doing away with the mass production and the food miles. Quinn produces wool from her own sheep, milk from her own goats (and a neighbour’s cow), eggs from her chickens that roam freely in the garden and meat from animals raised in the open air, fed well and killed humanely. Every step of the process is under Quinn’s control: She even takes charge of the slaughtering herself.

There’s something of a backlash now against processed food and a revival of traditional crafts, a harking back to ways of life long gone in large parts of society. There was a time when home economics was a staple of every girl’s education, and these things were learnt at grandma’s knee: Mine would be spinning in her grave to think I’m paying another woman to show me how to whip up a handbag on the Singer.

“I’ve always been creative and loved sewing, so when the opportunity came to start a sewing school, I grabbed it with both hands,” Quinn explains. “I love teaching people, and friends kept telling me that I had a creative talent that I should share. I have a passion for reviving old skills that can easily be adapted to a modern lifestyle. For example, to make goat’s cheese you don’t need to keep goats, as goat’s milk bought in the shop will work just the same. And sausages and cured hams can be made with meat from your local butcher.”

What’s for dinner?

Just about everything on the Quinns’ table comes from the surrounding fields and garden. Here’s a sample lunch menu: home-baked bread fresh from the oven, goat’s cheese flavoured with herbs and nettles, smoked and grilled ham, hung in the shed for the best part of a year. And for dinner: broccoli soup, coq au vin (all but the vin Quinn’s own endeavours), followed by two flavours of goat’s milk ice cream, the creamiest you’re likely to taste.

“It’s really helped me to integrate into the local community,” she says. “I think they were a little shy of us at first, but once the ice was broken it was amazing how they helped and promoted my workshops and products. They really stand by us, helping and supporting local farmers and businesses.”

Worth every minute

It’s a far cry from the family’s previous life in the Netherlands, where they lived for almost 20 years and raised their two children. “It wasn’t easy to begin with; we lived a very comfortable life in Goes,” Quinn admits. “We’d spent years dreaming and planning what we wanted to do once the kids had flown the nest. I gave up a well-paid job as head of a department of social workers to make the smallholding and sewing school financially viable. We were townies and had never kept animals; but we are hard workers and were keen to give it a go.”

Once the kids were through school, the couple “found our paradise here in Geel,” she says. “Stuart works all around the world placing and removing oil rigs, which takes him away from home for weeks and months at a time. It was – and still is – hard work, with lots of blood and tears spilled, but is it worth it? Definitely! I’m a lucky lady to be able to make a living based on what I am passionate about.”

Her enthusiasm for her new lifestyle is infectious and is helping to make her small-scale endeavours a growing word-of-mouth success. “Every morning I wake up inspired and plan and dream about my future here. I have lots of plans I’d love to fulfil; I’d love to have a Jersey cow to make more cheese, breed more Mangalitza pigs and inspire young and old to take up sewing again.”

Debbie Quinn’s classes range from €25 for an afternoon’s sewing to €150 for a weekend with full bed and board. Call 0499 71 76 79 or email qu1nny<at>telenet.be