“Slow living” in Latvia

Just a few years ago, Gary Dickenson was running a successful marketing communications and website development agency from his home base in Norfolk, England. Now, he and his wife Gita, an artist, manage a homestead on her family’s property in rural north Latvia.

“Remote is a relative word, but we are 9 km down a dirt track from the village!” says Gary of their current base, from which he is in the process of setting up a new business. Baltic Homesteaders is a consultancy and guide service for those looking to shift gears towards a more resilient lifestyle. So, how did their own big move come about? Interestingly, it was never really part of a plan!

This is Gary’s second experience of living in Latvia. From 2004 to 2007, he and Gita lived in Riga but returned to the UK when his business grew. There, Gita made a living from her art, creating pieces that tourists would take home to remember their time in the scenic coastal town of Cromer. They lived comfortably until, several years down the line, Gita’s father in Latvia took a fateful tumble. Since caregiving in Latvia often falls to the family —typically the female member — Gita traveled back to support him. When she was still there six months later, the Dickensons realized that, aside from family, friends, and community ties, there was little reason to stay in the UK. And just like that, they moved.

“We didn’t have the chance to plan — we just had to do it. Gita had to drop everything,” says Gary, adding, “This time it would be country life — very different — but we were older and more up for it.”

Since it was winter, not much was happening with the land, so they had a few months to work stuff out and get used to the new reality of having to bring in firewood for energy and clear snow. It was then that Gary began to watch videos about homesteading and country living.

“I decided that, for the first year, I’d just follow the pace of what it was like here. However the garden was done, I’d just shadow that and mirror it. I had no expectation of wanting to change anything. I just wanted to learn and experience,” Gary explains.

The turning point came almost a year later when Gita and Gary needed to weed the potatoes. “We had five or six rows, which is a very common thing in the countryside in Latvia,” Gary shares. Since they didn’t have a tractor, Gita said they would need to use the manual plough that you attach to your waist. “I’d never experienced anything like it. I still had my UK, desk-bound weight and lack of fitness. I just thought to myself that there must be an easier way to do this! It just seemed like hard work!” Gary continues. “I know that this life is harder than many would expect but this was really hard work! It was that thing that made me think there must be a better way to do this,” he expands.

So, as they were entering winter once again, Gary had the time to look into how people around the world tend to their gardens. “I said to others that my biggest weakness was that I didn’t know anything about gardening and that my biggest strength was that I didn’t know anything about gardening. I came into it with no ideas or expectations other than I didn’t want to do that potato thing again,” Gary says.

Over time, through practicing this new way of life and implementing new ways of stewarding the land, he’s noticed a change in his values. “The things I talk about now are very different,” he says, “As are the ways that I approach food, land and forestry management.” Gary explains that not many people in the UK manage forests — unless you’re extremely wealthy. This way of life helps better understand nature and develop an appreciation for how it works and how it’s connected to us as humans. “They say that as soon as you have any land, you’re only a temporary resident. You’re only looking after it for the next generation, and you should have that in mind,” he continues.

It’s also been a lesson in the importance of community. “I try not to use the word ‘self-sufficient,’” Gary shares, preferring instead to speak of community sufficiency. “We’re both now in our 50s! We’re the youngest people in this group of local houses. We know we’re sometimes called on to help out — and that’s reciprocated in other ways. They might have a tractor we can use, for example.”

Gary appreciates the freedom that this lifestyle affords, as well as how it’s a never-ending learning experience. Learning about trees has been a highlight, and not just in the sense of chopping firewood but also how they grow and can be used to make things. “I made a bow and arrow for my daughter a few years back from a piece of hazel chopped from our own property! That was a really nice process, and something that I wouldn’t have been able to do in the UK,” he shares.

However, Gary doesn’t idealize the homesteading lifestyle. For example, he’s realistic about the climate in Latvia and the challenges it poses. “I’ve put systems in place, which allow me to stretch that window of growing potential,” he explains, sharing that he has built a special greenhouse and that they have grow lights to be able to start growing produce indoors earlier in the year. “There are always ways! There are just inconvenient problems that need solutions,” he says, encouraging people to experiment.

Gary is also open about aging: “We’re becoming aware ourselves that we need to start thinking about the future and how these things that we’re doing now are going to operate in 10 years’ time, so that it doesn’t suddenly sneak up on us and become an issue.” For anyone considering a lifestyle shift, he suggests having serious conversations about your expectations, budget, and health. Although, “slow living” is the kind of buzzword of the moment for this kind of living, Gary advises that, in many ways, it’s far from slow!

In the future, Gary hopes to get to the point where they can host people for experiential days to “test drive” rural life.