I started TailsFromThePatch because I got tired of reading reviews written by people who clearly hadn’t used the products. So I’m building the kind of site I actually want to read — one where every recommendation comes from something I own, use, broke, ditched, or built my life around.

I’m 55, I live on a small rural patch outside Canberra with a flock of chickens, two dogs who think they’re in charge, and a vegetable garden that’s slowly winning. Most mornings start with eggs from the coop and a low-carb breakfast — I’m reversing type 2 diabetes through a keto and intermittent fasting approach that’s working, and I write about that journey too. I’m not a doctor or a dietitian. I’m just someone who decided to stop accepting the diagnosis as a life sentence.

Five years ago I started writing books. I publish under two pen names. Grace Hartwood writes about pet loss and grief, after I lost a dog who broke my heart. Autumn Skye writes about menopause and midlife, because nobody else seemed to be writing the honest version. The books are on Amazon. They’re not glamorous, but they help people, and that’s the only metric I care about.

Here you’ll find honest reviews of garden tools, kitchen appliances, robot mowers, chicken keeping gear, and the occasional gadget under $20 that genuinely changed something. Some posts will mention a book. Some will be a recipe. Some will be a story about my chickens being chickens. If a product link is an affiliate link I’ll always tell you, and I’ll never recommend something I haven’t bought with my own money.

If something here helps, that’s enough. Welcome to the patch.