Malemijo.com is a place to document the experiences of one family (the Zolins) who left the ‘rat race’ in 1976 and opted out of society to go homesteading in East Gippsland. There were many families doing similar things at that time, but few who documented it as thoroughly as Mario and Lesley Zolin did. From the start, they styled Malemijo as an ‘experimental farm’. It was a grand experiment indeed!
In these pages you’ll find transcriptions of the journal that Lesley kept from 1976 to 1981 and reproductions of a great deal of information that Mario and Lesley created to inform and educate others who were interested in choosing a more self determined way of life.
As I add that existing content to the website, I may be tempted to provide updates that bring it into line with what’s going on today, in a world where we seem to be less self-determined and living less sustainably than we were in the seventies. Heaven forbid that I should turn into one of those older people who bemoans a younger generation. I feel too young to be doing that… and yet… I have to ask. What the hell are we doing? Reading through all this material of Mum’s and Dad’s as I prepare it for upload, the question becomes stronger and stronger. How did we not hear what was being discovered four and more decades ago about our progress on the road to self-destruction. How did we not listen? How did we do so little in response? How do we justify ubiquitous air conditioning, Toorak tractors in every driveway, shopping as a way to feel better, a throwaway mindset… still!?
Oh, and my name is Miriam. I’m the daughter. The four of us (Mum, Dad, my brother Joe and me) were the active participants in this experiment.
Perhaps by starting this site, I’m continuing what Malemijo experimental farm started out to achieve.
At the very least, I hope someone (or maybe more than one) finds what I put here useful. Dad always used to be against ‘re-inventing the wheel’. If we learned anything that helps anybody … then that’s as good a reason as any to keep the words alive.
Thanks for reading
Miriam