The Slow Home Podcast has been one of Australia’s most popular shows since it launched. In 2022, after eight years and with over 9 million downloads, Ben and I decided to call time on what has been a rewarding, challenging, delightful project. Thank you to everyone who listened week after week. Below you’ll find links to all nine seasons — more than 300 episodes.
In February 2023, we launched The Tortoise Podcast, a slow-paced, monthly conversation where we look at topics through the lens of slow. You can find out more here, or subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all podcast platforms.
We race to keep up with The Joneses. We are over-worked, over-committed, and we compete on how busy and important and sleep-deprived we are. But we don't need to.
We live life in the fast lane.
There is an ever-growing group of people who are saying no to life lived at 110%. They are opting to slow down, simplify and focus on the things that are truly important. Brooke and Ben McAlary are two of them and in The Slow Home Podcast, they chat to others who have adopted a similar approach to life - slowing down, opting out, saying no.
Listened to more than 8 million times and featuring more than 300 episodes, The Slow Home Podcast is one of Australia’s longest-running health podcasts.
You can search through our archive of episodes below:
To round out S7 we dig in to loads of juicy listener questions about imposter syndrome, daily rhythms, cooking and the best non-alcoholic IPA!
Future-steading as a philosophy includes supporting local producers, living seasonally, reconsidering what ‘enough’ looks like and how to measure success if not by modern, capitalist means.
Anita’s zero-waste philosophy applies not only to food, packaging and the things we own, but also to our time. In order for zero-waste living to be sustainable, it needs to be sustainable for you and your family too.
Jacki Carr returns to talk about goals, change and the joys of embracing our own brand of weird.
During lockdown, Jess Davis started playing with film photography as an analog stand-in for social media. Today we talk about the joys of creativity, why she broke up with her iPhone, what caused her to rekindle that relationship and one of my favourite topics: the commercialisation of ‘slow’.
At no point could I have forseen just how helpful the ideas of slowing down, tilting in to where I need to be, and more recently, the importance of care would prove to be, but man, I am so glad to have been through those lessons. They’ve helped us in more ways than I can count.
We share stories of grappling with the unknown, what it feels like to write a book about hope (or care!) when we’re all out of heart fuel, and why optimistic activism is on both of our minds.
We answer listener questions about sustainable dog ownership, working from home, writing, the upcoming release of Care and how our idea of slow living has evolved over the years. Oh, and we also reveal new intro music!
I’ve tried really hard not to apologise for going MIA in 2020, because it was beyond necessary. But I’m not too proud to admit that A) I’m glad we have the wonderful community of like-minded souls that we do, because I know you get it, and B) I missed this.
"In a crisis it is natural to want to be with one another in a messy collective…but for people living alone at the moment that is not possible."
Sarah Wilson
“There is an empowerment that comes from knowing your dosha and understanding your stress response.”
Ellen Carr
"In the current environment getting kids offline and in the outdoors learning should be a priority."
Sarah Durack
"Learn one new skill, something that will help you not be so reliant on the system."
Robyn Rosenfeldt
“The brain in a positive state is 31% more productive than a brain in a stressed, neutral or negative state.”
Louise Miller
“Soften in to screen time and manage your expectations around it.” In this hostful chat, Brooke and Ben talk about screens, Covid and what the future holds.
“What we need now more than ever, is compassion and grace.” We dive head-first in to the realities of Covid and how slow living has helped us navigate the strangest of strange times.
“The roots of self-care lie in underserved communities that recognised no-one else was going to care for them.”
“Look beyond books, podcasts and movies and find time to focus on what slow living means for you.”
Carl Honore
“Values help unravel problems and tricky situations. You look at things differently when you look at them through the lens of your values.”
Since returning to Australia and moving in to a new home, we've found there's a lot of curiosity about our stuff. Or more specifically, whether we've accumulated a lot of it since settling down.
“It’s much better to have five minutes of discomfort by saying no, than having months of resentment.”
In the last hostful of 2019, Ben and I look back over what has been a massively transformative year for both of us.
Can you live slow if you’re someone who enjoys being busy? What if you’re a Type A, go-getter? Or someone who prides themselves on setting goals and kicking them every single time?
If you’ve ever tried to reduce your food waste or cut back on plastic and found yourself overwhelmed and frustrated at the lack of realistic low-waste options – this episode is for you.
For anyone who has ever found themselves wondering how to establish stronger boundaries or how to more evenly weight the scales across all their values.
Lauren is in her mid-twenties and wants to know whether slow living can apply to someone her age? Or is burnout a rite of passage?
When we look around and see the myriad environmental crises facing the world it can be easy to slip in to despair, as we wonder, “What difference can I make? I’m only one person.”
Nancy recently moved from the UK to Kuala Lumpur with her family, and is afraid that her introversion, combined with her desire to live a ‘slow life’ is holding her back from making friends.
Kate Mildenhall wants to know whether slow living and some of its adjacent elements – mindfulness, self-care, increased peace and patience – can actually rob us of ambition.
One of the best ways we as individuals can reduce our carbon footprint is to stop supporting the producers of fast fashion and start buying second-hand clothes.
“Life’s too short to worry about the size of your thighs or the calories in a latte.”
Kali Gray
“The truth you hold onto most tightly is usually the one that’s giving you the most trouble. “
Blaire Palmer
“There’s something about our bodies that want to know where our food came from, to understand how our clothes are made, how to fix our houses.”
Katrina Rodabaugh
