Slow Living February 2013

Hello!

Well we have said goodbye to Summer in Australia and a big hello to Autumn, although I think the lovely weather is going to stay around for a few more weeks, Yay!

It ha been a really beautiful summer this year, the weather has been truly 'summery' and warm and sunny and perfect for outdoor stuff.  We have had a few ordinary summers in recent years , so it was nice to have a 'proper' Summer.

February has just flown along at a million miles an hour!  School and all the regular things have started up and we are back in the swing of 'normal' life.  It has been a lovely month, and it has felt like the holidays have continued as we have been able to do lots of relaxing fun things, with the weather being so good.  We had a couple of days of rain at the end to give the garden a good soak, just when everything was really dry, so very welcome.

Anyway, here is my Slow Living report for the month.....

Nourish - Well it has been another month of typical Summer eating around here.  Lots of barbecues,

 salads, and fresh veg from the garden.  I still threw a few roast chickens into the mix, just because they are so easy and it's a meal that everyone will eat.  I also made a few treat dinners with the deep fryer, a highlight being Chinese style lemon chicken - very delicious!  (thing I will post the recipe for the lemon sauce, easy and so yum!)

Prepare - I made a couple of batches of apricot jam while apricots were still plentiful, on batch is more like apricot sauce as I had a hard time figuring out when to take it off the heat and took it off a bit early. The other batch has set better and is like 'real' jam! So I have about 18 jars of apricot yumminess!

Green - Umm, not a lot doing for this one, we have sweltered through the heat without air-conditioning, so I hope our electricity use is down a bit,  and stayed cool by spending lots of time at the beach and my parents' place, who have a pool.

Grow - The garden has been producing well, even though it has been very dry.  We have been harvesting tomatoes, sweetcorn, beans, capsicums, lettuce, onions, carrots and a few baby potatoes plus various herbs.  I also have bed of cantaloupes ripening nicely as I hope they will be ready soon.  We have had very little rain so I have been relying on my tank and some mains water to keep everything going. There were some sizzling days where I lost a few things in the garden, but overall it has survived the summer fairly well.  My dahlias have also been putting on a beautiful display and giving my cut flowers for the house.

Reduce - I have been on a bit of a clutter reducing drive this month and have started giving our house a good clean up, I can see the surface of my gypsy dresser for the first time in a long while!  I have had quite a few boxes for the op shop, and there are more to come.  It feels great to have things in more order,  I hope I can get through the whole house with my new ruthless declutter frame of mind!

Create - Still working on my star stitch blanket and a few rows of the crochet along blanket, it has been pretty hot though for crochet!

Discover - I have spent a fair bit of time discovering how to set up an online store through Storenvy, and then setting it up, ordering stock, photographing everything, setting prices, etc !  Quite a big learning curve!  But lots of fun and very interesting and exciting!

Enhance - I have spent time at the Community garden and am trying to be a better blog community member up responding to comments left on my blog, something I am sporadic at, at best, even though I really like getting comments and appreciate everyone of them!    I also started a give away for my blog readers that has had a good response.  (there is still time to enter if you'd like !!) :)

Enjoy - February has been quite a social month, with a nice afternoon/evening spent with friends dining outdoors, many afternoons on the beach and a few evening beach walks.  I have also kicked my get fit plan into action and have walked over 150 km in the month, with a modest weight lose resulting  (3kg for the month) I am telling myself slow and steady wins the weight lose race! I am enjoying my walks and am finding the nike app very motivating!  

Joining in with Christine and the other Slow Living guys over at Slow Living Essentials.

How was your last month of Summer/Winter ? 

Are you looking forward to a new season too?