Slow Living October

Hello.

Another month has rolled around and it is time to reflect on my Slow Living goals and join in with Christine and the other lovelies for my Slow Living report for October.

There has been beautiful sunny skies and a much warmer feel

 to the days in October, summer is on the way!

Nourish - We have been eating our normal range of foods I think, with a greater emphasis on home grown vegetables as I was able to provide broccoli, spinach, snow peas , podding peas, lettuce, kale and celery from the garden this month.  We mostly ate these in raw form as the boys don't like cooked veggies, although I did steam the spinach, kale and broccoli, because that's how I like it!  The snowpeas have been a star performer, I have been weighing my harvest and in the last 2 weeks of October I picked 5.5kgs !! That's a lot of snow peas, and they are still going strong.  

The chooks are producing a steady supply of eggs, so I have been making quite a few meringues to use them up, and because the kids really like them.

Prepare - Haven't really prepared much this month, we tend to eat things fresh and give away any excess.  This is an area I should try and improve. 

Grow - Things have been busy in the garden, I have been cleaning out beds ready for spring/summer plantings. I planted potatoes, zucchini, climbing beans, and a bed of capsicums, and there are lots of seedlings in the hothouse ready to go into the garden - tomatoes, basil, perpetual spinach, cucubers, cantaloup, pumpkins, 3 types of beans, snow peas, kale and lettuces.  My first sowing of sweetcorn didn't work so I am going to have another go soon.  

Also planted sunflowers and zinnias which are all up. 

 The raspberries are covered with flowers and plenty of buzzing bees, Yay!

In the garden, it has been all about flowers, with the poppies, iris and roses all putting on lovely displays, not to mention the blossom on the fruit trees and ornamentals, just gorgeous!

Green - Um.... I've been picking my own bunches of flowers and using extra blankets instead of turning on heating for the few cooler evenings as winter leaves us, It does feel like warmer weather is on the way.  Also looked into window coverings for our back room to keep out the sun this summer and help keep the house cooler, we have no air conditioning so it can warm up quite quickly inside.

Create - Didn't get much interesting creating done in October. I am continuing on with my crochet along blanket, although I didn't make a lot of progress, and I have started a Christmas decoration for a swap I have joined.

Discover - In October I was reminded that it is important not to take people and relationships for granted, you just don't know how long any of us have on this earth, and things can change very quickly.

Enhance - I took part in Blogtoberfest as part of the blogging community, I don't do a lot to connect with other people on my blog, so I thought it would be a good way to try and rectify that, I had mixed results. I found it hard to fit in a post a day, without feeling like the posts were very boring! Must try and find more interesting things to post about! 

Enjoy - We had family gatherings, a birthday and I had a night out to a great concert in October.  Also enjoyed a bit of day dreaming about some new crocheting, hope to get onto that soon!

So that is my wrap up of October, overall the time flew by so quickly that I didn't really get to achieve a lot.  I am finding with more work days away from the house, I don't have the 'Slow' life I am aiming for.  I am certainly going to take steps to address this in 2013, I haven't really got a lot of joy out of the last few months, and I think it is just because I have been so busy.  I really don't think the extra bit of money is worth it, so am going to rebalance things in the new year.

Have a great day!

Slow Living Report - September

 Hello there!

  

Well, today I am doing my Slow Living Report for September before we get too far into October, I missed last months report because time just got away from me, so this will probably include stuff from August too if I think of anything.

 Here we go.....

Prepare and Nourish -  Well the usual baking and home cooking has been happening, but lots more of our own home grown vegies have been on the menu, if only in little piles of salad on the side of the plates.  Broccoli, kale, lettuce, silver beet and spring onions have been coming out of the garden, and it has been really satisfying!  There hasn't been much preserving of anything, we tend to like fresh things best, although I am using the last of the tomatoes I preserved last summer, so I  will be doing that again.

Grow - The garden has had a lot of attention this month, and it is looking good!

Besides all the things that we are picking at the moment, I have a big patch of peas and snow peas in flower, beetroots growing strongly, hearting lettuces getting fatter and heaps of perpetual spinach popping up all over the place. 

I have planted a heap of seed for summer things, tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, kale, sweetcorn, basil, coriander and flowers - sunflowers, zinnia and hollyhocks.  Most things are up and looking good, so I hope it will be a very abundant summer.

I have also put a bed of capsicums in from large bought seedlings, I've found they take too long to grow from seed here, and don't have enough time to grow and produce fruit, so I always grow them from advanced seedlings now and they are far more successful.

I am going to do a gardening post later this week with more details of what I have planted, as I want a record to check later.

Reduce -  This month saw a heap of old paling fence come our way, mostly earmarked for kindling, but I did save some big pieces and my dad and I made 3 big planting boxes/crates out of them.  

They look a bit like the old apple crate garden beds you see around the place, 

nice and rustic and completely recycled and free!  

Also using a heap of old polystyrene boxes to grow lettuce in the hot house 

( fantastic results, really healthy growth with no slugs and snail damage, almost needs no washing!), and also to get my basil and tomatoes off to a head start as cold frames inside in front of a sunny window with a sheet of plastic on top, the seeds germinated really quickly.

Green -  Um...  I'm back to using the clothes line for the washing now the weathers fining up, no need to fire up the dryer anymore.

Create - Not a lot happening on the creative front at the moment, still chugging along on my big stripey blanket, and I made a bobble beret out of a new crochet book.

Discover - I have discovered that I don't think I'm cut out to be a teacher!  I have started a new job over the last few months as a cooking teacher at my son's primary school, as part of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, it has had a bit of a break at the school after being established about 6 years ago, and is now running again with funds being raised to employ a couple of staff ( me! and Brenda), and there has been a steep learning curve!   Quite different to cooking with my kids at home, I am slowly getting my head around things, but am still not sure if this is my cup of tea!

Enhance - helping out with the planning of a food festival at the school, it should be a fun afternoon!

I have also started a crochet along on my blog for people who want to make a mixed stripey blanket with me, so I guess that is connecting a bit more than usual with the lovely bloggy community.

Enjoy - September saw me gaining quite a lot of extra work, so my days off were really enjoyed and appreciated!  

The school holidays have been great, and we have had a few nice social occasions too, the weather has been improving and I have really been enjoying wandering around my garden gathering bunches of flowers to brighten up inside, simple pleasures.  

I've also decide life is too short not to use my 'good' things, so have been bringing out my nice crockery and bits and pieces and using them when I think of it, making a bit more effort is really upping the enjoyment factor of everyday life!

Ok, that is September done, a bit brief, but you get the idea.  Hoping October is a little more relaxed and there is a bit more crafty time.

Joining in over with Christine and the other slow living lovelies!

Slow Living July 2012

Hello, I can't believe another month has rolled around already!

It is almost scary how quick this year is going, I was looking at some photos this morning of the boys when they were little and it really hit home how fast time is going and how quickly the years rack up, it doesn't seem that long since they were cute little toddlers happily smiling for a photo, but the reality is they are all much closer to adulthood and independence than to their younger, needier days. 

 It has made me a bit melancholy today, my life is going too quickly!

 I want things to slow down so I can savour  these great days just a little longer!

 Wishful thinking I know.

And perhaps I have the rose coloured glasses on, looking back at all the good times we had when the boys were little, I am sure we will continue to have lots of new good times as they grow older and move on with their lives.

It is hard letting go though, I guess it is just another phase to adjust to in the big scheme of life, it is a bit sad to think that my baby days are well and truly over, but relating to our boys as adult equals will also be an exciting, interesting change in our family dynamics.  I still think this is a few years off yet!

But I digress, back to the Slow Living report for July........It feels like Spring is on its way! My almond tree has burst into flower, always a good sign.......

Nourish - I had a go at sourdough bread this month.  I was gifted a jar of starter from my boss who got it from a sourdough bakery, and managed to keep it alive and thriving, quite a responsibility!  The results were good, actually very good!  Also been making quite a bit of soup as it has been freezing around here!

Prepare - Still not great with this one.  Can't really think of anything other than collecting some dried bean seeds to plant out in summer.

Reduce - I have been recycling a lot of my seedling punnets and trays, refilling them and sowing many peas in them.  Also made a very effective bread prover out of an old polystyrene broccoli box with a lid, perfect thing to create a warm humid environment.

Green -  Got on the bike a bit more this month, also tried to eat more out of the garden.

Grow - Did quite a bit of preparing in the garden.  (My new gardening job is really helping me stay enthused about my own garden and motivated to get on with things that need doing)

Cleared out 4 old fruit trees, and made a new garden bed for peas.

Sowed lots of beetroot and carrots in lots of colours (red, yellow, white, purple and orange)

Cleared, manured and mulched about half of my vegie patches ready for Spring planting.

Bought 8 different tomato seed varieties in preparation for summer, and ordered 6 types of potatoes too.

Create - Started a mini square crochet blanket, and made some mini flowers for a necklace, (yet to finish).

Discover - Read up on sourdough baking on the internet and in books, tried to combine all the best bits when I baked.

Enhance - Helped out at the Crib Point Community Garden, Made gingerbread for a school fundraiser, Joined up with the Ravelry group A Year Of Projects, also did more linking up posts on this blog.

Enjoy - The school holidays were a good break, we had a few family birthdays and went to the drive in to see Spiderman, spent a day in the city and went to the football, and finished the last one in the Game of Thrones books, such a good series!  Flowers in the gardena to pick, yay! Also enjoyed nights by the fire with my crochet and a bag of Twisties ( a guilty pleasure!), oh and the family were there somewhere too! haha..

Joining up with Christine to see what everyone else has been up to in July.

Slow Living, June 2012

Hello.

Well I am running very late with my Slow Living Report for June, real life has been taking up my time recently, and my blogging has taken a bit of a back seat, but I am back on the wagon now, so here goes!

Nourish - It has been a pretty typical month of eating here.  I have been doing a lot of baking, biscuits, muffins, cakes, that sort of thing, I have been taking morning tea to my new job on a Saturday morning, so it is a good chance to try new recipes out.

Prepare - I haver been making stock from the chicken carcass after a roast, and can't believe how much more flavour the roasted bones give the stock, so I will try and continue with this.  I also had a go at making lime marmalade with my lime surplus, but it started to burn in the fast boil stage so I freaked and ditched the whole batch, after it had cooled all the brown bits had disappeared but I thought it might still taste a bit burnt so the compost got a boost.  I'll try again this month as I still have a mountain of limes.

Reduce - Um.... Have to work on this one ....nothing really comes to mind for June. Oh, I have kicked my Diet Coke habit, so I guess that's a reduction of a type!

Green - We have been buying our vegies from the place where I am working a couple of days a week, it's a kind of farm stall where they sell local produce from the Peninsula, so it is fitting in nicely with my 100 mile diet, and lessening our food miles, there is a a surprisingly large diversity of food grown in our region! 

Grow - I have planted pea and snowpea seeds in punnets in the hot house to give them a head start and they are all up, as is pak choy, lettuce and broad beans.  I cleared a very weedy bed and planted out onion seedlings that I grew from seed, I'll have to find somewhere else to plant them, as I have heaps left over!  Also planted out sweetpeas onto my teepees, so hoping for some nice Spring colour.

I have also saved the seed from my Windsor Long Pod beans, so hope to use them in summer.

Create - In June I made a hat, some fingerless gloves, a bird softie and started a new blanket.

Enhance/Connect - Our tennis team lost the grand final (again!), so we will be staying in B grade for another season, something we are not that unhappy about, the B graders are all lovely.

We got the chickens for our community garden in June and they have settled in nicely.

Discover - I have been reading some great books recently, it has been so cold and wet that snuggling up with a book has been quite a common occurrence.

Enjoy - This month we celebrated birthdays, gathering with friends and I had a nice weekend away with my mum and one of my sisters.

Linking up over at Christine's place.

See ya!

Slow Living Report - May 2012

Hello, I am joining in with Christine  over at Slow Living Essentials again this month for the slow living report for May, so here goes....

Nourish - We have been eating homemade takeaway a bit this month, I was gifted a deep fryer not long ago, and we have had yummy beer battered flake and chips and salt and pepper calamari for Friday night treat dinners a couple of times. I also have some huge Otway Red potatoes that I sliced into thinnish rounds and dipped in the beer batter and fried, they made delicious potato cakes, just like the fish and chip shop! The boys loved them.

On a healthier note, I have also been making soups as the weather gets cooler, we have had chicken and sweetcorn (very good) and the old favourite, lamb shank and barley (delicious!)

Prepare - well, not much to report here really!

The local orchards are harvesting some brilliant apples, so I have been buying lots while they are so fresh and delicious, not getting to preserve any though, they are all getting eaten too quickly.

Reduce - Gave my hot house a bit of a clean up and recycled a heap of old pots into containers for seedlings and cuttings. 

Green - The wood heater has been getting a great work out this month, I have decide not to use the gas heater this year (it needs a good service and I don't want to accidentally gas us), so hope to save abit of money on the gas bill too. Our wood heater can heat the whole house anyway, and dry the washing on the clothes horse at the same time.  Using the clothes dryer much less too, bonus! 

Grow - Sowed seeds of snowpeas, sweetpeas, 3 types of lettuce in individual cells so I can grow nice big individual plants, pak choy,  everything has germinated nicely.

My brassica seedlings are looking great and are ready to plant out in the garden, we have broccoli, red and green cabbage, cauliflower and tuscan kale,  the onion seedlings are still quite skinny, but they will go out in the garden too soon.

Also have bought some more garlic to plant on the winter solstice, a local commercial organic garlic grower broke both her ankles, (poor thing)  and is not able to plant her crop this year,  so I think this will be really good garlic, looking forward to seeing how it goes.

We are harvesting quite a lot of things, baby beetroots, baby carrots, lettuce, spinach beet and the last of the beans.  I am leaving a lot of the great beans to save seed for next summer, they are taking ages to dry off though!

 Create - Quite a productive month on the creative front, I finished a second star stitch blanket, made up a flower brooch for mother's day (and made a tutorial for it) and crocheted a cushion cover. Quite surprising, as I have felt like I've lost my creative drive a bit this month, with lots of procrastinating over what to make and lots of time just looking through patterns!

Discover - I have been reading up on Rhonda Hetzel's book Down to Earth , looking at the budgeting and financial chapters learning that I can do it!  Also started a new job, working at a little farmers market/farm sales on Saturdays, it is fun! 

this is part of my garden and chook yard at home 

Enhance / Connect - My dad finished off the Hen Hilton at our Community garden in May and we did a little road trip to get 12 lovely chookies who are now happily at home in our orchard area. 

Gary and I went to the Mt Eliza Farmer's Market in May and supported several growers, and came home with lovely oranges, salad mix and pear cider!  That market has really grown and improved since our last visit.

My B grade Mixed tennis team has reached the finals, I hope we don't choke! (we have a tendency to talk ourselves out of a win!) We've gotta fire up guys!

Beautiful Autumn evening, my very green and damp garden

Enjoy - We enjoyed a lovely family lunch for Mother's Day, a family picnic at Sorrento, lot's of friend visits for the boys, and a couple of social meals with local friends for me.

Also I've really enjoyed the cooler weather and some lovely still Autumn days perfect for working in the garden, cosy nights by the fire, reading some great books, and watching Game of Thrones ( what an excellent series, although the books are even more engrossing!)

So that is May all wrapped up!

Roll on June and happy winter, life is flashing by at the moment, do you feel that way too?

Have a great day!

Slow Living 2012 -April Report

Hello.  

Today I have decided to join in with Christine at Slow Living Essentials and her Slow Living 2012 diary project where you report on a variety of topics each month. 

 I thought this would be a good way to keep track of garden progress and other achievements through the year.  

Sometimes it feels like time is passing and each day goes by with little happening, but when I write down what has actually been completed/achieved in the month it really makes me feel like I am doing something worthwhile here at my little home.

Slow living is something that I like the idea of, yet it is quite a challenge these days to slow down and get off the fast paced life occasionally.  

I find some areas of my life are much slower than others !

Anyway, here is my first report,

April 2012

 Nourish - ( Cooking successes, great recipes, etc) 

Have been doing a lot of cooking as usual in April.  The standard baking of sweet stuff, and Easter gingerbread, cooked for a crowd at Max's birthday, lasagna with home preserved tomatoes and homemade pasta was a hit. Soups are starting to appear with the cooler weather, I made lamb shank and barley, minestrone and pea and ham soup this month.  I also made some sweet potato and lentil pasties that were yum, must post the recipe at a later date. Using home grown garlic and lots of fresh eggs too.

Prepare - ( Preserving / Stockpiling)

I didn't do much preserving this month, we were eating things fresh too quickly.

I did restock the pantry a bit with bulk flour and oil when it was on sale.

Reduce - ( Cut down on household waste)

Um, didn't really do anything towards this in April, except have a bit of a clean out of my hall cupboard and send a few big bags of thing up to the op shop.  More cleaning out and decluttering to continue through out the year.

Green - ('Greening' up your life)

In April I have started riding my bike around a lot more as an alternative to the car for short trips.

Grow - (Garden progress)

Things are really going well in the garden in April. I cleaned out a lot of the finished summer stuff, prepared beds for Autumn plantings, made teepees for climbers, reclaimed weedy areas for more growing space and tried to stick to my plant something at least twice a week rule.

Harvesting beans, lettuce, silverbeet, spinachbeet, bok choy, kale (for the chooks), beetroot, and lots of herbs.

Sowed tuscan kale, broccoli, red cabbage, green cabbage, cauliflower, sugar peas, snowpeas, brown onions, torpedo onions, rainbow silverbeet.

Planted garlic, lettuces, celery and broccoli seedlings.

Plenty of mowing and whippersnipping as the grass has been growing as I watch!

Create - (Crafty)

Finished the Star stitch blanket and started another one, and knitted a sock.

Discover - (Learning, Reading, etc)

Learnt how to knit socks!

Read a good book called 'Garlic and Friends' by Penny Woodward, all about growing the allium family.

Enhance - (Community Involvement)

Worked in the Community Garden, Made Anzacs for a fundraiser at School, joined the fundraising committee at school to raise money for there kitchen garden program.

Enjoy - (things we did for fun!)

Easter and the school holidays were generally fun, I like the change of routine. We also celebrated Max's 12th birthday with a party here and had a nice family dinner out for my dad's birthday too.

There we go, April in a nut shell!

Roll on May!

Have a look over here if you are interested to see how other slow lifers have gone in April!