Wednesday 1 August 2012

Slow Living July


Linking up with Christine again this month and for once I am not running behind.

Nourish -Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch over packaged, over processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead.
There has been more bread making this month with new sour dough recipes to try from my birthday book.  We have been eating eggs and lots of silverbeet the veggie garden.  And the fennel has just plumped up enough so we will be starting to eat that this week mmmmm roast fennel.
I have been given maderins in exchange for eggs and there have been a few cakes baked too.
Prepare - Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season.
This month has been all about the meat chickens.  We did a test run butchering just one bird and have now killed another 6.  This means we have 5 to go.  We roasted the first bird abut have broken the next 6 down into drum sticks, breasts, thighs and the rest for soups and stocks.
Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
We have been participating in Plastic Free July and I will be blogging about that later this week.

Green Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.
Well I made up more laundry liquid and liquid soap and I think participating in Plastic Free July counts here too.

Grow plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?
As I mentioned above there has been a lot of silverbeet on the menu this month as well as bok choy and kohl rabi.  We have snow peas and fennel coming on and hopefully we will get something from the brassicas before it gets too warm.
Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.
I am still going with my knitting and have made a few birthday cards this month for friends and family.

Discover Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I have been reading like a mad women this month and have gotten through 7 novels, 5 non fiction books and a stack of alternative living magazines.  I am not sure where I found the time but I did.

Enhance Community
The classic car show, that I am the event director for later this year, is taking up a bit of time and will continue to for a while yet.  I am also still involved in the anti sand mining group for my local area.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are  all cause for enjoyment.
July saw us catching up with family and friends and really was a busy month with a number of birthdays.

13 comments:

  1. I bet your chickens were tasty.

    I am impressed by how much you've read, along with everything else. I used to get most of my reading done while flying or waiting at airports, but then I learned to knit. ;-)

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  2. Wow Fiona, you have had a very successful month. Nice to reflect back on it all, and a good way of keep track of things you've done. cheers Wendy

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  3. Great job - I didn't get my act together to do a post this month. Maybe next month

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  4. Great to see all that you have been up to. I'm sure your meat chickens will be very tasty and knowing you can get them out of your own freezer...how cool is that.

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  5. I'm impressed with how seriously you took the chook business! And the books...... My goodness! Garden's looking good. : )

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  6. Well done on your achievements for the month, must say most impressed with the meat birds! My son buys in bulk from a free range farmer and sell to the local community, not sure I could butcher my own!

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  7. We once killed and cleaned 80 birds in a weekend - wasn't my favourite memory, by far, but they sure tasted good. We sold some to recoup costs and make a small profit, then kept the rest. My kids still mutter about "cotton pickin' chicken pluckin'

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  8. Really good to hear your updates with the meat chooks, Fiona. I've only been buying whole chickens for the last couple of months and have been portioning them at home in preparation for when the time comes when we will have our own meat chickens.

    It must've been wonderful to read all those books, a novel would have to be the greatest luxury for me right now.
    Great to have you linking up again. :)

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  9. ooh would love to have read so much...

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  10. I, too, am impressed with your meat chickens. I ok with the theory, but arent sure Im ready to go there yet. All that harvest! Maybe we should move out of Brisbane to Kilcoy with you! - Kara

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  11. i to am impressed with the chicken production, is it your plan to continue with meat birds or was this a trial?.

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  12. I love the exchange of eggs for manderins.
    I am impressed with how many books you have read.
    I make birthday cards as well. It feels so much more personal.

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  13. Sounds like you had a very productive month, good on you for butchering your own birds, I bet that taste wonderful. I can't believe how much you've managed to read, sadly I just can't seem to find much time for reading at the moment.

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