Slow Living June 2013

Linking up with Christine again this month.  Although I missed last month so this may cover the last 2 months.

Nourish -Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch over packaged, over processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead.
At the moment there is silverbeet and parsley in the garden ready for harvest plus the odd cherry tomato.
I have been making a few nice Asian meals lately including the caramel pork belly in the picture below.
I have also made up another big batch or home made baked beans as Hubby likes these to take to work for lunches.  Just this week I have been doing a bit of baking including my chocolate and beetroot cake except that I used carrots instead of beetroot and I made some bran muffins as well.

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.
We have been working through our food stockpile rather than adding to it.  But what we have been stockpiling is fire wood.  Back at the start of the year Hubby built a wood shed out of recycled materials.

The wood shed

Then we got a wood splitter in to split all the wood we have been drying in the paddock.  We ended up with about 6 trailers loads like the one in the below photo.

And now the wood is stacked floor to ceiling and all the way to the door.  We should not have to get wood again before we move to NZ.  In fact we will probably be selling the house with at least a years supply included.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
This has all been about using things up for us.  We seem to have all these half bottles of things in the bathroom and I am absolutely refusing to throw them out until the contents have been used up.  Last night I had a bubble bath and I have been using up the almost empty bottle of moisturiser  before moving on to the slightly less empty bottle.  I am not even sure where they all came from, I think some have been left behind by visitors, either that or they are breeding...

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.
I have been trying a new recipe for a home made body scrub made from coconut oil and sugar.  I have not perfected it just yet but it is getting better.  I will post more about it when I am happy with the recipe.

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

The self seeded Jap pumpkin that is set on world domination is starting to bear fruit  I just hope they are ready before it gets too cold..

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.

I am still practising my knitting when I can find time and have been doing lots of scrap booking and card making.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I am still reading lots of books.  I am currently reading  the Game of Thrones series and really enjoying it. I am up to book 5 of 7 and if you tune in later this week I have the first 2 books in the series to give away.

Enhance - Community
Planning for this years Classic Car Show is well under way again and will be keeping me busy for many months to come.  I am also in charge of organising all of the stall holders for the festival so it is a huge job.  I would say that I currently dedicate about 10 - 15 hours a week to these community events.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
I have been so blessed over the last 2 months catching up with family in New Zealand as well as spending time with Hubby's family and friends here in Australia.

My Niece and Nephew in NZ

My mother in law and I went to the Brisbane Art Gallery 2 weeks ago to see Quilts 1700 - 1945 which was fascinating.  Quilts 1700–1945’ comes from one of the world’s most important and loved collections of textiles and decorative arts — the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This exhibition offers visitors an unprecedented opportunity to see over 30 quilted and/or patchworked bed covers and bed hangings, as well as sewing accessories, created over two-and-a-half centuries.   If you get a chance to see it it is worth it.

What have you been up to?

Slow Living April 2013

Linking up with Christine again this month.  Although running a bit late.

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 some creative meals this month as I tried to use what we had on hand as part of my stockpile challenge.  Most meals contain what we have lots of in the garden.  Beans, Parsley and a late flush of cucumbers.  Every second day these meals can be followed with a desert of home grown raspberries and yoghurt.

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 we have had a limited budget due to our stocktake challenge.  However I was able to dry some rosellas and freeze others to enjoy over the coming months.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
We re purposed some bits and pieces to make fencing standards for our cows this month and they are still being used to great effect.

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.
I have been trying a new recipe for a home made body scrub made from coconut oil and sugar.  I have not perfected it just yet but it is getting better.  I will post more about it when I am happy with the recipe.

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

The self seeded Jap pumpkin that is set on world domination is starting to bear fruit  I just hope they are ready before it gets too cold..

Jap pumpking taking over

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.

I am still practising my knitting when I can find time and have been doing lots of scrap booking and card making.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I am still reading lots of books.  I am currently reading  the Game of Thrones series and really enjoying it.

Enhance - Community
Planning for this years Classic Car Show is well under way again and will be keeping me busy for many months to come.  I am also in charge of organising all of the stall holders for the festival so it is a huge job.  This will be our third year and hopefully even more successful that the last two.  Over the weekend I spent time at another festival scouting for new and interesting stall holders.
I also participated in this years show and had a few wins as well.
Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
I had a great day out op shopping with my best friend this month and picked up some real bargains   We also celebrated a friends birthday where he indulged in the biggest burger I have ever seen.  Of course Hubby had to have one too.  I opted out and was very glad.

Giant Burgers with our friend trying to work out how to tackle the monster.

After lunch we all went for a bush walk although I am not sure it was enough to work off even a fraction of those burgers.

Bush walking with my friend and his kids being scary monsters in the forest.

What have you been up to?

Slow Living March 2013

Linking up with Christine again this month.  I am really glad that she is hosting this again this year it is great to hear what everyone is up to.

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 some lovely home made meals this month and we have enjoyed our first hearty meal from the  slow cooker.  Over Easter I made some cross-less buns, I posted the recipe I use last Easter and I am always happy with the result.  I make these during the year as well and they always go down a treat.

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.
I have been freezing the last of the capsicums and the late planting of purple climbing beans I put in are coming on nicely so hopefully there will be some of those to put into the freezer in the future.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
Nothing very exciting happening on this front.

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.
I made up a big batch of laundry liquid over the Easter weekend.
I keep forgetting to post the recipe I use but it is pretty simple:

Laundry Liquid

4 litres of water
3 Cups Lux Soap Flakes
2 Cups Washing Soda (the powder not the crystals)
1 Cup Borax

Heat together in a stock pot until it is all dissolved   Then add another 6 litres of cold water blending with a stick blender as you go.  I then 3/4 fill about 4 old plastic bottles with the mix and tip the rest into a bucket with a lid.  You need to only fill the bottles 3/4 of the way as they need a good shake before using.  I use 1/2 a cup per load and have been very happy with the results.

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

I have a late run of climbing beans and cucumbers coming along and the rosellas are ready for harvesting.

We also have a self seeded Jap pumpkin that is set on world domination.  It is taking over and my comfrey has been lost below but hope fully we will get some pumpkins as my QLD Blue vine only produces one and it is a very sad looking pumpkin at that.

Jap pumpking taking over

Sad looking QLD Blue Pumpkin

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.

I am still practising my knitting and have been doing lots of scrap booking and card making.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I am still reading lots of books.  I am currently reading  "The casual vacancy" by JK Rowling and about 3 other books as well.

Enhance - Community
Planning for this years Classic Car Show is well under way again and will be keeping me busy for many months to come.  I am also in charge of organising all of the stall holders for the festival so it is a huge job.  This will be our third year and hopefully even more successful that the last two.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
Well we had a great time in Melbourne and over Easter caught up with friends so we have been really blessed this month.

What have you been up to?

Slow Living February 2013

Linking up with Christine again this month.  I am really glad that she is hosting this again this year it is great to hear what everyone is up to.

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 so much baking this month as I the stockpile challenge meant we were not doing any shopping. As usual all of our meals are being cooked from scratch as well.

Banana & Berry Bread

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.
Even though we have been working through our stockpile there has still been some adding to it.  Lots of tomatoes and some home made Baked beans too.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
We have been using some recycled materials to make farming equipment. Hubby also finished the wood shed which he made entirely out of recycled materials.  I think he did a great job.

The finished wood shed

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 the use of home made cleaners continues, it's a pity that the cleaning part has to happen too.

Lista Gandia eggplant and golden midget watermelon

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

I thought he tomatoes didn't make it through the floods but I might have been wrong as they seem to be making a comeback.  The peppers, eggplants and melons are still going strong.
I also have a crop of rosellas coming along nicely.

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.

I am still practising my knitting and have been doing scrap booking..

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I am still reading lots of books.  I  have read "Folks this ain't normal" by Joel Salatin and am currently reading  "The casual vacancy" by JK Rowling.

Enhance - Community
Planning for this years Classic Car Show is well under way again and will be keeping me busy for many months to come.  This will be our third year and hopefully even more successful that the last two.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
February included a few birthdays and catch ups with friends which was great.

What have you been up to?

Slow Living January 2013

Linking up with Christine again this month.  I am really glad that she is hosting this again this year it is great to hear what everyone is up to.

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 not been much baking this month as I still had a few batches of muffins and biscuits in the freezer. But as usual all of our meals are being cooked from scratch.

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.

I have been dicing and freezing capsicum for use through winter when the prices go through the roof.  I have also made up a huge batch of chicken stock that is now frozen in 500ml blocks in the freezer.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
Not much going on in this area at the moment.

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 the use of home made cleaners continues, it's a pity that the cleaning part has to happen too.

Lista Gandia eggplant and golden midget watermelon

Grow - plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden?

The tomatoes didn't make it through the floods but the peppers, eggplants and melons are still going strong.
I also have a crop of rosellas coming along nicely.

Create - To fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others.

I am still practising my knitting and have been making birthday cards and doing scrap booking..

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.
I am still reading books by the dozen so it was good to get to the bookfest with my best friend.  I have been reading a few fictional books and I also read Food Rules by Michael Pollan.  It is a quick and easy book to read and really talks about getting back to a better way of eating.

Enhance - Community
Planning for this years Classic Car Show is under way again and we have a meeting this week with our Mayor to discuss how the council can help and how he can help as well.  Our Mayor is a motoring enthusiast and was one of last years judges.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.
January was a quieter month with time spent at home with hubby which was a nice thing indeed.

What have you been up to?