Slow Living August 2014

Linking up with Linda who has taken over from Christine in hosting the Slow Living Nine.  I am so glad this is continuing as 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.
With my self imposed "How little Can You Spend Month" everything except the one meal I ate out with a friend was made from scratch.  We have heaps of eggs and silverbeet so quiches continues to be on the menu in its many forms.

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.

Our stockpile took a bit of a hit during the month as we tried not to spend more than $50 for the entire month.  But right at the end of the month we were given some oranges so I made a batch of marmalade.

Reduce - Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.

I am not sure we did anything specific that I can think of that fits this category this month, I am sure there was something but nothing springs to mind.

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.
Just the usual happening on this front.  I have a catch of citrus cleaner on the go but now that I have all these oranges I will be getting another batch started.

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

The garden is producing lots of Silverbeet and herbs, we have harvested a couple of purple cauliflower but it is now getting warm and I suspect the rest might not come to anything and get fed to the cow. I am growing spring onions, beetroot, fennel and celeriac. The peas I planted are really stunted and I have only had about 20 pods from them.  I have got my first planting of Summer veg in and we will see how that goes.

Some Summer Veg are in

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

Creations have been on hold this month and reading has taken over but I have plans to pick up my crochet hook again in the next few weeks.

Discover - Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests.

I have been reading lots over the last month about dog training, the environment, farming and some back copies of the National Geographic which although are old are still fascinating.

Enhance - Community

It is all systems go (only 8 weeks to go) in organising the car show that I am involved in and things are just getting busier and busier in this area.

Enjoy - Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.

We had a few family get together's during the month and we caught up with some of Hubby's relatives we had not seen for 12 months.  I have also been spending quite a bit of time around our 5 month old nephew which has been lovely.

I also got to spend the day with a friend who I have note seen for over a year and meet her 4 month old for the first time.  It was a real joy to see her and her new babe and how much her now 3 year old had grown.

What have you been up to?