Bits and Pieces.

Its so hot and sticky today! I've just been out to check the chickens and give them a little pond to paddle in. Its actually the bottom of one of my seed raising containers but it was all I could find. Chickens don't sweat so pant like dogs to cool themselves and they were panting up a storm! I did find a large shell shaped sand box in the back of the shed, discarded by the previous owners, but the girls aren't exactly Olympic standard divers yet so I figured the small container would suffice. 

It was quite cool and pleasant early this morning, sitting at the window with a nice little breeze coming in and watching the birds at the feeder we've hung up. Its quite the social gathering and being a people watcher from way back, its interesting watching the birds behave in much the same way as a heap of kids at Ronny McDonnys!

Now the rain seems to have abated somewhat we can start looking at getting some soil delivered. I'm going to have the veggies in raised beds as part of our long-term plan. I don't want to be on my hands and knees gardening in 25 years time so we'll start how we mean to finish. The goals we have and the plans we've made will, I'm sure, be changed or tweaked as we go along. That's part of the fun. The general theme though hasn't changed in the 5 or so years we've been seriously discussing all of this. We want to grow our own fruit and veggies (as organically as possible) raise chickens for eggs, keep native bees and learn old skills that can have a positive impact on our lives today. I love to cook and make as much as I can because I like to know exactly what's in my food. (Elderflower champagne is just one thing on my list of "to do's and to learn.") Some of these are things that can take years to firmly establish but by the time my husband has retired we will be as self-sufficient as we want to be.

The name of this blog says it all for us; the more simple our life the richer we feel. The curse of "affluenza" in our society is hard to ignore; I often wonder when I do venture into the crowds at the shopping centre " just how much crap can people buy?"  We  enjoy  the trappings of modern life (computers etc) and we've known the benefits of a regular, good income but having "stuff" has never brought us a huge amount of joy. My family coming for dinner beats "things" any day!