* Epictetus *
Friday, November 25, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Monday.
My brother is very ill in hospital; there'll be no posts for the moment. Please keep him in your prayers.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Looking Back.
So here we are 12 months on. On reflection it's been the busiest, most fun, most frustrating year of our lives. It's been such a time of learning; a time of establishing even more firmly in our lives the belief that life can be simple and abundant.
We've had successes and some failures - though the "failures" are just an integral part of the learning curve. We began this venture with a vision to be as self-sufficient as is possible for us.(self-sufficient.......ish)
I guess it's not what everyone would choose though more and more are. We, like so many people all over the world, have turned our back on the "gotta have it" mentality (I don't know that we ever really bought into that rubbish anyway). There is so much more to life (and to us) than owning "stuff". To be present - I mean REALLY present in the moment is an art well-learned, and one I'm still to master completely. :)
So what are some of the things we've learnt??? For me - I've been able to grow so many more veges and fruit; quite a few additions to my vocabulary (bumble foot springs to mind), cured a chooks foot with natural remedies (this is where bumble foot comes in) learned how to make things I never knew one could make at home, coaxed the girls through the moulting period with barely a drop in production (eggs I'm talking about) found out I need to duck when walking under the tree where the bird-feeder hangs, been glad I decided to stockpile essentials so I didn't have to go to the shops for bits and pieces; and learned that its O.K............no .......essential to relax after a big day with a cold drink and feet up watching the birds and wildlife. A surprising lesson was that it's further for people to drive 20 mins in the country than it is to drive 20 mins in the city. :) There is so much more that we've done, achieved and learnt, for just one year it seems the list is huge.
We love our new life and the people who've come across our path because of it; interesting, clever people who have something to share and teach us. I've always appreciated the fact that I have a clever husband who is able to do most things but he has really come into his own out here. I come up with these ideas - not always practical and just a little crazy at times - but Mark finds a way to sort it out. Very handy man to have around. I think I'll keep him. :)
This is the crop of garlic drying a few weeks back. I had bought the cloves at Gloucester Organic Market ages ago. Garlic does feel like it takes forever to harvest (about 8 months for these) but its worth waiting for. I use to grow them in suburbia but only a few because of space. I think I got over 100 if I remember correctly. Given the amount of rain we've had here I was very surprised to get such a good crop.
I attempted to braid them (attempted but didn't do it very well) and hung them off my undercover clothes-line until we got some dampish weather so now they are strung up in the laundry cupboard. I never could braid Kim's hair when she was little - time hasn't improved my technique. :) The smaller ones I'll use and mince some of them, the others will last quite a few months.
I ran out of liquid soap in the laundry and kitchen a couple of days ago so thought I'd try to make my own. After consulting various recipes it seemed the easiest was just a cake of pure sunlight soap, grated and mixed with hot water. I did one cake to 4 litres of water, glycerine and lavender oil. I just winged it with the glycerine and lavender. It looked a bit like, well never mind, but the consistency wasn't pretty. lol. I scooped some into a pump bottle, about half filled it, topped it with hot water and gave it a shake. Viola! One less thing I have to think about.
The beginning on the left and the lovely goop on the right.
The end product. We'll see how it keeps. It's in the blue bucket with a lid on and the date that it was made. I know there are other ways to make it and I will experiment when I have more time but for the moment it will do just fine. :)
It's a new year for us and a new day tomorrow. See you then. :)
We've had successes and some failures - though the "failures" are just an integral part of the learning curve. We began this venture with a vision to be as self-sufficient as is possible for us.(self-sufficient.......ish)
I guess it's not what everyone would choose though more and more are. We, like so many people all over the world, have turned our back on the "gotta have it" mentality (I don't know that we ever really bought into that rubbish anyway). There is so much more to life (and to us) than owning "stuff". To be present - I mean REALLY present in the moment is an art well-learned, and one I'm still to master completely. :)
So what are some of the things we've learnt??? For me - I've been able to grow so many more veges and fruit; quite a few additions to my vocabulary (bumble foot springs to mind), cured a chooks foot with natural remedies (this is where bumble foot comes in) learned how to make things I never knew one could make at home, coaxed the girls through the moulting period with barely a drop in production (eggs I'm talking about) found out I need to duck when walking under the tree where the bird-feeder hangs, been glad I decided to stockpile essentials so I didn't have to go to the shops for bits and pieces; and learned that its O.K............no .......essential to relax after a big day with a cold drink and feet up watching the birds and wildlife. A surprising lesson was that it's further for people to drive 20 mins in the country than it is to drive 20 mins in the city. :) There is so much more that we've done, achieved and learnt, for just one year it seems the list is huge.
We love our new life and the people who've come across our path because of it; interesting, clever people who have something to share and teach us. I've always appreciated the fact that I have a clever husband who is able to do most things but he has really come into his own out here. I come up with these ideas - not always practical and just a little crazy at times - but Mark finds a way to sort it out. Very handy man to have around. I think I'll keep him. :)
This is the crop of garlic drying a few weeks back. I had bought the cloves at Gloucester Organic Market ages ago. Garlic does feel like it takes forever to harvest (about 8 months for these) but its worth waiting for. I use to grow them in suburbia but only a few because of space. I think I got over 100 if I remember correctly. Given the amount of rain we've had here I was very surprised to get such a good crop.
I attempted to braid them (attempted but didn't do it very well) and hung them off my undercover clothes-line until we got some dampish weather so now they are strung up in the laundry cupboard. I never could braid Kim's hair when she was little - time hasn't improved my technique. :) The smaller ones I'll use and mince some of them, the others will last quite a few months.
I ran out of liquid soap in the laundry and kitchen a couple of days ago so thought I'd try to make my own. After consulting various recipes it seemed the easiest was just a cake of pure sunlight soap, grated and mixed with hot water. I did one cake to 4 litres of water, glycerine and lavender oil. I just winged it with the glycerine and lavender. It looked a bit like, well never mind, but the consistency wasn't pretty. lol. I scooped some into a pump bottle, about half filled it, topped it with hot water and gave it a shake. Viola! One less thing I have to think about.
The beginning on the left and the lovely goop on the right.
The end product. We'll see how it keeps. It's in the blue bucket with a lid on and the date that it was made. I know there are other ways to make it and I will experiment when I have more time but for the moment it will do just fine. :)
It's a new year for us and a new day tomorrow. See you then. :)
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Spring time is busy time.
Sorting out the garden and keeping up with the mowing - just two things to keep us busy at this time of year. Planning ahead in the vegie garden has been a big learning curve. I think for some it will be either a feast or famine. At least I'll have a better idea next year.
It's such a pretty time of year. We've got a few grevillias about the place; lovely bright red and a gorgeous magenta one.
The dog fence is going up at the moment so Bonnie has her own little place to run about.
It's such a pretty time of year. We've got a few grevillias about the place; lovely bright red and a gorgeous magenta one.
The dog fence is going up at the moment so Bonnie has her own little place to run about.
I'm looking at overhauling the blog. I started it as a personal record as well as a "drop-in" place for my os cousins and relatives to catch up with what we are up to. Whilst it's served its purpose in that respect I've been thinking about how I want to use it from here on. It will still be our record of our journey but I want to expand it. Recipes, how to's - all sorts of stuff. Yes there is probably a plethora of blogs and info on anything you can think of but not from my perspective. lol.
I'm looking forward to updating and expanding; I hope you'll hang around. Stay tuned. :)
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Sunday.
Excuse me ..........who stole spring????? I have the fire going and it's pouring outside. Ah well, it's Sunday of a long week-end, and all is quiet here. Am about to watch a movie, what a great way to spend the day.
Kim and some friends had a spa party last night and it was 2 o'clock into bed so about the only energetic things I'll do today is retrieve the eggs, grab some potatoes and make stir-fry for dinner tonight. It was scream watching the girls in the spa; it was so cold and they had the spa so hot the steam was rising. They looked like those Japanese monkeys who sit in the hot springs - except these ones had a wine glass in hand. lol.
We're all going to lunch tomorrow in a little town not far from here; there's a nice little quirky restaurant there and all the family will be together. Nice!
The rain halts things a bit around the place but it doesn't matter; the sun will be back again soon enough.
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Spring
One of the things I've found about growing your own veges is that even when there's not much ready to be picked , it's usually enough. It's a gift to be able to walk outside to the garden and pick fresh just what I want to use tonight. We"ll be having the peas and potatoes with dinner, and the eggs for breakfast.I used the last of my basil to make some pesto today as well as cooked a couple of cakes for the freezer and made some Vegemite and cheese scrolls. It was so good to get back into the kitchen and garden. An assignment I've had to do has consumed me - thank goodness its all wrapped up and finished. There's not enough hours in the day sometimes.
I've just started getting organised with planting seeds. Thank heavens the little greenhouse has magical powers, lol, as everything grows at a crazy rate in there, so it won't be long before the summer veges are up and running.
Spring has arrived here in the valley; lovely temperatures in the high teens/low 20's last week and mid to high 20's in the week coming up. Woo hoo! The blueberry tree has to be netted this week as the berries will begin to turn soon and I'd rather WE enjoy the fruit than that awful bird that stripped the tree bare in the first two days when we moved here. I think I only got half a dozen blueberries last year!
The fruit trees were fed today and the gardens fertilized and watered well. The garlic has gone mad; I didn't lose a plant so I'll probably have more than enough for us and some to give away.I really want to ramp up the amount of herbs I have in; I love cooking with them but have stopped buying them from supermarkets. I think I've mentioned before the farm-gate shop about 15 minutes from here. You can buy fresh seasonal veges, fruit, milk, butter, cream and yummy preserves and you can go into their herb garden and just pick what you want.
That's the thing though, if you want fresh and best buy seasonal. I still get annoyed when I see cherries in the middle of the year and refuse to buy them. We can think we're lucky and spoiled for choice because we can buy anything at any time of the year but the price we pay is its usually sub-standard produce with very little taste; not to mention the flow on effect it has on our own farmers when the fruit/ veges are imported.
I'm trying to get us to a place where anything we have to buy is fresh and local. For instance, I love strawberries but there is a guy who grows them en masse here and he lets you pick your own. To me that's ideal - its lovely fruit, I don't have to do the work with them and so can put something else in that garden and I'm supporting a local industry. It's a win win!!!!!
I've just started getting organised with planting seeds. Thank heavens the little greenhouse has magical powers, lol, as everything grows at a crazy rate in there, so it won't be long before the summer veges are up and running.
Spring has arrived here in the valley; lovely temperatures in the high teens/low 20's last week and mid to high 20's in the week coming up. Woo hoo! The blueberry tree has to be netted this week as the berries will begin to turn soon and I'd rather WE enjoy the fruit than that awful bird that stripped the tree bare in the first two days when we moved here. I think I only got half a dozen blueberries last year!
The fruit trees were fed today and the gardens fertilized and watered well. The garlic has gone mad; I didn't lose a plant so I'll probably have more than enough for us and some to give away.I really want to ramp up the amount of herbs I have in; I love cooking with them but have stopped buying them from supermarkets. I think I've mentioned before the farm-gate shop about 15 minutes from here. You can buy fresh seasonal veges, fruit, milk, butter, cream and yummy preserves and you can go into their herb garden and just pick what you want.
That's the thing though, if you want fresh and best buy seasonal. I still get annoyed when I see cherries in the middle of the year and refuse to buy them. We can think we're lucky and spoiled for choice because we can buy anything at any time of the year but the price we pay is its usually sub-standard produce with very little taste; not to mention the flow on effect it has on our own farmers when the fruit/ veges are imported.
I'm trying to get us to a place where anything we have to buy is fresh and local. For instance, I love strawberries but there is a guy who grows them en masse here and he lets you pick your own. To me that's ideal - its lovely fruit, I don't have to do the work with them and so can put something else in that garden and I'm supporting a local industry. It's a win win!!!!!
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