monthly9 march 2015

And I'm late again!!!! Oh well, here it is…… I'm joining in with Linda at Greenhaven Goodlife for a round up of whats been achieved in March. I've noticed that we seem to have a birthday every month so far so at least we have been celebrating if nothing else!!!

Nourish - for a week or two this month we were eating beans but now we are eating beans no more! Jack Frost has bean been for several visits and left lots of shrivelled leaves in his wake. Same for the zucchini which were going so well and we were so enjoying. The tomatoes, capsicum and cucumber are still providing us with lots of food although they are slowing down as well. We are eating more potatoes and I'm starting to buy more winter veg which is always a sure sign that a) theres been a frost and b) the weather is cooling down!
And Im not sure how nourishing the chocolate birthday cake for my sons 20th was……or the brightly coloured and icing sugared Minion biscuits either!! But they were consumed and by all accounts they were delicious so perhaps nourishing of the soul counts for those!!

Prepare - pesto has been the big preparation here this month! I processed loads of basil, parmesan and walnuts and stored all that green deliciousness in the freezer in lots of cute little jars. I'm hoarding it until mid winter when the smell of basil will momentarily transport us out of the winter doldrums and
into a warm summery state of bliss! On a more mundane note, we started digging the potatoes although thats still in progress -  I think it won't be a huge harvest this year as the weather was so dry over summer and there seem to be a lot of small ones.

Reduce - I have an odd little item that I reuse, so please don't think me too silly! I can't bear to throw out a good bit of fabric, no matter whether its just fabric or……um…..well…..undies!!! Yes, by the time the  children grow out of their smalls, the elastic is usually gone or they have a hole somewhere or other and no one in my family wants hand-me-down undies! Over the years I've mostly used them as cleaning or dusting cloths but now that the Small Elf and I have regular art sprees, I've started using them as paint cleaner uppers. They are nice and small which means that theres not a whole heap of spare cloth to drag through the paint pot or painting and they are made of cotton so are quite absorbent. I do just throw them out when they are all covered in paint but at least I've given them a second life! (ok, you can stop laughing now!)

Green - okay, so I'm going to mention again that I'm still using bicarb soda as deodorant and I still love it! All summer….no smelly armpits! I tell all and sundry about the marvels of my 'bio-dorant' and I can't believe why everyone is not using it! My teens, of course, think I'm bonkers but I have noticed that the older they get the smarter I become….so, I know they will eventually be converted too!!

Grow - I've got a lovely cabbage patch coming along and an equally beautiful broccoli patch which were all planted a little later than they should have been….never mind, we'll eat well in late spring! Last year I saved some big bunches of coriander plants that had seeded but never got around to putting into seed packs - so I just flung the whole lot into some empty garden beds and hoped some would sprout. Well, they did. Everywhere. Now I have whole green mats of young coriander plants, squeezing out the carrot and beetroot babies. Most of my family are not keen on coriander so there has been a bit of gifting to others!

Create - other than lots of arty stuff, I haven't created much this month. There was a dashing brown cape for my Fairy though, which I made using a piece of fabric from the op shop.

Discover - I have been listening to a few cd's from Clarissa Pinkola Estes and thoroughly enjoying not only the content but her lovely soothing voice.

Enhance - hmm, not sure. I've started keeping a list of things for each month as I seem to forget quite a bit of the stuff that goes on, due to always being late for this linkup!

Enjoy - there were a couple of very enjoyable weekends this month - the first one was Steamfest, which I always love. We didn't have a stall there this year but still managed to go two days out of three. Then there was a three day campout for the annual homeschool camp - another relaxing weekend which I'm keen to repeat.

So, here's to another month well spent!