slow living august 2013

I know, I know three posts in a week!! What has gotten into me? 

Well, I'm not sure really other than I have lots to show and tell. And I do enjoy sharing my news, views and thoughts with you all. 

I have a lot to catch up on, so I've decided to join in with Christine's Slow Living month by month so I can tell about all of our doings in one go!!! 

Oh yes, there is another reason why I've been so prolific this week but I'll tell about that later.....

So here goes, for a much busier, more prolific month than I'd thought!

NOURISH: Oh, nourish! This one has been at the forefront of our month, so it's only right that it's also the very first category! I mentioned a while ago that I'd been reading a couple of books that have had a big impact on my thinking. I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson and Trim Healthy Mama by Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett, have quite literally changed the way I/we eat. I wont go into details here as I'm hoping to be a bit more in depth in a later post, but I will say that Sarah's book explained in detail what I hadn't fully realised about fructose, which is the baddie in sugar; and not only sugar but agave nectar, honey and most other alternative sweeteners. 

Then Trim Healthy Mama gave me a lot more fascinating info and a whole arsenal of recipes and we have been trying out new sugar free delights ever since! I now have a whole new way of eating and am slowly working my way through the family, converting them one by one!!! (two down, quite a few to go!!)

Below are three grain free, sugar free treats - cheese biscuits, rhubarb scones and gingerbread scones, all made with almond flour and stevia. 

This one is a flax-meal cinnamon muffin-in-a-mug with stevia sweetened yogurt.... breakfast!! 

PREPARE: We are behind in the garden. I had hoped to have it all dug over and covered with mushroom compost before September but we have had so much rain that gardening was not an option. We did manage to dig up the last three rows of potatoes and spread two loads of mushroom compost over the empty beds but the rest is still waiting. There was a day where we had a few 'garden gnomes' helping to spread a load of sawdust on the paths but overall the garden remained a no go zone!   

GREEN: I really can't think of anything green for this month, other than the green smoothies enjoyed by all of us and especially by the Elf!! 

On second thoughts, there are some 'green' happenings further down list.    

GROW: The last of the potatoes were harvested - another 90 kilos!! Thats over 180 kilos this year and quite a good haul! We have kale, spinach and parsley in abundance, the garlic is growing well and the first tiny tips of asparagus are popping up. Not sure we will get any to eat, as this is their first year but its exciting none the less. Other than that, there's not much in the garden - winter here is just too cold for much growth although I noticed today that the weeds are starting their spring surge...sigh!

REDUCE: A couple of years ago our Elli was gifted with two baby magpies. We advertised on the wanted board at our Post Office for an aviary to keep them in and were given this one below. The magpies grew up and were freed a long time ago and the aviary just sat there, empty. Until we had the brilliant idea of re-purposing it for a chook house. So using all the man and woman power that we had on hand, we carried it to its new position. It needs a new roof and some modifying but at least it's being put to good use again. 

CREATE: I've finished knitting the 'in three's' vest for the Small Elf and will share pics of her in it when next she visits. I've also repurposed an old jumper and some too small trousers, turning them into some cute winter pants for the Small one too. It's so very satisfying to reuse old clothes and I get a kick out of it every time I succeed in keeping something from going to the op shop! 

The other major creation in our lives is that the bearers and joists have gone down for the extension!! I am so pleased and can hardly wait for the framing to go up. See those loose boards on there? I've been using them to imagine where the lounge will go and how much room I'll have left for a BIG bookshelf!  

   

ENHANCE: Hmm, not sure about this one..... perhaps I enhanced my friends' trip overseas by giving her a lesson on sim cards and ipads? Hopefully I enhanced the lives of the three young people (all friends of my children) that have come to stay with us over the last month or so. I certainly enhanced their tummies!!!  

DISCOVER: This category goes right back to the first one - my reading and healthier eating discoveries. I refer to the Trim Healthy Mama book at least three times each day and often more.... it is just so interesting and I am learning much about food that I knew but never really understood. 

ENJOY: I have enjoyed the extra company that we've had with all the comings and goings of various children and friends. I've enjoyed a lovely night away in a Hobbit Cottage with my man (courtesy of our sweet children). I've enjoyed stretching my mind. I've really enjoyed the occasional sunny day. I've enjoyed discussing the new plans and new directions that have been put before us. I've enjoyed feeling healthier, and correspondingly, happier! 

Okay, so now you've read all the way to the end, I'll tell you why I'm posting more often (other than because I have a backlog of photo's haha!) Next week, I'm flying to NSW to visit family and friends for. a. whole. month!!! I am SO excited. I really miss my mum and closest friends and it's not so easy to visit when there is a big stretch of water between. So while the two girls and Stuy hold the fort, 13yo Dj and I are trundling around with suitcase and backpack. I hope to post while we are 'on the road' because we have some interesting places lined up to visit.

Will let you know more soon. 

Thanks again for reading about my little world. 

And thank you Christine for hosting this great peek into our past months achievements.  

slow living 2013 - march

Hello, hello, to all of my wonderful family and patient bloggy friends!! I have finally managed to sit down and get a grip on the photos I've taken in the past few months, as well as get some thoughts from head to fingertips and from keyboard to wacky world wide inter-web!!! 

Oh my, it's been full on here and if I don't do something consistently, I tend to forget about doing it at all... and then I have to really make a concerted effort to get back into the groove!! If I stop for whatever reason, I find it so hard to return to it and just let life sweep me along willy nilly!! 

BUT.....      

I told myself that I'd join in with this months Slow Living and although it's a little late, I am determined to use this to find my blogging spark again!! It will be a miracle if I can remember what I achieved in March, though!! And I must say that the last couple of months have certainly not been 'slow living' months around here, quite the opposite in fact!!! 

Nourish: Lots been happening in this category...... our poly tunnel has produced loads of basil, I've been making lots of pesto and we have all been enjoying delicious pesto dishes!! Tomatoes have also been a staple of our dinners along with cucumbers, zucchini and eggplants. 

We have enjoyed all this abundance for a few months now and I'll be sad to see it end. There are still more tomatoes coming on which should still ripen before the really cold weather hits. 

This past summer has been the year of salads and I'm almost looking forward to moving on to pumpkin and potato's!! Almost!
You might notice the nice new header photo - hazelnuts from our bushes!!!! Oooh, we are excited about the hazelnuts!! We've harvested about 2 kg in the last month and almost all of them are filled with juicy, tasty kernels. Such a bonus to be getting food from trees that need very little care and attention. 

Prepare: Our plum trees have started bearing quite a good amount of fruit, especially the D'agen prune variety, so we tried drying them. I wasn't too sure how much moisture to remove and they ended up being a little too dry, but we have a large jar filled and plans to use them, chopped, in muesli. 

We have lots of frozen pesto stored away nicely in small Ball jars - first time I've done that so I'm hoping it will still give us a taste of summer on a cold and dreary day!! And we harvested and stored lots of onions, both red and brown - so exciting!! 

Green: I think there would be quite a lot of green things that happened last month but none come to mind right now! I did sew my Fairy and her friend a medieval gown each, using op shopped fabrics and an old velveteen dress that I cut down to size for the underdress. Silly me didn't get any pics but I'm sure they'll dress up again soon!

Grow: This one is easy..... tomatoes, basil, zucchini, eggplant, rockmelon (not a success), watermelon (looking good but haven't tried one yet), capsicum, spinach and cucumbers were all growing last month. I am way behind on the planting bits though and haven't even put the garlic in yet. There are still potatoes in the ground to be harvested and several pumpkins that I cant take credit for as they grew of their own accord!!  

Reduce: Hmm, can't remember anything amazing here but I'm sure I did some reducing somewhere...... does losing weight count?? 

Create: I made myself a skirt. This is a major event because I don't often have time spare to sew, let alone sew for me, but I wanted something nice to wear to the airport to pick up Stuy, so the day before with plenty of time, I dug around in my salvaged fabrics and whipped up a nice sage green corduroy mini!! The girls and I also created these cute little monster pouches - some for us and this one for a friends birthday. 

Discover: Now I know this one means reading and discovering some new information, none of which I did much of (unless you can call aimlessly trawling through the odd blog late at night, discovery??) 

I did however, discover that I can home educate, run a household and run a business concurrently, without too many mishaps, slap up meals or tears!!  

Enhance: Once again not much enhancing unless you call letting the chickens scratch around in the autumn garden an enhancement? They are usually kept in a very small enclosure and loved following me around as I dug over a few beds of weeds. Having friendly chooks contentedly pecking up insects as I work is so relaxing..... and even though they do snap up all the worms I turn up, I don't mind too much, as they give me a lot of enjoyment with their delightful ways!  

Enjoy: Easter! As usual, all the children that could manage it, came home for Easter and we did our usual hunt around the yard for baskets of deliciousness!! Of course, the other good event that happened on that weekend was the return of the Best Man, complete with tales to tell and gifts to share! Yes, it was certainly very very enjoyable!!! 

 And there it is...... a month of living, though not so slow! I have given up on my idea of a retrospective post every now and again, as I just haven't the head space to think. I'll join in with Christine at Slow Living Essentials when I have the time and inclination because it is a great idea to look back and feel a sense of satisfaction at whats been achieved. 

I do have lots of photos and topics I want to share but after waiting so long, some of the pizazz seems to have gone. The photos and the thoughts are all a bit dated now and I have to search hard for the feeling of the moment and the thoughts that go with them. If I don't write a post about an event fairly quickly there after, it seems to dim and I lose the spark in the idea. 

Do you find that? 

To all the lovely peeps that have added me to their list of blogs, my apologies for being away so long. I have really missed this space and missed connecting with you all through your comments. I love reading your thoughts and encouragements!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Servus, meine lieben! Endlich bin ich amall wieder beim bloggen! Hab heute leider keine zeit zum alles ein zweites mal schreiben aber ihr könnt oben grad unter das Titel bild, denn Translate Knopf drucken.... und dann geht alles zum verstehen!!