Category Archives: Philosophy

Slow Living – July

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Yes, it is the end of the month again and time for a round up of the slow-living activities.

However, I am sorry that I have to let you know that I will no longer be continuing with this series of posts.

I have tried really hard for 6 months to get into the swing of writing these posts but it simply does not work for me.  A couple of days before the end of the month I actually start worrying about what I am going to write and whether I can manage to complete the task.  I have decided that this is not useful for me and I would rather continue to be a free spirit and write as and when the mood takes me.  Just like real life, some days I have lots of topics and other days I scratch around for something useful to say.

It is not farewell from striving to live slowly and simply but rather it is simply that I will no longer be participating in this project.

Please drop in to Christine’s blog and check out the fabulous blogs that are written by people who are more disciplined than me.

Making A Difference

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Yesterday I went to a High Tea with my mother and sister at the Summit Restaurant on Mt Cootha.  However, This was no ordinary High Tea, it was a fund-raising event for the Mater Little Miracles.  Mater Little Miracles is the name given to the premature babies who are cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane.

2013 is the 3rd year that this event has been held and yesterday was a huge success with 166 attendees and over $10,000 being raised.

There are many worthwhile causes for which funds are raised each and every day but what makes this so special is that it is not a corporate event nor are there any paid staff.

The Mater Little Miracles High Tea is single-handedly organised by one devoted dad as his way of giving something back after his younger son was cared for in the NICU at the Mater Hospital.

Shaune Watts has a full-time job, wife and family yet he makes the time to fundraise for causes that are near and dear to his heart.  You can read all about it here.  I am happy to be able to support the cause but also to support someone with the passion and drive to become involved and make a difference.

Shaune’s efforts are not limited to the Mater Little Miracles.  In fact he initially raised funds for the Leukaemia Foundation and continues to do so.

Disclaimer:  I am acquainted with Shaune’s fundraising work because The Duke knows Shaune.  However, this post is entirely my own opinion.

Nothing At All

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That’s right.  Today’s post is all about nothing.

I went to work.

I wore clothes that I owned yesterday.

I travelled by train and my ticket is prepaid.

I took my breakfast and lunch from home.

I drank water (free from the tap).

I spent nothing.

I acquired nothing.

The day was plastic-free.

Picture

Dinner was omelette, avocado and cherry tomatoes – all plastic-free and zero food miles.

Tomorrow will be a little different.  I will be buying my lunch, as a group of us are going out to lunch to celebrate the life of our colleague’s mother who passed away recently.  It is our way of supporting a friend.

However, most of my work days are like today.  What about you?

Slow Living – June

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Another month has flown by and it is time to review it in the spirit of the monthly round-up at Slow Living Essentials . {nourish*prepare*reduce*green*grow*create*discover*enhance*enjoy}

Here are the Slow Living categories:

{Nourish}  More gluten-free discoveries this month.  I have successfully made gravy, stuffing for roast beef and cheese sauce.  For the gravy I used the pan juices and potato flour to thicken it.  The cheese sauce was made using equal parts of potato and chickpea flours.  I had previously tried making stuffing using well-cooked rice instead of the soft breadcrumbs and although it tasted good enough it just crumbled as we carved the meat.  This time I used chickpea flour, almond meal, flaxseed meal, finely diced onion, chopped parsley, mixed herbs, salt and butter.  I was able to create a texture very similar to the stuffing I used to make using soft breadcrumbs, it cooked well and stayed in place as we carved the meat so I was very happy.

{Prepare}  Citrus harvest is in full swing here so I have many the first of what will probably be several batches of lemon syrup cordial.  I also diced up some chillies that we were given and stored them in oil.

Lemon cordial

{Reduce}  Another blouse gone from my cupboard.  I continue to be vigilant about reducing the ‘stuff’ that seems to insidiously creep in while we are not watching.  The fabric stash reduced slightly when I made a cot quilt.  It is not yet finished but you can see it under ‘Create’.

Blouse

{Green}  For many years I have worked on reducing our reliance on single-use plastic items.  Many of these habits are simply second nature now but it never hurts to be challenged and reminded of what else you can do.  I have signed up for Plastic Free July and will be tracking my success (or otherwise on my blog).

Picture

{Grow}  The garden beds are filling with green.  The seed potatoes are growing apace and need earthing up if this rain ever stops.  We planted garlic in the top bed and I counted them yesterday – we have 99 garlic seedlings poking their heads skywards.  Judging by a couple of gaps, I think there are 3  that have not yet come up.

Garlic bed

{Create}  I started making a cot quilt with some fabric from my stash.  I have the binding to finish attaching and some hand quilting.

Quilt

I am working on refashioning a skirt for myself.  This is the before photo.

It is now too big and too long so I am making a simple, knee-length skirt.  I love the fabric and did not want to part with it.

{Discover}  I am spending time reading and researching about making liquid soap.  My mother gave me this book for my birthday and I am finding that there is so much to learn.  Perhaps next month I may be able to report on my first attempt??

{Enhance}  This month most of the things that fall into ‘enhance’ have been in my head.  I am mulling over ways to encourage closer ties and co-operation amongst our neighbours.  It is most definitely a challenge as there are many ‘weekender’ properties that are only inhabited intermittently.  The other complicating factors include distance between homes (most are are on small acreage) and a clear reticence by some folk to have any real rapport at all with their neighbours.  But it is a matter of small, incremental steps.

{Enjoy}  A couple of weeks ago my mother came to visit for the weekend and we enjoyed a day out at  ‘Gardening on the Edge’ which was 6 local gardens oren to the public.  I certainly enjoyed what they had to offer but it also made me realise that ours is pretty darned good in its own way. 

The last day of the month and we took ourselves off to see ‘The Great Gatsby’ with some free tickets that The Duke had been given from work.  We took our own snacks and drinks so were set.  Our treat was fish and chips on the way home.

Now I am off to check out some of the slow living blogs.

Til next month………..

A Challenge – Plastic Free July

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I know I said I would be back on Sunday evening with my next slow living blog post.  I will do that but in the meantime I wanted to share something which I heard about today.

Plastic Free July started in 2011 as a community initiative of the Western Metropolitan Regional Council in Perth, Western Australia.  From that small beginning it has spread with individuals and groups all over Australia and New Zealand becoming involved.  2013 is the year it has gone truly international.

Reusable bag and jars

I only became aware of this today.  First, I read an article in the ReNew magazine which is published by the Alternative Technology Association.  Later, I saw a link to the website posted on Simple Savings.

Rubbish

It seemed as though I was meant to find out more about this and I checked out the website and signed up for the challenge.  Will you?

Individual bags

Individual bags

We do not use a great deal of single-use plastic in our home but I will be keeping track more closely over the next month and blogging about our progress every Saturday so make sure you pop in and see how I am going.  It would be great if you can join in too and share your story.

Perfect or Edited

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I read this post by Celia over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial this morning and it certainly made me think.

Do bloggers tell the truth?  Are we presenting the equivalent of a glossy magazine while the reality is quite different?  Is it lying or simply omission?

What I write here on my blog every (almost) day is exactly what is going on.  I take the photos, pretty average ones sometimes and write the text pretty much as it tumbles out of my head.  Some days the editing is very poor.

Autumn sunshine
I post about things that interest me and that I hope will be of interest to my readers.  Occasionally I post something that is totally self-indulgent.

My blog is just that – a blog and it is mine.  It is not my life so you do not get every minute detail of what is going on – it would end up looking like some people’s Facebook pages (and I don’t read them either).  The fact that it is mine means that I get to pick and choose what I write about and what I leave out.

Have a great weekend and I will be back on Sunday evening with a round-up for the month of slow living for June.

Step Outside

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Most of the time I write about things that I do in and around our own home.  These include many things that can be bundled under the guise of simple living such as growing fruit and vegetables, sewing and mending, cooking from scratch and decluttering.

Split wood

There is certainly enough to keep us occupied in our own corner of the world, but what about the bigger picture?  Whatever the reason, I do not think it is healthy to withdraw from the world around us.  Developing and maintaining connections with your neighbours and the broader community are vital to our well-being and possibly our ultimate survival.  If everything turns pear-shaped the first thing you will need is the support and co-operation of those around you.

There are so many exciting initiatives that have developed from a seed of an idea.  Some, such as Freecycle and LETS are relatively well-known, however, there are many less publicised ventures that are worthy of promotion.

I am planning a series of posts to highlight some of these ventures and how you can become involved and make a positive contribution to the community in which you live.  If you have any particular favourites that you would like to suggest please leave a comment or email me if you prefer.

 

 

The Great Garlic Massacre & Other Dirty Tales

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We have finally had some of the glorious winter weather for which south-east Queensland is renowned – clear, sunny days and crisp, cool nights.

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The majority of yesterday and today has been spent in the garden. I have previously  shown you the 3 raised vegetable garden beds.  One was planted out with seeds a couple of weeks ago.  I planted 2 bean seeds together in each hole and they all germinated so I transplanted the extras.  I am not sure whether they will survive the process but it never hurts to try. 2013-06-16 02

We moved some lemon tree prunings which had been in this tank and filled it with soil from one of the old garden beds which is now redundant.  The soil is fabulous and it would be a shame to waste it.  We mixed it with some mulch (from the poinciana stump which we had ground last year) and also some mushroom compost.  In the centre you can also see some bok choy seedlings. The bok choy seeds came up so thickly that I have thinned heaps of them and will thin them out again as they get a bit bigger.  I could not bear to just throw the thinnings away so they were all transplanted.  Some went into this old esky filled with soil and mulch.

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I put some others in between the potato plants in the other raised bed.  The bok choy will be well and truly finished before the potatoes take over.

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The carrots, onions and beetroot have also germinated and are growing but are probably too small to identify in this photo.  You can, however, see the beans and bok choy.

2013-06-16 05A few weeks ago I bought some organic garlic ready to sprout and plant.  It has been languishing in a bag on the floor of the pantry but today was the day to plant it out. Firstly, we had to finish preparing the third raised bed.  It was about 1/3 full of leaf litter, mushroom compost and shredded arrowroot leaves.  Today we added some grass clippings after The Duke had mowed the lawn area area the vegie patch, more mushroom compost, lots of mulch and soil as previously described.  Then it was time to plant the garlic.  We peeled off the papery outer layer, separated the cloves and planted them in rows with the sprouting tip pointing upwards.  You can see all of the shredded outer layers on the ground beside the bed.  It really did look like something had been massacred.  The bed is 2.4m x 1.2m and it is entirely planted with rows of garlic.  If this is even moderately successful I should never have to buy garlic again!

2013-06-16 06 I cleared some old cherry tomato plants out of another round tank, topped up the soil and mulch and planted these golden sweet potato plants that had been in a pot for ages since my brother-in-law gave them to us.

2013-06-16 07This is the old garden bed where we have been digging up the soil to re-use.  There is still plenty left.

2013-06-16 08The pile of mulch which resulted from the grinding of the tree stump last year  has been put to good use in the garden beds.  We still have more that we can take from here to build up the next round of garden beds.

2013-06-16 09 It is gratifying to be able to use and reuse everything from our own property in the gardens.  Leaf litter, compost, mulch, soil and grass clippings all go into creating the next lot of vegetables for us to eat.  Chickens, chickens manure and eggs are also part of the cycle. Trees provide fallen timber for firewood which in turn leaves ash that we put back into the compost heap or garden bed. Permaculture in action really is the circle of life.

World Environment Day

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Well, yesterday was World Environment Day.  So, what did you do?  Anything special to mark the occasion?  Make a commitment to change something to make your life a little more sustainable?  Even just stop and pause to reflect on your journey to lower your carbon footprint?

The theme for this year is Think. Eat. Save and the focus is around the enormous (20%) wastage of all food in 1st World countries.  I am planning to encourage people in my workplace to take up the challenge and try not to waste so much food.  There will be more details on that another day.