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.

Wet Washing

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Although I have a tumble drier, I try to minimise the use of it.  My reasons are twofold – the electricity it consumes and also the wear and tear caused to our clothes.

We have a rotary clothesline in the backyard, however, that entails carrying a basket of wet washing down a flight of steps and around to the opposite side of the house from the laundry.  This is not terribly practical and for that reason I mostly use the clothesline which is under the verandah.  I can walk out of the laundry and wheel the basket of washing in the trolley to directly next to the line.

2013-06-27 01This was mounted and in place when we moved here.  It is an Extendaline and potentially could be longer but it is in the available space between the wall and the edge of the verandah (about 2 metres).  This means that I have 10 metres of line space and I can generally fit 1 – 1.5 loads of washing one here.  Each line is long enough to hold 3 business shirts.

Indoor clothes line

I have a variety of other options for hanging and drying clothes.  Here you can see my other rotary clothesline.  It is designed for camping and we bought it from Kathmandu.  It folds up completely, comes with its own carry bag and is very lightweight.  In the background you can see the mobile hanging rack which I use for ironed clothes but is also handy for finishing drying clothes in front of the fire.

Clothesline

This is much better than regular clothes airers as the lines are high enough to allow you to hang towels, jeans and even single bed sheets.

Jumpers on the line

These hangers are perfect for drying sweaters and cardigans as there are no peg marks.

Plastic bags

Here is a small clothes hanger with pegs attached.  I bought it in Japan several years ago but I believe you can buy them here in Australia now.  Apart from hanging rewashed plastic bags to dry, I use this for socks, handkerchiefs and underwear.

Finally, I have a clothes airer on castors which lives on the verandah and I often wheel it inside to dry things in front of the fire.

This post is for Kim who asked about my washing line under the verandah.  It is quite timely as the forecast here is for showers and rain for most of the next week.

What strategies do you have for getting washing dry in cold and/or rainy weather?

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.

 

 

Project 333 – Caring For Clothes

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Regardless of how many clothes you have, it makes good sense to take care of them.  This includes washing them appropriately as well as taking care to hang them correctly on the line and ironing when necessary.  Don’t forget to repair if needed.  The old adage of ‘a stitch in time saves nine’ really does ring true.

Finally, storage is also important.  By having less clothes they will be able to easily fit in the available space without being crowded in the hanging space or jammed into already over-stuffed drawers.  Ironed clothes will stay looking fresh and crisp for when you are ready to wear them.

Items that are not hung will benefit by being neatly folded.  I prefer to fold sweaters and cardigans rather than hanging them as the coathangers tend to leave marks in the shoulders.  I chose a cardigan that is quite easy to fold for the purpose of the demonstration, however, this method works well with any cardigan.

2013-06-24 01I find that folding cardigans can be a challenge, especially when the shoulder seam does not seem to meet the armhole at the natural point of the shoulder.  Most of my cardigans contain a degree of cotton so I tend to press them lightly with a warm iron.  once they are pressed, this is how I fold them.

2013-06-24 02This shows the shoulder seam after the cardigan has been pressed.  There is no use trying to work from the shoulder seams when folding.

2013-06-24 03Locate and in your right hand grasp the side seams at the lower edge of the cardigan.

2013-06-24 04Locate and in your left hand grasp the side seams at the underarm seam.  Line up the two side seams

2013-06-24 05Lay the cardigan flat while maintaining the matching of side seams and sleeves.

2013-06-24 06Fold the sleeve down the length of the body of the cardigan.

2013-06-24 07Fold the cardigan in half with the sleeves enclosed in the fold.

This will ensure that when you next wear your cardigan it does not look as though you slept in it nor will it have marks from a coathanger.

Tidy Up

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Just a short post tonight to let you know that I have had a bit of a tidy up on the blog.

Cookbook : Recipe book

One of the tabs at the top of the blog is labelled ‘Recipes’.  This is supposed to contain links to all of the various recipes that I have posted in the blog so that they do not get lost in the mists of time.  I have been somewhat slack in keeping this up to date but now they should all be there.

The list is divided into categories to make your search as simple as possible.

One of my next projects will be to make a similar index for all of the non-food recipes such as furniture polish, cream cleanser, chest rub etc.

Creating Space

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We hosted our first Air BnB guest last weekend and we are also expecting a couple of lots of house guests over the next few months.

The guest room is always neat with the bed freshly made but what about storage space?

002There is a full-sized wardrobe in this room and I knew that the space was not used as effectively as it could be.  So I set about re-arranging it to create a permanently vacant space for guests to use.  I only moved one thing – a spare pillow.  There are no ‘before’ photos but the photo below shows some of the things I have stored.  This was after I had re-arranged it and there is still some excess space if I needed it.

003Now we have a clear space to offer to guests without a mad panic to move things.

001

Long Forgotten Original

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Once upon a time there was a recipe for Oven-Baked Sausages.  I think the book has been moved along to the op shop in one of the culls of my recipe books, however, the general idea remains.

The original recipe consisted of a sweet/sour/spicy sauce made in a saucepan.  Sausages were grilled, cooled, sliced and added to the sauce.  Pasta spirals were cooked, drained and added to the mixture and combined.  Finally, the entire contents of the saucepan were placed in a large casserole dish, topped with grated cheese and breadcrumbs and then baked in the oven.

This was a filling meal for a hungry family but being time-poor I quickly cut out what I regarded as unnecessary steps.  It really did not need to be baked in the oven as all of the ingredients were already well-cooked.  Once the mixture was combined in the saucepan it was ladled directly into serving bowls.  If I was feeling particularly generous I would sprinkle a little grated cheese on top.  The casserole was always received enthusiastically so the cheese was not really necessary.

The original recipe for the sauce is a little hazy but here is the general idea.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 can tomato soup
1/2 can water
1/3 cup fruit chutney
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce

I remember that I was always checking that I had fruit chutney when I wanted to make this.

Like many recipes, this one seemed to run its course and then was forgotten once the girls left home.

I thought of it not long ago and have made it a couple of times recently with some amendments.

Some of these were necessary because I now eat a gluten-free diet.  Canned tomato soup contains gluten so I substitute home-made tomato paste and some additional water.  Naturally I no longer mix pasta into the dish.  The sausages I buy are gluten-free but you would need to check that, too.

2013-06-18 01The jar of tomato paste looks over full as I store it upside-down in the refrigerator which inhibits the growth of any mould.  This also applies to commercially produced tomato paste as well.

The recipe has evolved and varies depending on what is in the cupboard/refrigerator.  I made it this morning using the following ‘recipe’.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
Remainder of tomato paste (home-made) – about 1/4 cup
Water – enough to rinse the jars and create the right consistencey
Handful of sultanas
Vinegar – about 2 tablespoons
Rosella jam (home-made) – about 2 tablespoons – bottle rinsed out
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce (home-made)
Tomato sauce – home-made (remnant in the bottle) – rinsed out

2013-06-18 02Here are some of the jars – on the left is the worcestershire sauce.  The middle jar is the rosella jam mixed with vinegar and the last of the tomato sauce (empty bottle on the right).

I had cooked the sausages on Sunday night and cut them up ready so they were added and the mixture simmered for about 10 minutes.

2013-06-18 03Like so many casserole-type meals this sauce will benefit from standing and the flavours will develop further by the time we have dinner tonight.  There is some home-made pasta in the freezer which The Duke will have with the suasages in sauce and I will have stir-fried shredded sweet potato with mine.