Slow Living December 2012

The year that was…how did it go by so quickly…? Oh! I know because we have been so busy and have had so much fun and you know what they say about time in that situation.

December saw us finish up schooling for the year and begin our 6 week long summer holiday. For the most part the wind, like today, has blown and blown and blown. This makes us have to choose our activities carefully.

Here’s what our month was all about…joining up with Slow Living Essentials Slow Living Month by Month

Nourish

Homegrown Ratatouille

The garden is in the height of production right now and like normal the things that came in a glut last year are sparse this year (except for the tomatoes). Last year we drowned in courgettes/zucchini but this year we have had just enough. Our meals have been based around the salads we can pick –being leaves, cucumbers, tomatoes – and dinners around the vegetables we prefer cooked – spinach, squash, beans and tomatoes. Last night we had a delicious ratatouille from the garden produce.

Corn and potato harvests are imminent and as we over planted on both we will have to be wise in using them so as not to waste.

Prepare

With all the tomatoes coming in faster than we can eat I have been making my normal tomato veggie sauce which I use in many recipes through winter. Bolognaise, lasagne, soups, ratatouille, stews – all of them burst with flavour from this simple sauce. Once the tomatoes are cleaned I boil them up with copious amounts of herbs and garlic as well as grated carrot and chopped celery. When everything is really soft I blitz it with the blender and store it in jars.

Excess squash grated and frozen for addition into fritters, stews and breads.

Grow

Lovely garden salads

This summer seems to be much less productive than the last few years and I cannot quite put my finger on why. I know I have been spending less time in the garden as when I look at the weeds I want to just stick my head in the sand like an ostrich.

I have just sat down to see what I need to prepare in terms of seedlings for vegetables over the next three months into early autumn. Veg are loosely arranged into 30/60/90 day crops so what I have time to plant now are lettuce, spinach, radish, chives, spring onion, cabbage, bush beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and I may try to squeeze in a late squash planting which should carry me through to March/April with produce.

Reduce

We attacked the clutter in our home with gusto this month and have reduced this drastically. It feels so good to have ordered cupboards which for the last few months have been bursting at the seams. Each child was given daily missions in certain areas of the home and once they were done the kiddies were free to spend their days as they chose. This has been a good system so that they get what they want and I get what I want.

Create

Right at the end of last month I created a new blog. A Pearl In His Hands is an explicitly Christian blog with some Bible studies the Lord has taken me into over the  last years.

Discover

Silvermine Dam 7am 31 Dec 2012

Through FlyLady I discovered the Cozi Family Calendar. At first I thought it would be just another gimmicky thing that I would use for a short time, get overwhelmed and have wasted my money but then I decided to use the free trial and just loved it! FlyLady’s zones and missions are added to the calendar automatically which cancels the need to receive all those emails.

I am able to give each child the login details so that they can see what is on each day. It sends them reminders that I can set and a weekly email so that they can see at a glance what everyone is doing. There is a cool journal function for special occasions too. Each child has their holiday, daily, weekly and monthly jobs on their own list which they can tick off as they go. They can access this from their iPod Touch.

I can integrate my meal plan onto this calendar and my shopping lists into the meal plan once the recipes have been loaded. Each kiddie has their own shopping list that they can add their special items and have access to my ones should I run out of something that they want. Even Superman has access to add what he wants and needs on the calendar, shopping lists and to do lists.

All of this comes with the free version, but I have paid for the year to get one or two other functions. I am hoping to find a way to set up the children’s school calendars here too when I have some time to play around a bit.

Enhance

Lovely picnic and concert

Superman and Son arranged the outdoor sound system for my younger daughter’s choir concert. It was held at a friend’s estate right next to the chickens and the horses!

The girls sang beautifully, the sound system rocked J and the social picnic before was a great time.

Enjoy

Lots to enjoy this month…holidays! Our elder daughter turned 18 and celebrated with a whole day party. She took some friends to the waterslides, then came home to BBQ and then watched Invictus – a movie about the 1995 Rugby world Cup, then dinner out with our family friends for Sushi...yum.

A long awaited BBQ with a friend and her family of 8 children!

Happy wet children at the waterslides

My younger daughter’s end of year choir concert.

My sons' tennis tournament....

An early morning breakfast picnic at Silvermine Dam…lunch and/or dinner out with Superman a couple of times…

Walks with Lucky, children and friends…just simple things that we all love.

 Oh...my new bread machine (the other died after 12yrs) and a lovely new MAC from Superman for my upcoming birthday. (Yes, my PC sort of died too!)

How was your month?