Slow living November

I can’t believe the year is almost done. 3 days left of formal learning; 13 days left of work, 30 days left of 2013…it really flew by for me! Here's my month summed up as part of Slow Living 2013

NOURISH: It’s been an interesting nourishing month. I have been trying to use up pantry, freezer and garden goods and not give into a whim to buy something to cook a meal but rather stick to what I already have. I always cook from scratch but sometimes I just want something different to what I had planned on my week’s menu. This meant that this month we ate lots of kale, marrow, spinach, eggs, blueberries in muffins and things, fresh herbs instead of buying dried, globe artichokes, our small red onions & garlic heads, strawberries from the plant (while watering) and the last of the asparagus for the season.

PREPARE: Being strawberry season it was time to make jam. I bought in strawberries nice and cheap and made a lovely pot of jam using a recipe from the book “salt, sugar, smoke”. Excess marrows were grated and frozen for later use. Water will become an issue soon so buckets will reappear in the showers to catch water drips. We use these to water the pots around the front door.

REDUCE: Last month I made a weird cucumber climber from left over materials around the place and I am glad to say its working well.

GREEN: One of my precious, but rather silly children thought they were immune to sunburn even after repeated requests to make sure they are well covered when having a day at the beach with friends. Mmmmh…thankfully we have loads of bulbinella which has been applied liberally to a rather swollen forehead and cheekbones. It has brought immediate relief and the swelling has reduced.

GROW: The summer garden is growing beautifully except the corn. It got hip high and stopped and then began to produce tassels. I am not sure why but have a suspicion that the seed is not acclimatized to our South African soil. 

My elder daughter also planted up pots for the back yard with pretty flowers. I planted the last tomatoes out and eggplant and chillies. Next month I must think about sowing seed for a later summer garden.

CREATE: I create food…no time for knitting, sewing or anything else. However both my daughters “created” new businesses…my younger one has began selling spice mix jars and my elder homemade natural soaps.

DISCOVER: I discovered Feverfew this month. I was looking for a headache cure and happened on this article. And I have Feverfew growing in my garden – happy days.

ENHANCE: My son is now selling his free-range chicken and pork at the local Earth Fair market. He has asked his sister to join him in the business as it has simply become too much for him to handle alone and I need to step away and focus on my own business and younger children’s homeschooling more this coming year. To help them get their feet at the market I have done a few Saturdays there with them and have really loved chatting to likeminded people who are also passionate about eating the right food.

ENJOY: I always battle with this category thinking that I need to have something really special to share. I am actually a simple person and enjoy simple things. Every now and again there is something that is a real zinger, but for the most part I love our busy days, good meals with my family around the table, walks in the forest with dog & friend, the occasional breakfast out with Superman and working in the garden of the cool of the morning or evening.

I enjoy the way my kitties always come looking for me when I go into the veggie gardens and flop down purring wanting a scratch.

This month also held my annual trip to Johannesburg with my friend and business partner to the homeschool convention where we display our homegrown South African curriculum. It’s always a lovely time to catch up as we live about 2 hours away from each other and our normal conversations are business related but this weekend away gives us loads of time to chat and catch up with personal lives.

 

Tiffany says warm compost heap = perfect nap spot

That’s all for November! How was your month?

Slow Living October

I haven't joined up at Christine's series this year as it felt a little hypocritical with the fast paced life we live at the moment but this month that was has been a relatively slower one with lots of lovely things happening so I cannot resist adding my post to the mix.

NOURISH

 Our garden has been very generous over the last while with asparagus, spinach, kale, herbs, blueberries and strawberries. I have been planning meals around what vegetables need to be used. This post shares some of the meals made this past week.







PREPARE
I used up a 2kg bag of kumquats in a scrumptious marmalade.

REDUCE
Mmmh...so I reduced my computer time to bare minimum but this is tough as I have two blogs and two websites which need attention as well as an offline business that brings online queries. Seriously though, I am reading a book with my middle two children called "The Next Story - Life and Faith After the Digital Explosion" and it is really challenging in many areas. I do not believe my technology owns me, but rather I use it for the purpose it was created. Even thought I don't do Facebook or other social media, nor do I have time for lots of blogs (there are three or four I visit intermittently) I do feel that I can have a bit of a clean up of the cyberspace "noise" in my life...so I reduce :)

GREEN
Due to a cash shortage this month I have again returned to some old favourites, like homemade washing liquid and I discovered Cocopeat to use as a seedling starter. I think so much of our daily routine include simple wise stewardship ideas that its hard to do this category now with something new. We compost, have a wormery, recycle, reuse, rethink and have for the most part since 2008 that it is all a little old hat.

GROW

Growing month here in the Southern Hemisphere - so beefsteak tomatoes, green zebra tomatoes, golden, black and Italian striped courgettes, pumpkins, corn, potatoes, cucumbers - bush, lemon and climbing, butternut, winter squash, queen squash, onions, carrots, bush beans and climbing beans all are growing along with the days of October.

CREATE

We created a rather funny looking cucumber frame from what we had lying around. I hope the trailing cucumbers will cover it and give shade to the chard underneath. A garden experiment.

DISCOVER
I discovered kohlrabi...pity, it was the end of the season. I think I may grow some next season.

ENHANCE
I like to think that my life enhances others, that is one of the reasons for this blog. I like to encourage others, perhaps they are sometimes bowled over by my enthusiasm and can take it as I am a know-it-all but I love to share what we have discovered or learnt.

I also have two fellow gardeners down the road who every now and again get the overflow of my garden, so when I sowed too many bush cucumbers I sent them along their way as well as some kale plants that were being moved and there were too many just for us.

ENJOY

I feel like I live in my car Monday to Saturday from 2-6pm. The last thing I want to do is get into a car on a Sunday, but Superman and I have been heading off to gym to swim on Sunday mornings, just the two of us.

I swim 2 other times in the week but it is always in a pool with young studs showing me just how slow I actually am :)) so it's a pleasure to have the pool to the two of us on a Sunday.





When we get home our elder son has cooked lunch for us and then I relax for the afternoon. Generally the Lucky dog AKA Precious Baby Lamb and I along with a friend and her two pups also enjoy a long walk in the forest.

Sunday is my day. I enjoy that.

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?

Slow Living Month 11

The first of December has rolled around and signifies 1 week left of school for 2012. It also means that in 26 days my eldest child will be 18 and I am humbled to have raised this wonderful child for all these years. I watch as she prepares to start out on a post schooling adventure in a few months time and am delighted for her.

November has been a busy month wrapping up schooling, being used in ministry, summer gardening and a special visit from friends...so here it is laid out in categories as per Christine's Slow Living Month by Month.

Nourish

I included venison in our diet this month and we have enjoyed Springbuck stew, Springbuck meatballs and Springbuck Kofta. We found the taste pleasing and there were not complaints.

A few loaves of 5 minute bread were baked and the winter soups for lunch made way for summer salads.

My elder daughter has taken on making lunch for us each day and its so great to not have to break with schooling to prepare the food. She has churned out delicious chicken salads, falafel salads and more.We also enjoyed a cheats pizza from Jamie's 30 minutes meals...so scrumptious.

Prepare

I spent a morning taking out 20kgs of olives from the brine solution and making up various concoctions for the olives to lie in. We have some in chilli, others in fennel, others in herbs and garlic.


My elder son, who loves fizzy drinks (although we limit these drastically) decided to learn how to make homebrewed ginger beer. We have had 3 batches of brew this month and it is delicious.




Grow
This month I planted sunflowers, beans, carrots, courgettes, tomatoes, aubergine and cucumbers. We also planted a kitty garden.

I haven't been sprouting through winter so I started off that process again for our salads and I bought a grass kit to grow sunflower sprouts, wheat and barley grass. As we are jucing regularly again I thought this would be a good addition to our juices or green smoothies.

Reduce

As summer hits us full on I know we will be doing many picnics. This month also saw my son and I do the last of his 3 homeschool outings. I have in the past just bought us a Woolies lunch but I was determined to be better pepared for this month and for the rest of the summer picnics. Also the Woolies packaging is always a issue of wastage and recycling. I sorted through my plastic cupboard and matched lids to bases and got a little kit together for picnics.

The night before the outing I made sure I made a meal that would produce picnic left overs like meatballs, or roast sliced meat or chicken. A loaf of bread was put on in the machine for overnight, fruit sliced or picked from outside and Voila! a no fuss, cheap easy picnic was ready!

Green
I recieved my water bill the other day and on the back of it there was a graph showing our water usage for the year. Shock and horror followed as we simply use to much water. In my defense though we have a household of 9+ everyday of the week as Superman works from home and we have his two staff members (actually more like family!) everyday of the week. This will be my area of attack for December and the rest of summer! Stay tuned!!

Create

Zip...nada...nuttin!!

Do memories count? Got lots of those!










Discover - Enhance -Enjoy

Intaka Island Wetland

All together these three as I cannot seperate them...Outings done with my son to places of new discovery...spending time with friends from the States after not seeing them for 20yrs...touching lives of people who need love and Jesus....walking through my garden and seeing the promise of future harvest.

Newlands Stadium

Finding time to connect with each child knowing the time is precious...finishing projects and wrapping up a year of schooling...iced coffee with Superman...early morning Kitty cuddles....walks with my dog, a friend or children...delighting in My Saviour each day.

While the year has seemed long and trying at time I know that in His presence is fullness of joy and it's been a good month, a good year...

Slow Living 2012 ~ October

Cucumbers trailing along

I am sure that I am not the only one who feels like the year has flown by, but here we are at the beginning of November and I can feel the beginning of summer in the air and I long for the time when we can just roll along through our days with no extra murals and do special things together like picnics, swimming in the dam and going to the beach. Roll on Summer!

Here is what last month looked like in our household, joining up at Christine’s slow living month by month 

 

NOURISH:  This month has seen us again adjust our eating. We have all felt a little low on energy, fuzzy brained, achey in tummies and decided to do a detox. Our elder daughter kicked us off with it and her dedication has had such fabulous results that we are all doing a 17 day detox. This has been hard for my carb loving husband (although he has been eating low carb for a long time) and for the other three kids, but it’s ok and not for too long. 

This has meant that our meals have been light and quick to prepare with lots of veggies and salads with organic, free range, sustainable fish, meat and chicken options. I am preparing to add venison into our diet when we can get it via our meat supplier and am quite excited to learn how to cook venison.

Red Onions

We have also upped our kefir drinking and have at least one smoothie a day made with either blueberries, strawberries or raspberries. Our kefir plant turns 1 liter of milk in about 24hrs which is just right for our needs. I also am back into the weekly yoghurt making which is all part of this detox gut healing plan.

Needless to say, my most favourite thing – baking – is on hold for now, all treats and bread have to wait a bit…sigh.

From the garden we have been eating onions, broad beans, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, peas, herbs, strawberries and celery.

PREPARE: Not much in this department as we eat fresh items from the garden as they come however I am discovering how to correctly harvest and save seed from the garden and have a stash of dried Calendula now too for soap and salve making through winter.

REDUCE: When needing to plant my herbs in the back courtyard I scrounged around in the hidey holes of my garden and pulled together about 10 pots of all sizes for the herbs. A great money saver!

New corn shoots

GREEN: Not new to me, but I thought I would share how I deal with a smelly bin…it’s the same way I deal with my drains – bicarb and vinegar. First I rinse it with a hosepipe. Then I sprinkle bicarb on the bottom, sides and lid. Then I spray it with my citrus cleaner. I leave in the sun for about 2 or 3hrs then rinse again with fresh water. It works every time!

GROW:  As the days warm up we are seeing the garden grow overnight and it is exciting to see the little leaves of corn sticking through the soil only days after planting. The courgette plants have their first flowers out, as do the potatoes.

Corn 3 weeks old

We planted more corn this month as well as tomatoes, courgettes, potatoes and beans, cucumber and melons. Into pots I have planted loads of herbs like majoram, thyme, celery, oregano and basil. 

My little one asked for a patch for himself so we demarcated an area and he has planted carrots, coriander, baby dash spinach,

radishes and watermelon.

CREATE: Still working on face/disch clothes for gifts…and then I’ll stretch this category a bit by sharing this: about 14 years ago a friend and I listened to a teaching called “The heart that makes the home” and it was full of help for me as I began to embrace my homemakers role more in this time with 3 little children. Over the years my life has gotten busier and busier but I have always had a heart to create a home that reflects my personality and a place of comfort for my family.

To some degree I have managed this, but finances, time and other deeper issues have not allowed me to focus on this as much as I would have liked to. I recently read a blog post by a friend that reminded me of this teaching from years back and have been laying my heart bare before the Lord.

Hence my decision to sign up again at Flylady.net to get back into the habit of doing a little everyday in a room or zone. I have also decided to take one room at a time and “redecorate” with a little squirreled away money. It will take a while as I rediscover what I love in style…which leads to the next point.

DISCOVER: About 5 years ago another homeschool mom contacted me about how to build a website like the ones I have. All these years later she has an amazing website which has come back to help me in my home. As we have a little cottage style home, her website will be from where I will be drawing much inspiration!  

This is the co-op where the residents have transformed the river

ENHANCE: This month my younger son and I went on an outing with the Centre for Conservation Education where he visited the Liesbeeck River at three spots. In it’s natural state near Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, at Bishopscourt Cooperative where they are carefully managing the river to rid it of alien vegetation and allow the river to regain its life and then to where it has been canalized lower down and is devoid of all natural life. 

A wonderful hands on way for him and other children to learn about caring for the Lord's creation.

ENJOY: Definitely the winner this month…we had lots to enjoy! 

~My elder daughter wrote and enjoyed her Grade 12 Afrikaans exam (she has 6 months left of homeschooling!)

~A weekend with my parents in George where I was a vendor at the Homeschool Convention for our Footprints Program. It was great to encourage other homeschoolers, catch up with a dear friend and spend some time with my folks. 

~ A visit to Kleinplassie outside Worcester to learn about sheep shearing

~ A whistlestop visit to Happy Hog to see new pink piglets and pick up our order

~ Visting the free range chicken farm where my son gets the chickens from which he sells to the local community. 

~ A superb visit to the Plettenberg Bay Elephant Sanctuary where we were able to get up close and personal with some gorgeous creatures.

~ And then joy of joys for my children – two new additions to our household…two little 8 week old rescue kittens from TEARS…Meet Toby and Tiffany!

Little Tiffany a.k.a. Soft Paws

Toby the Terrorist (but sleepy here!)

How was your month?