Friday, June 1, 2012

Slow Living Diary May 2012



Once again, I am joining in with Christine from Slow Living Essentials for a monthly reflection of slow living…

NOURISH: Big on the agenda has been lots of nutrition to keep us fighting fit. Have used our Super Chicken Soup to fight off colds/flus a fair bit for Mr B (and it’s worked a treat!!). Made a huge batch of blueberry muffins for me with some frozen blueberries left over from summer.  

PREPARE: I’ve started making two loaves at a time when baking our bread, helped by now buying bread flour in 10kg lots – this saves me heaps of time and a bit of money too. I’ve also been bulk cooking snacks for Little B (aka 18 muffins at a time). I’m also trying to have a few meals in the freezer as back up at all times (this month its mainly soup & Gozleme).

REDUCE: We’ve been using up old steel fence posts in a variety of ways (see Enhance :-) We’ve taken a left over curtain half, lined it with an old polar fleece blanket and it’s become our front door curtain. Our front door is made of a series of old paneled art deco glass that moves and leaks and is freezing – this curtain has raised the temperature in our house overnight by 2 degrees.


After doing a little course at the local library on home brewing, Mr B put out the call to friends to find the best place to buy equipment. Lucky us, someone gave us a secondhand brewing kit that they didn’t want – it’s only been used a handful of times. Bonus!!

GREEN: We are focusing strongly on nutritional medicine to stay well (a big step for Mr B who likes his cold & flu tablets). Made up a big batch of our home-made cleaner, so that I always have some on hand. We've been using microfibre mops to keep our wooden floors shiny and clean and in the vain hope it might keep the dust down. So far so good...still dusty though :-(


GROW: My swedes were growing really well but seemed to be taking away from the co-planted peas, so we pulled them all out and ate them in soup. Still yumming up baby spinach in sandwiches, soup and smoothies.


CREATE: I’ve learnt to crochet properly *happy dance*. It’s been great fun learning from a lovely teacher – and I’m well on the way with my scarf. Only a few squares left and I’ll have something new & in my mind glamorous to wear.


I also made a bunch of flannel handkerchiefs for Little B. He prefers something really soft to wipe his nose and who could resist scooters in homage to his daddy??

DISCOVER:  I’ve been reading up a storm this month. My absolute two favourites have been the River CottageBread Book and Permaculture Pioneers. But I’ve also enjoyed Heidi Swansons cookbook - Super Natural Everyday, and Dr Caroline Hungerfood. She’s an Aussie GP who focuses on a nutritional medicine which I’m a big fan of.


For fun I’ve also read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor (a totally new dark adult spin on Alice in Wonderland).

ENHANCE: This month Mr B made a scarecrow for kindy out of old steel fenceposts. Kindy has had a problem in the past of vandalism and ye old scarecrow has been stolen or flung onto nearby roofs. Not anymore…he’s now made of steel and concreted into the ground!! LOL Have joined a local craft group to learn more crochet skills. We’ve also again joined in the fight by signing a pledge to stop a McD’s being built in our area.

ENJOY: I’ve actually been enjoying some quality time with Mr B. We’ve been making an effort to have a date night once a month, and to also make sure that we hang out and chill with each other a few nights a week to stay connected. It’s easy to get lost in the swirl of work, volunteering (which we both do), kiddo and social commitments.


And really who could resist The Highway Rat on his way to dress up day at kindy the other day xx

8 comments:

  1. At the first sign of a sniffle we take 'Ease-a-cold. They work a treat for healing colds but only if taken early. I always keep a packet in the cupboard and could be accused of 'forcing' them on my children if they dare to sneeze. I haven't had a cold in years.

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  2. What a nice month you've had! Permaculture Pioneers sounds like an amazing read and another one to add to the ever growing wishlist. I'm also loving those handkerchiefs - SO cute! And so practical! I think I would permanently have a sniffle if I had one of those in my pocket just so I could whip it out at any given moment! Enjoy the month, Mrs B. :)

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  3. Your crochet is looking great!

    I also have a (sort of) plant to build a scare crow using one or two old T-Posts.

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  4. I like your efforts to fight off colds and flu. Great! And your front door curtain is a brilliant idea, well done. A friend once did something similar putting a curtain partway down their hallway and it made a massive difference.

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  5. It definitely is Chicken Soup season isn't it? And I agree with you, it really does work a treat! I also just checked out the link to your review of Permaculture Pioneers, which sounds really interesting, will definitely chase that up.

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  6. Some really good ideas here - love the soft hankies and the draft stopper.... great ideas in fact. I'm with you on the natural remedies too, so much better for the body to fight off bugs naturally. Your boys will thank you for it later!
    Thanks for sharing your very productive month!

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  7. Great month it seems, I love that chicken soup remedy. With a houseful of snifflers and sneezers I might just have to put it to the test.

    I too learned to crochet this month, though I'm still perfecting my technique before tackling an actual project. Your granny square looks great.

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  8. Hi

    I am really enjoy the Slow Living Month posts. I am also a fan of the River Cottage cookbooks and love watching the old episodes for inspiration.

    I am currently conducting research into blogs that focus on sustainable living as part of my Masters at the University of New England, Australia. I am interested to find out the positive role that blogs play in inspiring people to live more sustainably.

    We are looking for people to participate in a short online survey (5-10minutes), link below
    http://uneprofessions.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_1MOWwlgbGJlIyJS

    If you could help that would be greatly appreciated.
    Regards,
    Student Researcher, Master of Environmental Systems, Markets and Climate Change
    University of New England
    Email: lshashko@une.edu.au

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