I’ve never been a big fan of making new years resolutions, preferring to start each new year with making a list of general goals for the year. This year I have decided that I am going to focus on building resilience and living more simply.
I was very interested to read Christine’s Slow Living Essentials blog with her idea for noting her Slow Living achievements each month. I think this is a fabulous way of reflecting on monthly achievements so will be joining in with a record of my slow living activities for 2012. I look forward to reading about what everyone else is up to.
I was very interested to read Christine’s Slow Living Essentials blog with her idea for noting her Slow Living achievements each month. I think this is a fabulous way of reflecting on monthly achievements so will be joining in with a record of my slow living activities for 2012. I look forward to reading about what everyone else is up to.
So here is my slow living January list....
NOURISH: When life hands me free lemons I like to make them into moist lemon Syrup cake.
PREPARE: Our vegetable patch has burst into life recently so I have been saving some of our produce for the leaner months. During January we have frozen several bags of dwarf beans, I've made basil ice cubes so we can have a taste of summer in the middle of winter and we have been out to our local reserve harvesting blackberries which we've frozen to eat in the winter. We're big fans of blackberry and apple crumble. I've also been doing some research into preserving and am keeping an eye out for a preloved fowlers vacola preserving kit. We're also planning to start setting up a stockpile of food and other essential items to improve our resilience.
REDUCE: Our lovely chickens have been in lock down in their (very large) enclosure as they were taking advantage of the unfenced garden and getting a little bit too adventurous. It was the day that I found them half way down the street scratching around in the mulch in a neighbours front garden that we decided that something had to be done. We don't want to fence ourselves in so we have repurposed two old doors and some wooden posts to make a chicken run which we have put in a shady corner of the garden so that they can scratch around filling their chickeny tummys up with bugs so that we get super tasty eggs. I've also become a bit of an Op shop (charity shop) addict lately.... I just love having a browse around never quite knowing what I am going to discover. Recent finds have included tins for storing my sewing bits and pieces, clothes and fabric, sewing patterns, childrens books and lots more. We've also taken a lot of things to the op shop that we no longer want or need - reducing our possessions by decluttering.
GREEN: We're discovering the joys of shopping at our local market. We recently bought some green laundry liquid which is made by a local producer. It smells divine and has the added benefit of being kind to the environment and our skin.
GROW: One of our neighbours was giving away their surplus grapefruit in a big box by the side of the road. They were the tastiest, juciest grapefruit that I have had for a long time. We also have lots of produce coming from our veggie patch including enormous zucchini, eggplants, herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, radish, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, rhubarb, potatoes, strawberries and lots lots more. I have also been planting more seeds so that our harvest continues.... seeds sown in January include lettuce, beans, sweetcorn, marigolds, beetroot, radishes...
CREATE: My favourite creative project of the month was creating fabric party bags for little monkey's birthday party.
DISCOVER: During January I have borrowed several books from the library on the subject of self sufficiency, preserving and sewing. Did I mention that I LOVE libraries?!
ENHANCE: I have become actively involved in my local Transition town group again after a break to work on health issues. I'm feeling energised again and excited to be planning for projects and events in 2012.
ENJOY: Lots of moments of enjoyment during January. The highlights are seeing the excitement of my little monkey and all his friends at his birthday party. Climbing to the top of a hill in a nearby reserve to watch the sun setting overMelbourne
REDUCE: Our lovely chickens have been in lock down in their (very large) enclosure as they were taking advantage of the unfenced garden and getting a little bit too adventurous. It was the day that I found them half way down the street scratching around in the mulch in a neighbours front garden that we decided that something had to be done. We don't want to fence ourselves in so we have repurposed two old doors and some wooden posts to make a chicken run which we have put in a shady corner of the garden so that they can scratch around filling their chickeny tummys up with bugs so that we get super tasty eggs. I've also become a bit of an Op shop (charity shop) addict lately.... I just love having a browse around never quite knowing what I am going to discover. Recent finds have included tins for storing my sewing bits and pieces, clothes and fabric, sewing patterns, childrens books and lots more. We've also taken a lot of things to the op shop that we no longer want or need - reducing our possessions by decluttering.
GREEN: We're discovering the joys of shopping at our local market. We recently bought some green laundry liquid which is made by a local producer. It smells divine and has the added benefit of being kind to the environment and our skin.
GROW: One of our neighbours was giving away their surplus grapefruit in a big box by the side of the road. They were the tastiest, juciest grapefruit that I have had for a long time. We also have lots of produce coming from our veggie patch including enormous zucchini, eggplants, herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, radish, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, rhubarb, potatoes, strawberries and lots lots more. I have also been planting more seeds so that our harvest continues.... seeds sown in January include lettuce, beans, sweetcorn, marigolds, beetroot, radishes...
CREATE: My favourite creative project of the month was creating fabric party bags for little monkey's birthday party.
DISCOVER: During January I have borrowed several books from the library on the subject of self sufficiency, preserving and sewing. Did I mention that I LOVE libraries?!
ENHANCE: I have become actively involved in my local Transition town group again after a break to work on health issues. I'm feeling energised again and excited to be planning for projects and events in 2012.
ENJOY: Lots of moments of enjoyment during January. The highlights are seeing the excitement of my little monkey and all his friends at his birthday party. Climbing to the top of a hill in a nearby reserve to watch the sun setting over
Hi Clare, lots of nice happenings at your place! Your garden sounds so generous and just look at those strawberries! Lucky you. Enjoy the month. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Christine - it's a really lovely idea of yours to reflect on the months happenings. Looking forward to finding out what everyone else has been up to!
ReplyDeleteGreat to read of these plans and achievements in slow living, Clare.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the library use - and I love the charity shops too. Just got a copy of 'Home' by Bill Bryson and a huge St Michaels (aka M&S) craft book for under a tenner and donated to the BHF at the same time (very warm glow!) :-)
Super to read of renwed energy :-D ENJOY!!!!