Joined Slow Living Essentials Project

It may be half way through the year for this project but for me this is month one. Officially anyway.

For the last 15 years we have changed our lives so that we can do as little damage to Mother Earth as possible. Ever since we had our own place I have grown my own vegetables and tried to make and cook as much of my own food from scratch as possible. 

Six years ago we moved to our five acres and got a little closer to being self sufficient. I grow 90 % of our vegetables and more fruit every year. In the orchard we have six different apples, two pears, four cherry's, two finger limes, five sugar plums, three mandarins, one peach, one apricot ,one quince, three figs, a cherry guava and a fejoa.

So her is my look back at my achievements for the last month.

Nourish: We aim to eat good fresh food and I think mostly we achieved this. We had a chicken vegetable soup the other night  after coming home from work with a headache it was good to just take out a container and let Michael defrost it. The other night we had a nice simple dish made from a small sugar loaf cabbage onion garlic and some bacon and pepper. Simple but delicious. Must bake more.

Prepare:  Made lots of stock that went into the freezer along with a few Slow cooked casseroles.

We also prepared a few beds for the next lot of vegetable planting. Made some strawberry guava jam.

Reduce: We have reduced the amount of cleaning products so that I only buy dish washing liquid and sunlight soap and washing power. Am working on my husband so that we can try our own washing powder.

Upcycled an old jumper into a pillow for our cat to sleep on.    

Green: We are not using our air conditioner at all this winter and are turning off everything we can at the power point.

Grow: At the moment in my garden there are Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brocolli, Peas , Potatoes, Leeks,Lettuce, Garlic and Werrigal greens which I use like spinach.

Create: Crochet a headband for Emily to keep her head warm and to cover the scar from her operation.

Am working on another one for her and some to sell at my stall that I have every few months at our local hall.

Enhance: Jess and I are building a new succulent garden at the back so that we can see it from the back deck. 

Discover: Not so much a discover as a rediscover. I am in the proces of throwing out a lot of my old magazines and decided to make a garden book that list month by month the little things I should be doing 

Like organic sprays.

Enjoy: I really enjoy knitting and crocheting next to my fire at night as it gets colder.