Slow Living in 2012 - Month 2

Keeping track of what I did this past month...and what a fun month it's been !!

Sour dough crackers

Nourish: This month I have experimented with a few new things in the kitchen.  Sourdough has been on top of the list.  Made a successful starter, followed by a loaf of delicious sourdough bread...then I got a wee bit excited...and made sourdough crepes, sourdough choc chip cookies, sourdough crackers, sourdough english muffins...yum yum !!  Also bought some quinoa to try, and after quinoa porridge for breakfast and quinoa tabouli with dinner, I'm hooked.  I think this will definitely become a staple in our home. Made lots of delicious icecream using our stash of mango and passionfruit from the freezer, and some lacto fermented mayonnaise which the kids prefer to eat by the spoonful... hmmmmmmmmmm.

Prepare: Carrot muffins and chocolate muffins frozen for school lunches.  Chocolate, yes I know, maybe not the healthiest, but homemade is always a better option right?  Froze lots of passionfruit pulp.

Reduce:  Called in at an op shop (on the way to Lincraft to buy some more embroidery thread), and guess what?  I found a big bag of embroidery threads in a variety of colours for $2.  I won't need to buy thread for a very long time.  
  I didn't realize how many sheets of A4 paper come into the house and get thrown out ! So now I keep them all, as long as they are blank on the back, and cut them either in half or quarters for kids to draw on, and for note paper for me.  Have also been keeping all envelopes that come in the post - not so many these days, but if I carefully slit the tops open, they can be reused for stashing scrap paper or small sewing patterns, or to be donated to school.  And as luck would have it, this month in my daughters class room, they have a post office corner.

Green: Made my second batch of laundry liquid.  Can't believe how much money I'm saving with that stuff.  Also made a fresh batch of citrus cleaner which leaves my bench tops smelling so lovely and clean.  I have made a few lotion bars - they are lovely to use.  And for the first time, I had a go at making some sunscreen and an insect repellent and both work, so I'm pretty happy about that.  Now I'm trialing my first batch of homemade toothpaste, so far so good.

Grow: Not doing so much here....I let my basil go to seed and now there are seedlings popping up all over the place.

Create:  Skirts for the girls, a cute little felt hen and chicks,, a couple of baby dolls and felt starfish.  Also some flower girl bendy dolls....I've been in a bit of a crafty mood !

Discover:  I've started reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration  by Weston A. Price - really interesting.  Sally Fallons Nourishing Traditions Book is just permanently lying around somewhere begging to be opened any chance I get, such a wealth of information in there.  And the other book - yes another food book, I found The Free Range Cook by Annabel Langbein, full of wonderful recipes, I might just have to buy it someday. 

And speaking of discoveries, I saw this on the way to school this morning, anyone know what kind of a nest it might be?  The width of it would be about the same as my hand length, and it is sitting on the ground attached to the base of a tree.

 Enhance:   A few weeks ago I found, completely by chance a Steiner inspired playgroup in my local area. They had been running for only 2 weeks when I found them so I'm pretty happy about that - great to be with like minded people!  I've offered to make the bread dough for the kids each week - they love to 'make' bread. 

Enjoy:  I have really enjoyed the few days of rain we've had recently to break the humidity, and cool the earth for just a little while.  I've also enjoyed seeing how excited Ruby is to be at school, she loves learning new things, and is surprising me with how quickly she is picking things up.  Love talking to my big girls on skype - thank goodness for modern technology ! (sometimes !!)