Slow Living - August

I didn't join in with Christine at Slow Living Essentials last month and I didn't think I would join in this month either.  Somehow it always seems to take me a while to write these posts.  Probably because I need to search back through my brain and photos for the information I need.  I've also been short of time for blog hopping and I do like to wander around other people's blogs when I join in with the Slow Living Diaries.

However, I have decided join in for August's update, albeit a bit late, because it really is nice to stop and reflect on my acheivements (or not) for the month.  So here goes...... This was my August -

Nourish -

My nourish and grow categories go hand in hand this month.  My garden has been going really well this winter so I have been using our produce to decide what to cook.  The young chooks were also coming into lay so I have had heaps of eggs to use.

 We've been making our own pasta which uses five eggs and then topping it with a sauce from the garden.  Spinach makes a lovely pasta sauce and more recently I've been able to make an asparagus sauce.  The asparagus has started to poke up to welcome the spring.  The sauce was probably a bit light on for asparagus (only a few spears up at any given time) but we really enjoyed it none-the-less.

Prepare - I finally got around to making some soap this month.  (Yes Jenna :-), you can pick it up any time you like).  A friend has pigs, renders the lard and shares it with me to make soap from.  I then share the batch with her.  I find it hard to get the time to make it regularly.  I haven't been using our own soap for a few weeks and I really missed it!

Green - We've been doing the usual.  We use citrus cleaner, bi-carb and not much else.  I am amazed at how many uses bi-carb has!  It cleans my bath, sink, dishes, teeth and is my deodorant as well.

Grow - We've been eating broccoli, cauliflower, kale, spinach, lettuce and some rhubarb.  I have onions growing along with more brassicas, silver beet, garlic, kale, broad beans and peas.  Every now and then I pinch an immature onion for a recipe.  I carefully choose one to thin out and let the one next to it have a bit more space.  I'm doing the same with garlic.  I don't have any ready yet, so I just use a young one straight from the garden if I need garlic in a meal.

I sow all my seeds in August so they're starting to peek through.

Reduce - I've grown my seeds in our own compost this year so I didn't need to buy seedraising mix.  I also didn't have as many second hand plastic punnets as I needed so I've put some seeds straight in the garden under a sheet of glass.  Hopefully it will work well?  I also used newspaper pots for some of the larger seeds.  I will still try and get a hold of some punnets though.  They are so useful!

We've also had a very good month on cooking straight from here or with food sourced from local markets so we've produced less packaging than usual.  I find I'm just buying things like cream and butter etc. from the supermarket.

 

Create - I've done very poorly in this category.  I think I've knitted about six rows on Buddy Boy's jumper and I've also started on a babies cardigan/jacket.   (See next category)

Enhance - Some big news about my Rosie.  She is expecting a baby in December!  I will soon have two grandchildren.  I have been to her place (which is far too far away for my liking) and planted up a veggie garden for her.  She and her partner are new to gardening so I thought it would be easier if I just got the garden started.  Then they can see how easy and satisfying it is to reap the rewards. 

I also got together with a friend and created a Fair Food Week celebration.  It was very successful and hopefully won some converts to fair, ethical food.

Discover - I'm still plodding my way through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.  I'm loving it but I keep getting sidetracked by other books.  (I've just finished reading The Rugmaker of Mazar-E-Sharif.  A great book about an asylum seeker's journey to be accepted as a refugee in Australia.)  I've also been learning a lot of facts surrounding Climate Change.  I have discovered that we should all be ashamed to be Australian.  It's just plain embarrassing how little effort our government have put in, considering we are one of the highest emitting countries!

Enjoy - I have really enjoyed my garden of the past month.  I also enjoyed having the extended family over for Father's Day.  I love seeing my little granddaughter!

 Don't forget to pop over to Slow Living Essentials and have a look at what everyone has been doing.

I hope you had a lovely August too!