A normal difference - a post about diversity

A conversation with Lou Lou on preparing her daughter for school, really got me thinking.  I had similar issues when Buddy began school.  Trying to work out whether to expect no issues and an easy transistion, or to prepare for difficulties and having to educate others on difference.  I took the path of winding myself up to a ridiculous extent.  I was sick with worry.  Worked well really!  The picture I'd painted in my mind was sooo bad that I was, of course, relieved and delighted at how painless it was.  It was sort of like the feeling you'd get if, while falling from a tree, you expected to break a bone but suffered only bruises instead.  However, it's not a method I'd recommend.  All we can do is hope to change perspectives until we reach a stage that diversity is truly welcomed.

We are all different.  We look different, have different jobs, hobbies, favourite foods, live in different areas with different coloured paint on the walls.  We're married, single, divorced, employed, unemployed, young, old or in between.  We have different cultures, beliefs and states of health. We spend our leisure time differently; some choose to read a book, others dine out, go to parties or play sport.  These differences are accepted and embraced.   Life would be so very boring if we were all the same.

Difference is measured by the majority so the further you stray from the mainstream the more 'different' your unique situation becomes.  And that's when it becomes occasionally problematic.  What is it about our society that it sometimes struggles to accept anything that strays from the norm?

I know you have your own differences.  Some may be large and some small.  Us too.  I used to feel unusual due to our lifestyle.  We choose to live in a way that is respectful of the environment and, with that as my goal, we didn't care if it seemed strange to some that our crockery didn't match, we had a compost toilet on the verandah (isolated property), or that I had holes in my jeans.  As a big picture issue these details were unimportant.

Happily, lately more and more people are living as we do and moving away from a world where money and possesions are the be all and end all.  I've also gradually met more people who live like us due to concerns about climate change.  Therefore our lifestyle is moving toward mainstream and becoming normalised.  In this particular case, I'd be delighted to see one of our differences become the normal for the majority of the population because lifestyles need change.  Climate change is becoming an urgent problem and needs serious action to be taken on every level, from individual households, to organisations and governments.  I'm not even going to bother searching for links to back up my statements here.  You know it's true, and if you don't, take a minute to do some basic research.

However, I don't aim for all of our family's uniquenesses to become the same for everyone.  I shouldn't need to be 'the same' to expect acceptance.  Our family has three ways in which we digress from the path most are taking.  My children are homeschooled.  My daughter is living in a gay relationship.  My son has Down syndrome.

Here's the thing.  These things are not differences to us.  They are our normal!

You have no idea how often my poor children get asked "Why aren't you in school today?"  But that's ok because people are totally unused to seeing *gasp* children  older than toddlers in our world during the hours of  nine till three thirty.  There's no malice in the question but it gets a bit annoying in its repetitiveness.  And then there are the judgements.  Are the children socialising?  Are they going to learn properly?  Are our family sure we're doing the right thing?  Umm.... no, but is any family sure?  Can any family predict a happy future for their child?

As for Down syndrome, I struggle with the balance of normal versus different.  You see, I want my son to be accepted as normal.  He is a boy first and foremost.  He's my boy.  Not my 'Down syndrome child'.  If I'm honest with you, I can't even see his Down syndrome.  I know he has features which distinguish him as having unique chromosomes.  His facial features are different, as are his rate of growth and his rate of learning.  But his cuddles and kisses feel the same.  His contributions to our family feel the same.  And his games and his jokes.  He messes his room up just the same as his sisters and gets yelled at asked to tidy it, just the same.  He is so much 'the same' that occasionally I stare at him and try to imagine how he seems through other people eyes because - I truly can't see it!!  But my struggle?  Well, while I want everyone to see him as any other little boy, I also want them to be understanding of his struggles.  Because things are harder for him.  Where other things come naturally to my girls, Buddy has to really work hard to learn them.  I have great respect for my boy who watches others constantly to learn the correct social behaviour; who has spent hours learning how to fold clothes properly because he wants to be able to fold them well; who struggles to do difficult buttons and needs my help often, while knowing other children his age don't need mums to dress them.  So yes, I want you to accept Buddy as normal while appealing for you to be patient and understanding of  his difference.  I want you to converse with him and expect him to understand.  He may understand, he may not, but he'll sure enjoy the chat.  I want you to invite him to play with your kids.  I want you to expect him to grow up to be employable, drive a car, complete adult education courses.  I want you to see him as the clever little boy that he is!  Your attitude affects his view and expectations of himself.

The 'manly' expression

Joining tug-o-war at a family fun day

As for my daughter in a same sex relationship, it is very difficult because these relationships are judged by so many in society.  Somehow people find this a threatening issue.  Lou Lou has been with her partner for years.  They have gone to a lot of trouble and expense with IVF to produce me a delightful granddaughter.  TOM (The other mother) and Lou Lou have bought a home together, keep it very well - it's much tidier than mine - made home improvements, paid bills, socialised as a family, argued with each other and made up again.  They've lived in a real relationship with its ups, downs and responsibilities.  Ella has pet cats, chooks, a cubby house and loves to read books.  She goes to kindergarten and is looking forward to school next year.  Her parents deliberate over where best to educate her and also discuss daily parenting and discipline styles.  In short, their family is so much the same as many, many families.  Most people are very accepting but those that aren't feel they have the right to be vocal.  Do they not realise the effect they could have on children from these relationships?!  These are Ella's parents!  This is her normal.  Nothing different about it in her mind.  Lou Lou talks openly about their family's differences with Ella because different is ok.  What she can't share with Ella are society's judgments.  She can't tell Ella that her parents are not legally allowed to marry.  This carries with it a message that her family is sooo wrong and her parents relationship is sooo unacceptable that even the government frown upon it and see it as illegal!  A heartbreaking view for any child that is being raised in a warm, loving and thoughtful environment.

such a little/big girl

my two granddaughters

Ella, cooking with Lou Lou

So, what do you do if you have some major ways that you differ from those around you?  You acknowlege the difference. (I don't convince the kids that Buddy doesn't have Down syndrome or that the rest of the world should home school)  Apart from that, do nothing.  Get on with your lives.  They are more normal than they are different.  I don't dwell on our differences or make a big deal about them.  They are what they are and they're really ok!  Despite my family's three main differences, we are normal, we are happy, we are all productive, contributing members of our communities.  We are also lucky to have very accepting friends and feel fully included in our friendship circles.

So what do you do if you are one of those on the outside observing the differences?  You do nothing.  You accept other people as they are.  Hopefully you even embrace the diversity.  If you really struggle with acceptance, then possibly you should do a bit of soul searching to see why you have issues with how others are living their lives.  Lives that don't affect how you choose to live yours.

While our differences can't really affect other people's day to day life, negative opinions can cause us unnecessary pressure and emotional angst while we go about our lives, living them the best we can.  Opinions shouldn't matter and deserve to be shrugged off but the nature of humans means it's not that simple.  We take things on board.  So hey - like us, love us, admire us, be our friend and we'll accept you just the way you are too.

I wonder how different your normal might be.

Projects

The weekend at last!  I longed to snuggle further down under the covers when Hubby left for work this morning.  So warm and cosy in my bed.  But there were projects floating in my head.  They called me loudly and insistently so I begrudgingly staggered out for a cup of coffee to get me moving.

There's a freezing chill in the air this morning but the cloudless sky carries a promise of a beautiful day to come.  I've had a very productive week and today will be no different.  Once the sun is shing and the sky is blue, I will have all the energy I need to get on with today's tasks.

The projects I have on the go are many and varied.  I'm painting, regenerating paddocks, farm planning, planting while the weather's favourable, working with the children.....

Monday saw me checking the hive and robbing some honey.  I didn't measure but there were several kilos of golden sweetness.

Tuesday we went to help some friends pick their small commercial olive crop before they missed their deadline.  Three other friends also came to help.  Sadly we didn't get much done before the rain set in and made it impossible.

I've been determinedly painting our house over the last couple of weeks.  We never did get around to finishing the doors and trims when we moved in.  Once living here, we just got on with daily tasks and became so used to the unpainted surroundings that we didn't even notice anymore.  However, for some unknown reason, suddenly it's all I see!  So every day this week, I've painted a little more.

I've also dropped in to the local tip with a trailer on tow and picked up an old freezer.  Sorting a container for the chook food has been on my to-do list for a looong time but now that we're thinking of getting more chooks it's become a priority.  This freezer is perfect for the job.  I'm making my own grain mix for them and recording the costs as I go.  I'm confident that my mix is nutritious but I have a sneaking suspicion that when I add up the prices, it would be cheaper to buy the commercial mixes.

We've been to the library, picked up (and shoveled out) a load of manure and returned the trailer to the stables.  The children have played independently.  There have been shopping games, mum's and dads, doctors and even dinosaurs.  We've cared for the animals, milked the goats and Belle and I have knitted fingerless mittens to try and ward off the cold.  It's icy out there in the late afternoons!

  I've had a friend visit twice this week and twice she has helped me complete some tasks on my list.  She and her husband helped me plant the garlic last weekend.  I was despairing that I wouldn't get it in on time.  During the week, she and I planted comfrey under the fruit trees while adding compost and manure.  It's lovely to have friends that enjoy working alongside me.

The chooks are doing a lovely job in their new enclosure.  We've put them in a bare paddock on the top of the hill.  This paddock had no soil whatsoever so, a while back, we shoveled a couple of trailer loads of horse manure on it.  Now the chooks are scratching it around and adding their own manure to the mix.  We'll move them soon to a new area and put them to work again.  Our hope is that, over time we'll see the soil build up.

I know it can work.  I've inspected the area where we've been putting piles of horse manure in one spot over the last year.  Yesterday I scratched the soil around the piles.  It was definitely an improvement.  Just three metres away, where there has been no manure, I can't even scratch past the surface because there is no topsoil at all.  I will begin piling the manure there instead next week.

Near the manure pile

Existing 'soil?'

Today I will continue to paint and this afternoon I plan to take a look at a second hive which is down in the bush.  I find it hard to get to this particular hive because it's so far from the house.  I don't want to have the children there with me but I can't leave them home alone.  Hence I wait until Hubby is around, the weather is right, and my mentor is available.  It's getting late in the year for beekeeping and I won't have many opportunties before winter sets in.

I've only had a couple of attempts to beekeep on my own so far and they weren't very successful.   On one attempt the bees were very aggressive and I had two stings inside my boot which I had to ignore.  I was also stung twice on the hand.  I managed to calmly work through but didn't know enough about the bees to understand what was happening.  Normally they are quite settled.  My mentor felt it may have been due to the hive being so full of honey that they had nowhere to lay their brood.  Therefore, once I had removed three frames (all I could manage in my bee-stung state), they were calmer when we inspected them this week.

I'm very lucky with my mentor.  He has years of experience.  I've known Jim since I was born.  He was a friend of my parents and we used to visit their family when we were children.  I was lucky that I unexpectedly came across Jim and his wife in the supermarket car park soon after we bought this property.  We had lost contact and I had no idea that they lived in this area.  Neither did I know Jim was a beekeeper.  I invited them to lunch, together with my parents, and it was then I discovered that Jim worked with bees.  He's been helping me since.  It's wonderful to watch him at a hive.  He works slowly and calmly.  He doesn't even wear gloves!!!

So onward I go!  Hopefully I can get through my jobs by the end of the day and perhaps tomorrow I'll just relax.

How is your weekend looking?  Are you taking it easy or do you also have a thousand projects on the go?!

Lazy housekeeping

Well I never!!  Hubby arrived home from work one night last week as I was busily bustling in the kitchen preparing a meal.  He walked in the door and the first words out of his mouth were, "Gee, you've worked hard today!'

I stopped dead in my tracks and turned to stare at him.  What??!  I normally feel completely at ease with our arrangement of Hubby working each day while I stay home and teach the children, organise the house, clothes, food etc.  I know that I put in a good day's work that can easily rival Hubby's efforts.

However, on this particular day I had been very lazy.  Not sure what came over me really but I just couldn't be bothered.  The rush and tear seemed unimportant.  So the kids and I just did as we pleased.  Apart from caring for the animals, we did nothing.  No painting the house like I have been, no collecting or shoveling manure, no planting or fertilising in the garden, not even any washing of clothes.

I looked around the lounge room.  Yep!  Sure enough, the place looked great.  About half an hour before he'd walked in the door, I did my usual call of, "Put away everything you've used today."  A quick scurry around and it was all done.

Oh dear, oh dear!  How ironic.  My usual busy days create mess.  Whereas on my lazy, feeling guilty, should-have-done-more day, the house looked great.  No clothes hanging on clothes horses ( they weren't washed), no piles of unaddressed stuff on the table because I hadn't got anything out.  No kid's messes because I'd been inside to do the pack-up call.  No aching muscles, no bone tired weariness.  Just a tidy home.

So I stood there - shocked!  I didn't know whether to feel demoralised that my real work doesn't show or plan to spend more time sitting on my butt!!

Are you a mess maker too?

A Steiner special school and Organising a break from the farm

Recently, the kids and I attended a camp.  I knew I was going to like it but didn't realise what a huge impact it was going to have on me.

The camp was organised by the Melbourne Waldorf Farm School.  They are a group of Steiner connected people who are in the process of organising a Steiner special school.  It would be the first of its kind in Australia.

The vision is for the school to operate as a working farm and incorporate residential housing for elderly folk as well as people with disabilities.  I love the concept.  They are creating a place that is useful and where everyone would be involved in a very real way regardless of ability.  The way I believe the world should be.

The experience of the camp left me wishing I could be involved when the school is operational.  The days the children and I spent there were incredible.  We were immediately immersed in the most connected and nurturing environment I have ever found myself in.  We were a community of people who cared about each other by the time we left. 

There were opportunities for Buddy to experience new activities as well as felting and music and singing for all of us.  Buddy's sisters had the opportunity to part from him and each other while playing, and to meet many other children with disabilities.  Pumpkin announced on the way home that she would like to work with people with disabilities when she grows up (because they are so nice). 

The parents were nurtured and, through various activities and in-depth discussion, felt very deep connections with each other by the time we went home.  The school will be in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne; too far for us although I toyed with the idea of moving for a while.  I would encourage anyone with an interest, to get involved.  You would be welcomed.  Tell your friends and spread the word.  The families who end up at this school will be very fortunate.  The school is in it's initial stages and those who get involved will be instrumental in helping this concept become a reality.

Hubby was left at home, as usual, to care for the animals.  It's the only way the children and I have been able to go anywhere over the last couple of years.  He gets up early for work to put animals in paddocks and stays up late milking, feeding, watering, and locking up.  I was beginning to feel as though we could never go away as a family again.

A friend, who was aware of our situation, organised a three day beach trip for us and pushed me encouraged me to stop procrastinating and find a way to leave our farm.  I put the word out on Facebook and a few friends offered their services.  I chose this medium because I felt I wasn't putting anyone on the spot.  It seemed such a big ask!  This way, those who wanted to come forward, did.

With two people able to help on the selected dates, we began our organising.  I was determined to make it as easy as possible for our generous volunteer friends. 

We organised self feeders for the chooks (I usually feed mash) so that feed and water only needed to be checked and filled if low.  We made up the daily feeds for the goats in ziplock bags - yes, I know shouldn't use plastic but I was desperate to make it easy!  The goats' feeds are individualised so we labelled each bag and labelled the pens.  We even wrote a brief descriptor above each pen in case the naughty girls took advantage of inexperienced carers and swapped pens.  We labelled food containers and the receptacle (an old dishwasher put to new use) where we keep first aid equipment and minerals.

Our evening helper came over to learn to milk and be shown the ropes.  Goats' hay feeders filled, chooks locked up, goats up from paddock, buckets and washing water organised, goats milked and fed, milk strained and buckets washed ready for the next day.  She was very enthusiastic and made me feel comfortable about asking her to take the task on.

Our morning volunteer was a neighbour who has helped in a couple of emergencies and already knew the ropes.  The chooks to be let out, hay in paddocks, goats out.  Her farm is a similar setup to ours, with many of the same livestock.  She is a kind and generous neighbour who happily helped us out!  This same neighbour has come and helped when one of the goats was sick and has lent me her caged trailer when my girl goats were wanting to travel to a buck because they were looking for love.

We only had one hiccough while we were away.  I wasn't clear enough with the days I needed help and there was a morning when the animals weren't let out.  A lesson to me for next time - specify exact days!

All in all, I think we organised the care of our farm fairly well.  If you are in a similar situation, don't be scared to ask.  There are probably people out there that would be happy to help you.  Make it as easy as you can by taking notice as you go about your chores.  You'll think of ways to simplify your system for inexperienced helpers.  Make sure you prepare anything that you can in advance and make sure that you leave a contact number.

I'm sure, one day, we will be asked to provide reciprocal care and my friends will be comfortable to ask me seeing as they have already cared for our animals.  It's lovely to be able to walk away from the daily grind every now and again and well worth the effort of organising the carers.

 Happy holidays!!!

Self care

There's been quite a silence from me recently.  You may have noticed I regularly have spurts of blogging and spurts of nothingness.  If I've not been writing, one of three things have likely happened.....

1. I've been so busy with projects and fun stuff that I haven't had time to write.
2. I've decided I'm finally going to get life 'right' and I'm putting all my time and energy into organising the house and kids.  Always a nuisance when I get into this mode because I waste precious time sweeping and wiping surfaces!!
3. I'm overwhelmed, exhausted and feeling like a failure.

This time around it was number three.  One of the down sides with trying to live thoughtfully and with respect for the planet with which we are blessed is that often we are time poor.  Since I began teaching the children at home I have really struggled with time issues.

I still want to find time to cook most of our food from scratch to avoid shortcuts that mean creating waste.  I want to garden to avoid feeding my children food with residual pesticides.  I want to make cleaners, again to avoid packaging waste.  I'd like to sew rather than buy products that have wasted resources in the transport process.  The list goes on and on........

Not only do I want to do all of this; I want to do it all perfectly!!  Of course.  For the last few months I have been feeling very tired.  Near on exhausted.  But I couldn't see a solution.  Especially because, even in this state, I keep jumping at opportunities to learn new skills.  A new recipe here, how to dispatch a goose there, how to pickle.....  So I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and trying not to think about it.

Now, this is not a once off exhaustion.  This is a pattern I follow.  I think it's probably something many of you who are greening your lives can identify with.  A lifestyle danger if you will.  On other occasions I have reached crisis point by exploding with the kids or by falling into a sobbing heap.  Last time, I decided to really take notice of the warning signs and be proactive in fending off an inevitable collapse.  But how............?

I thought long and hard about what I felt I needed.  I decided I just. needed. to. STOP!!!! I didn't want to feed another chook, milk another goat, teach another child, book another appointment, clean another mess - all the things that make up our day.  I didn't even feel like talking to Hubby once the kids went to bed because I was so worn out from doing and thinking.

So there it was identified, I needed a break.

I am very lucky.  I rang and asked my mother, feeling very guilty, if she could take the children and she didn't hesitate.  She and Dad looked after the kids for two days even overseeing their lessons for me.  Hubby took on a load as he worked all day and then cared for the animals and milked.  Belle and I did heaps of preparation to cut down the work and I think it helped him.

I booked a room near Rosie so I could squeeze in a visit with her and my lovely granddaughter.  I spent two days listening to relaxation cds, crafting, planning a new daily routine for when I went home and generally just sitting quietly (just being) !

It worked!  I came home refreshed, implemented my new routine and threw myself back into our busy lives.  I kinda felt validated when the kids arrived home.  They were all talking to me at a million miles an hour and it was mayhem and busyness right from the word go.  No easing back into it.  The contrast of my peaceful time made me realise that my life really is very busy and tiring.  The difference is that I have got through my week with it's usual up's, down's and minor crisis's with a sense of humour rather than doom.   I have had energy as I've tackled my work and I've found enjoyment in my everyday tasks.  Cooking and creating a nice environment for my family has been a particular pleasure.  Taking care of myself was really successful in enabling me to care properly again for the others in my life.

Pre-rest photo.  I didn't even get around to icing the cake for poor Belle!

As I stated earlier, I am very lucky to have such caring parents.  I know not everybody has a backup but I hope you have a way to refresh yourself when you need to.  Or more importantly perhaps, the ability to know when you've had enough and it's time to care for YOU!  Maybe you have your own secret weapon to use against burn out.

My muddle

On my good, productive days, I feel gooey!  I'm living the life I've always wanted to live.  What could be better?

However if I'm honest there are lots of bad days too.  Trying to live as sustainably as possible does create extra tasks.  There are the days on which I wake feeling tired before I've begun.  There are days on which I wake to a terrible mess in the morning.

I'm not a night person and will fall into bed at the end of the day without a thought of the dishes waiting by the sink.  But then I wake up to...........

In our home, more often than not, I don't just pop that empty jar into the recycling.  Oh no, not me!  I leave it next to the sink to be washed up ready to use for some gastronomic delight I am yet to make. I can't waste a perfectly good jar!

There's the garden to water, seeds I should have sowed already, animals to care for, milking to be done, chaff to be bought, children to be taught, a house to clean, cooking to be done, clothes to be washed, appointments to be kept.....

I still need to make time for the children to enjoy the things children should.

 

I can't throw out that piece of ribbon!  I might use it one day to pretty up a gift.  So I pop it on the stairs to take up next time I walk past...... and the pile on the stairs grows.

The stale bread can't go in the chook bucket this time.  I'll crumble it and pop it in the freezer when I get a chance so that I have breadcrumbs on hand.  Ooops!  Forgot.  I've now found a green loaf in the pantry.  Similarly the plums need attention.  I've used most of the plums for preserving, jams and sauces.  But there's one bag remaining.  These plums are going soft so I'll turn them into more sauce.  Ooops!  Forgot.  They've created their own version of a sauce by turning into slop as they waited for my attention.

Last night I was pickling as Belle and Hubby bottled cider.  No time for dishes or a tidy up.

Life's not always like this.  Sometimes I turn my attention to the house, tidy it up and swear I'll never get behind again.  But then I notice the garden is suffering so I'll turn my attention to outside......

How I long for some consistency!  Or more hours in the day.

The packed lunch trip

You know when you tell someone you're going somewhere and they want to tease you about the distance?  Most often used when you've decided to move house.  You get that supportive (NOT) quip about, "Geez, We'll need a packed lunch to come and visit!"

Well, I use the term packed lunch a lot these days. I think I'm the queen of the packed lunch!  If I need to go anywhere by car, I want to make the most of the trip.  I save petrol by multitasking and I save on time.  Home educating my children becomes very hard when we flit here, there and everywhere.  When we have a few 'home' days in a row, we feel organised and relaxed.  I'd much prefer to get heaps of jobs out of the way on one day so we can be home more.

Hence my packed lunches.  If we are going to our near town (twenty minutes by car) I write a list of all the things we need to do.  For example,

• buy butter
• buy shoelaces
• go to bank
• library
• take clothes to op shop (and usually come home with heaps of other stuff from there)
• sewing shop

 More often than not, I can get these jobs done before or after lunch.  Sometimes we treat ourselves to a pie at the bakery.

However, if I need to travel further afield, due to our small town's lack of shopping variety, it becomes a packed lunch affair.

We're due to go to the dentist for a check-up for Buddy.  He usually goes to Melbourne to the Royal Children's Hospital and always goes under general anaesthetic if he needs any work done due to his behaviour in the dental chair.  Actually, we can't even get him into the dental chair.  He insists that he sits on the regular waiting chairs while the dentists check his teeth.  He obviously feels they are not threatening as they are placed there for the non-patients.  I have found a dentist at a rural city near us that is soooo good with children and have decided to take him for regular check-ups to combat his fear of dentists.  I don't want him to have to undergo a major anaesthetic every time he needs a small procedure.

Sooo..... We'll travel for about an hour and visit as many places as we can.  There are orchards nearby so I might see what they're selling.  I'm hoping to source some tomatoes (for preserving) but I'm not really sure which orchards sell them in bulk.  I'll allow time to ask around.  I'll go to look for more school supplies.  I'll go to a camping supply store to see if I can replace the broken lids for a couple of our stainless steel drink bottles.  I'd hate to throw them out.  I'll try and get a new cord for my external hard drive and so on and so on.  Ooooh!  And I think I'll pop in at Spotlight!  Love a massive range of craft stuff.

The children will have food and drink in case we spend a lot of time driving from place to place.  I'll take our devices so they can study in the car, some readers for Buddy in case we have waiting time at the dentist.  Belle will take some craft.  It will be a big and hopefully productive trip with lots of planning and preparation.  Heck, I might even get fancy and iron a shirt for Buddy for the big occasion.  Lol!

Do you go crazy trying to achieve everything on one trip?

Repurposed fruit

We seemed to squeeze so much into the day today without it feeling frantic.  Some days just work better than others!

The children completed some learning, most of which was online.  We use Skwirk and Reading Eggs a lot.  Then it was time to do something the children have been wanting to do for ages.  We brought the bag of doll's clothes outside and set up a laundry complete with tub, washing powder, pegs and a handmade clothes line.  They had a ball!

Buddy and Pumpkin made up some fruit chews made from juice and gelatine.  That's it.  The only ingredients!

Later I found the three children on the couch horse drawn carriage.   We had a driver, princess and a maid.  I love their creative play.  It's interesting to see them all join in the same game, given their different ages and stages.

Then my favourite part of the day......... I found yet another use for preserved fruit that didn't work.  A couple of weeks ago when I finished my preserves I noticed that a couple of jars hadn't sealed.  I'm very new to this preserving business and have a lot to learn.  I think the second hand lids I used weren't up to the job any more.  I emptied the jars of peaches and apricots into a pot, added some plums and stewed it all well.  That night we had a crumble with the mixed fruit.  It was not just ok, it was divine!!

I popped the leftover juice from the stewing pot into a container in the freezer.  Today I blended some of the frozen mix with just a little of our milk and was delighted with the result.  It was like ice cream.  The children were very happy!

Then it was off to the pool for a quick dip and home to make pizza for tea.  I can be quite lazy with food sometimes, encouraging the kids to eat fruit, make sandwiches etc. but I'm sometimes a little bit amazed by the concoctions I come up with when I am in the mood.  Those ruined preserves weren't ruined at all.  They were fruit crumbles and ice cream waiting to be invented!

The clothesline

I'm sitting here on the verandah listening to the sky rumbling in all directions.  Some are just low gentle rumblings, others are angry and threatening.  Two fires have started in the hills to our east.  One is already rated safe and the other, under control.  Our Country Fire Authority do an amazing job.

Tonight I will wait until the sky has quietened before I begin the task of feeding the chooks and geese though I know they're there waiting for me.  Now seems like a good time to take a moment and write a post.

I was hanging out the clothes this morning before the sun was too high in the sky; before it became unbearable.  I looked at the line and realised it tells so much about a family if you know how to read it.  Our line is homemade.  We don't like to buy commercial products that use a lot of unnecessary resources if it can be helped. 

It's huge!  That tells you all about Hubby and his bigger is best theory.  Today I was hanging out many tea towels as I often do.  We don't like using plastic so we drape cooling bread, rising sourdough etc with tea towels.  There are heaps and heaps of cloths (cut from old towels so as to reuse an otherwise out-of-use item).  These are used in cleaning and drying our goats udders at milking time.  There is muslin in which the cheese hung.  Again we reduce packaging and the pollution caused by the transportation of commercial milk and cheese.  There are aprons and old nappies used for cleaning cloths.  There are holes in some of the items because nothing gets thrown away while it still serves it's purpose.

On the second strand of the clothesline there is personal information about the inhabitants here.  There are children's clothes in three different sizes; there are women's clothes and men's clothes.  They are not fancy.  You can probably glean that the occupants of this home are practical and not worried about style.  If your powers of deduction are very well honed you may even pick up that these clothes are not 'whiter than white' not just because they are old and second-hand but because we use homemade detergent (which is effective in cleaning clothes but doesn't have chemical whitening agents) and because buying bleach is something this family doesn't like doing.  I do use it occasionally for cloths I've hung cheese in, or similar, for hygiene purposes but not for appearances sake.  I guess it's a balancing act between deciding what standards we feel are necessary and what damage we are doing to the planet.

There are plenty of commercial and packaged products in this home because we can't do it ALL. Heck, I even buy my favourite commercial cheese occasionally but every little bit we do for ourselves is a reduction in greenhouse gasses.  I know many people who live a similar lifestyle to us and believe that collectively we are making a huge impact on the devastating pollution our country causes each year.

What does your clothes line say about you?  Are you well on your way to reducing pollution and unnecessary wastage?

Monthly nine -- January 2105

Hi there!  January is done and dusted and I'm late with the link-up again!  I have good reason.  Not only is the end of January back to studying time for the kids; it's also the time of year that everything fruity needs to be preserved for the cooler months! 

I'm setting aside some time right now to sit and recap January.  This is a great idea dreamed up by Christine at Slow Living Essentials.  We all get together and list our achievements for the previous month under nine different categories.  Please write your own recount of January and link up or just join in by visiting the other fabulous blogs taking part.

NOURISH: This month has seen us enjoying tomatoes.  I love the daily task of collecting them!  I made my first tomato soup for the season last week.  Delicious!  And oh so easy.

Tomato soup

Melt a generous dob of butter with a dash of olive oil.  Slice an onion or two and saute.  Add heaps of chopped up tomatoes fresh from the garden and simmer until very soft.  Add chicken stock in the right amount to give a nice, soupy but thickly tomatoey consistency together with a teaspoon of sugar, some salt, pepper and a couple of teaspoons of dried basil (or a couple of tablespoons of fresh chopped basil).  Squeeze in a little lemon juice and simmer for five minutes.  This soup is lovely with fresh sour dough bread.

PREPARE: Christmas before last Hubby gave me a preserving kit and I nervously began preserving a few jars. Never did I imagine back then that I would throw myself in preserving in the way I have done this year!  I have made trips to orchards, had preserving days with friends, made jam and taken up a kind offer of plums from a generous local lady.  She purchased a property this year that had HEAPS of different types of plums.  More than she could possibly use.  She put out an offer for people to come pick what they liked.  It was plum heaven!  I have preserved plums, made plum jam and dried some prunes.  In fact, I really should be in there cutting up more right now but there's only so much plum-ing one can do before they need a break.

It's a busy time of year because the fruit won't wait.  I've been juggling the preserving with my determination to start the year teaching my children with some sort of regularity.  Not an easy task but so far I'm feeling on top of things.

REDUCE: I recently had to put a call out for PET bottles for making ginger beer because we don't use purchased soft drink.  I now have heaps put aside for the task.  Sadly I didn't get around to making it in time so I'll need to make up a new plant soon.  Too many damn hats that I'm wearing.

 

I re-used some material to make chair bags for the kids.  I made one of them from a torn sheet and the other from op shopped material.  Only one child had a chair bag last year.  They are invaluable for keeping books close without creating a mess.  Last year we used plastic tubs and they were too bulky for our small home.

GREEN: I tried coconut oil in my hair this month.  I was whinging on a Face Book group about how dry and brittle my hair has become.  I don't wash my hair often and when I do, I use soap that I have made.  I often use cider vinegar as a rinse but it doesn't seem to help much.  Someone recommended trying coconut oil.  I've never used coconut oil before.  It has to travel from Queensland which is an awful long way so I usually find a substitute if a recipe has called for it.  Anyway, I decided to give it a try.  The result wasn't great.  I washed my hair, applied what I thought was a tiny amount and brushed my hair.  It was soooo oily!  I'll persist and see if I can apply even less this time.

GROW: My tomatoes have been great this year.  I prepared the soil really well and have (at great expense) managed to keep the water up to them.  We've been enjoying strawberries but only as a rare treat.  I never have enough at any given time to create desserts or anything else special.  Zucchini was a spectacular fail!  The plants were magnificent.  Best I've ever grown.  That was, sadly, no consolation for me as I eagerly awaited the appearance of zucchinis....  I think we picked about six for the whole month!

CREATE: Apart from the chair bags I have created nothing.  Unless all the things I've been working on in my mind count as the process of creation. ;-)

DISCOVER: I've been enjoying using The River Cottage Preserves Handbook to create new yumminess from all the fruits I've managed to get hold of.  I've made a variation of sloe gin with some damsons I picked.  It will take quite a while before I can report on the results.  It will take about ten week to bottling and the recipe suggests I store it for eighteen months before drinking!

We also learnt about a little bird that came to visit.  We've been calling Belle our butterfly whisperer but I may need to extend it to wild birds as well!  For two days it played around our dairy and Belle was determined to tame it.  We looked it up and Belle tells me it's a juvenile grey fantail. "That's why it's brown."

 

ENHANCE: Together with friends we've bought fruit, shared preserving gear, enjoyed company, initiated WWOOFers into the art of preserving and been the recipients of the generosity of a woman with plums, plums and more plums.  Thank you Jane!!

ENJOY: More than anything I enjoyed friendship in January.  That and the local swimming pool.  The kids and I have just about lived at the pool.  Most Januarys see us take a short break, do some sitting around and I also usually contemplate the coming year.  For some reason it wasn't like that this year and I'm trying to ignore the niggling feeling that I'm beginning the year feeling burnt out before I've begun. It has been all my interactions with friends that has saved me from falling in a heap.  A bit of laughter here, some connecting there, a huge dose of 'yes, I relate to what you're saying', a good measure of working alongside other women and plenty of feeling cared about!  Where would we be without friends?!!

Please join in for our January linking with other friendly bloggers.  Just link below.