Home made

I often write about being a homemaker and the satisfaction I gain from that role. I enjoy being here and making my home a place of comfort and regeneration. I know that if I feel weak and fragile when I'm out and about, that feeling will disappear as soon as I return home. There is a feeling of peace and tranquility here, I feel secure and protected and that all things are possible when I'm at home.

There was a time when I didn't want to be here at all. Before I married, I was either at work or "out" somewhere. Home was merely a place to sleep, bathe and change clothes. For me then, the real action and excitement was far from home. I barely remember that stranger in my past. I live with a softer heart now, I feel that my home made me a better person.

I wonder sometimes if a home has the ability to nurture; surely that is a human quality. But when I think back on how I have changed by being here in my home, I feel there may have been a lot of nurturing going on - while I was homemaking, my home was making me.

The nights are colder here now so we have flannel sheets on the bed. I changed from cool cotton sheets to our cosy flannel ones at the beginning of the week. It's so warm and comfortable in our bed. It's been raining for a few nights and being there, wrapped in our flannel sheets and quilts, listening to the rain, has been a true joy. It is those humble but conscious actions of my days - like changing to warm sheets, that add in small ways to the nurturing I feel.

As I go about my daily chores, as I make the bed and run my hand over the sheets to smooth them out, as I change the sheets to replace them with sun dried clean ones and make sure the bed is just right, I know that those small actions help give us a good night's sleep and make us feel warm and secure while we listen, half awake, to rain falling on the roof. None of those small actions is important on its own but they add up to more than the sum of their parts. Each small step, like the small steps of a simple life, lead to something better.

All the tasks Hanno and I carry out during the course of each day help us in our quest for self reliance. He tends the gardens and does most of the outside work, while I cook and clean and make as much of what we use as I can. When I taught myself how to bake bread and make soap, I knew I would be better for it because it was a healthier alternative to most store bought products, but I didn't know carrying out those tasks would change me. Every day I make our bread I know I'm making a significant contribution to our health, while reducing the costs of feeding us. Every time I make soap, I know I am making a product that replaces shampoo, moisturiser and general cleaning products. Making those two items helps us live with fewer chemicals and helps me focus on our priorities. And every time I make them, they make me.

So as I look in my cook books for new recipes, as I cook our meals with backyard produce, as I sew and knit, while we sip tea and talk on the front verandah, as I make crumpets in the shape of hearts (just because I can), as I harvest and skin luffas, when I sow seeds, and feed the chooks and watch birds and sweep and wash up, I don't feel it happening but at times, like now when I think about it, I know that being here and doing all these things made me the woman I am today. I know now that the tasks of a simple home make us.

And I am more than grateful that I have the ability to write about our home life and that doing it connects me to you. I get up early to write my blog so it doesn't impact too much on my day. I have a lot to do most days so I try to get the blog written before I start my daily tasks. Writing here has given me a reason to reflect on what we do and, no doubt, helps me stay focused on living this way. I feel encouraged knowing there are many others living as we do, working towards a better life every day. Thank you for your comments this week. It is a pleasure to read them. Welcome to all the new readers. I am slowly visiting the blogs who left links and replying to emails sent. Please me patient with me, it takes time but I get there in the end.