It looks like I live a traditional, old-fashioned life and yet I believe my lifestyle is revolutionary and rebellious. Yes, I bake bread and cakes, preserve food in jars and cook all my meals from scratch. I happily live a thrifty life, I never follow fashion - either in clothes or opinions, I don't draw electricity from the grid, my water usage is estimated by the water company as being that of half a person (!), I drive less than 1500 km a year and I haven't been on a plane since the 1990s. I live on less than $30,000 a year and am thankful to save about $100 a week of that. I don't have a credit card but I do buy books, fabrics, including lots of linen, hobby supplies, toys for Gracie and anything else I need or want, and I do that with cash.
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This is my square loaf but I didn't put enough dough in the tin for it to rise into a square. Oops.
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I might be doing the work that was done by housewives in the past but I have different reasons for doing my work and a lot of it is focused on the environment, the cost of living, slowing down and wanting to live a peaceful, happy life. But none of that just happens automatically, it takes a plan, hard work and determination, and it comes in stages.
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Doing housework makes you feel better and I know that because often when faced with a job I don't want to do - mopping the floors and cleaning the cupboard under the kitchen sink come to mind - I make sure I do the best job I can because when I finish, I feel fantastic. And when I clean under the kitchen sink, I keep going back to admire my work. 🙄
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During the week, I picked 25 chillies from the herb garden for Sunny and family. Sunny chomps away on chillies like they're apples. I have two small chilli circle slices in my entire dish.
Yesterday was the second anniversary of Hanno's death. I thought of him more than usual, some visitors came to my home and there were a few phone calls. Of course I think of him every day but it’s not in the context of grief but rather affectionate memories of our life together and how we built a better life for ourselves that involved working sustainably rather than focusing on money.
Grandma Donna and I have been continuing with our talks and last week we discussed soaking flour. I'll talk about that when I understand it more and teach myself to use it in my baking. I love talking to Donna, she says I have an accent, which of course I don't but I love listening to her southern American accent. We have so much in common, it's like having a sister that I've never met on the other side of the world. Life is made richer with genuine friendships - I hope your life is enriched by them too.
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Here are Pip and Gracie getting to know each other.
I also spent time with another dear friend, Nicole Lutze. She brought her puppy Pip with her so both Gracie and I were delighted. For morning tea I baked a decadent French Apple Cake with no milk or buttermilk but with double the butter. It was delicious. I made sure I sent half of it home with Nicole so I wasn't tempted to eat the whole thing.
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When I make bread, I usually take off a small piece of dough and freeze it for pizza. This is the pizza I made this week.
My work today will involve reorganising the freezer and cleaning the fridge, clipping Gracie, tidying the back verandah and moving a few more things from the front verandah to the back. Yesterday I made Gracie's food for the next couple of weeks, beef, barley and vegetable soup for my meals for the next few days; I also pruned all the plants on the front verandah. It's a good time to do that - the plants don't grow much over winter and it gives them the chance to rest and then they're ready to burst into new life in spring. If you wait until spring to prune, the plants will have to recover from the pruning before they put on new growth. So with all that under my belt, when I finish this post to you, I'll be sewing for the rest of the day. I haven't had a chance to sew for ages. It's mainly mending and creating a few bits and pieces for my home. I want to make a little curtain for the inside of the front door, I need to finish off some aprons I have cut out and I want to make a new cover for Gracie's bed. What are you doing today?
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Chinese style chicken with pak choy.
I got my flu vaccination last week. The first time I went for it, I had to postpone because someone I had close contact with got Covid. I've never had Covid and I don't want to get the flu or RSV either so I'm careful about where I go and cleaning my hands as often as I can while I'm out. I doubt that will change in the future because new viruses seem to be present in the community every so often.
I hope you're well and not caught up in the rough weather that seems to be happening all over the place. Have a great weekend and spend some time with the people you love. Thank you for your visits and to everyone who comments, thank you, I love knowing what you're doing and I love reading them.
ADDITIONAL READING AND VIEWING
Small order of monks living hidden lives in South Canterbury hills (New Zealand)
Top 10 Dogs of the Week
Rhonda so much of your life and writing stems from your clarity around how you wanted to live your life, and what is important to you. Then you knew what you had to do to achieve that. But in this busy world it seems so hard to have that same clarity of vision and to be able to differentiate the 'noise' from what truly matters. Do you have any advice on how to find the right path? Thank you
ReplyDeleteOne of the sentences I wrote in the post was: "But none of that just happens automatically, it takes a plan, hard work and determination, and it comes in stages." That's the gist of it. Identify what stage you're at, for instance: just married, no kids, middle aged with kids, pre-retirement, in retirement, and then work out what debt you have. Try to pay off all your debt before you retire. If you have debt, that's where you start - start paying more on your mortgage, try to get rid of your credit cards, shop wisely, buy needs NOT wants. I've said before that money doesn't matter - but debt does. Try to pay off all your debts asap. At any stage you can do small things like menu plan, cook from scratch starting one night a.week, make your own cleaners etc. Challenge yourself - such as I'm going to cut 25% from my grocery bill or I'm going to stop recreational shopping and only buy what I really NEED. Use the money you save to pay off debt. Also, and this is important, recognise happiness when you see it or feel it. Happiness won't be delivered to you in a huge box, it's always small things that you recognise along the way and appreciate, and then remember. Small steps all the way, don't do too much at one time, take it slow, make the commitment to yourself and keep the end prize in your mind. It's all possible, I am proof of it.
DeleteI absolutely love hearing about your days, I try to live as frugally and eco-friendly as possible but I'm so impressed that you don't use the grid. We're in the throws of gardening here in the southern US. All the rain has caused it to struggle but I've been harvesting blackberries, herbs and some pretty spicy jalapenos (We love 'em!) Today I made a loaf of chunky apple bread for our daughter, she's expecting our newest grandbaby any time. ~TxH~
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like things are going really well at your place. Let us know when the baby arrives. xx
DeleteSounds like a lovely ordinary week and how true, it feels good to have one’s house in order. We have our son, his partner & 15 month old granddaughter staying with us whilst renovations are being done at their home ~ having a little one with us brings back so many memories of when our 2 children were tiny. Melbourne is enjoying beautiful sunny days, making the most of the sunshine before the grey skies & rain come later in the week. ~ Jenny M
ReplyDeleteJenny, Kerry, Sunny. and Jamie stayed with us for a few months when their house was being built. I loved it. Enjoy the sunny weather. xx
DeleteI really enjoyed your post - as usual Rhonda. Your decadent cake sounds lovely. I’ve been making rosella jam. I think I only planted 4 seedlings initially and I pulled one out several weeks ago as it fell over but I’ve had a huge harvest this year and they just keep coming. I freeze them until I have time to do something with them. Lots of passionfruit and bananas waiting to ripen here and I’ve been transplanting self seeded lettuce. I’ve got a puppy I called Pippi - the same colour as Pip in your photo. I’ll spend the rest of the day doing some washing and cleaning , menu planning, maybe I’ll make some banana bread if I have time as I have a stack of frozen banana. Katie
ReplyDeleteKatie, we used to grow rosellas and I always had a couple of bags frozen. I have bananas in there at the moment. I've just put a load of washing on, cardigans that I need to get ready for winter. Enjoy your garden, It sounds lovely. xx
DeleteSo happy to see a new post from you! Just last night I read a post by Grandma Donna regarding soaking the flour. Looking forward to what you learn about it. It is late spring here in CT and trying to finish up planting the garden in between rainy days. All my herbs are up and looking really good. Garlic will be ready to harvest in early July and is looking like it needs some fertilizer. Wax beans planted and looking good. Perpetual spinach and climbing spinach planted and coming along as are my peas. Still much to plant and tidy but I love it so much. Hope you relax and enjoy your sewing projects❤️
ReplyDeleteI love the sound of your garden, they are all things we used to grow in winter here. There's nothing better than eating fresh peas in the garden. xx
DeleteThank you for all your wise comments. I am in my early 80's and still cook from scratch and can a lot of food. I also have a small garden on my patio in grow boxes. We are just ending spring and going into summer. Had a hard rain storm today and a little hail, but all my tomatoes survived! Keep the comments and information coming, you are an inspiration to me.
ReplyDeleteZee, you inspire me. I love know there are other older folk out there who've kept going, albeit slowly, as the years go on. I'm glad your tomatoes survived. xx
DeleteHi Rhonda, I hope Gracie enjoyed the visit from the cute little dog. It is cool here as you can imagine and I have lots of pink and red poppies growing plus foxgloves and hollyhocks so the garden should look nice in spring time. The freesias have also popped up everywhere but I think it is too hot to grow them in Landsborough. It is lovely to see you are blogging once again.
ReplyDeleteHi Chel, so nice to hear from you. We can't grow any bulbs here, nor hollyhocks, but I have foxgloves coming out my ears. Lucky they're my favourite flower. Take care. xx
DeleteRhonda, I re-read your books every year and gosh, I want to make a point to not miss any of your blog posts because they’re such gems! My oldest son just finished treatment for leukemia at the end of 2023 and I finally feel like I have the bandwidth to make some real effort and progress, they’re so much that can be improved upon and simplified. 💚
ReplyDeleteThat's such good news about your son. Please pass on my best wishes to him. Both my sons have had melanoma - all these things are frightening and traumatic because you don't know where they're heading. I'm glad there are a lot of happy endings. xx
DeleteHi Rhonda, thank you for your wise and warm prescence via the internet!
ReplyDeleteToday I have been roasting a chicken which will give us beautiful stock for soup, the basis of chicken and vegetable pies, and a lovely chicken and chickpea curry. Made some meatballs to freeze for my niece who is expecting a baby any day, and I'm making a couple of half-sized loaves for Mum, who lives on her own since we lost Dad five years ago. I'm also taking time to do some yoga.
(Thanks for the reminder to drink water!)
My husband and daughter are out fishing so I'll do a bit of tidying and cleaning while I have the house to mysef.
We will visit Mum later, as it's her birthday.
Here in South East NSW it's a sunny, if cool day. I feel Iike I'm having a perfect Sunday! Hope you are too.
Best wishes from Kellie
I'd like to be in your kitchen, Kellie. It sounds lovely. I'd like to be out fishing too. I wonder if they'll catch anything.
DeleteSounds like a beautiful life to me! I always enjoy your posts.
ReplyDeleteI had to smile, reading about your habit of going back to admire what you have accomplished. You are definitely kindred spirit! I’m cleaning and reappearing shelves right now, and the reward is opening the cupboards now and then just to take a peek inside those spotless and organized kitchen cabinets.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been seeding pole beans in the garden. We just got the tomatoes in, but rainy weather here in Washington State has kept us puttering inside the house, thus those clean kitchen shelves. Love your messages. Thanks for your wisdom!
Espero con mucho interés tus post. Admiro tu forma de ver la vida . Me encantarÃa haberte conocido en persona. Eres adorable. Me inspiras tanta serenidad.!!!!
ReplyDeleteThinking of you and remembering your lovely Hanno. Jenny
ReplyDeleteSeeing those thick cut slices of bread made my mouth water, but sadly I need to lose weight so not possible for me to have that at this moment in time. I too go back to admire my own work when I've done a particular cleaning job, its such a satisfying's feeling.. Every Blessing for you as you remember your lovely Hanno. xx
ReplyDeleteBeautiful ❤️
ReplyDeleteThank you for another lovely post Rhonda. I know what you mean about admiring your work, I tidied my linen cupboard recently and keep feeling very pleased with myself each time I need a new towel from the cupboard 😂 not sure how long it will stay tidy...
ReplyDeleteI spent the weekend doing housework and being in the garden. 3 hours raking leaves was very arduous but great exercise. I feel much more settled when I have a weekend at home getting everything in order for the new week of work/school for my son and I. You made me laugh with the comment about using the same amount of water as half a person haha!!!
Thank you once again. I am checking in from Montgomery Texas again. My son turned 17 two weeks ago. I’ve been following this blog since he was an infant. I am reading the first book again and starting to think about and make plans for what lifestyle I want to have after my two sons move out of home. I am planning to move to regional and rural Victoria (Australia), If I can manage it I’d like to go somewhere near Mt Arapiles, and walk on some of the roads my ancestral grandmothers walked on, some are buried in cemeteries around Horsham, Natimuk and nearby. Your blog inspires me. Something that’s a challenge is that my husband has different dreams and aspirations for what our life will look like when our sons move out of home and he expects that I will fall in line as I have over the past 20 years in his steps. Not sure how to navigate this without disharmony. Anyhow … hello everyone, hello Rhonda.
ReplyDelete”I make sure I do the best job I can because when I finish, I feel fantastic.”
ReplyDeleteTaking the time and effort to do a good job and taking pride in one’s work is so important. I think that this frame of mind turns what could be drudgery into art—the art of creating a peaceful and nurturing home.
Dear Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteWe’ve just had a thunderstorm go through and am sitting on the back porch enjoying the quiet. I’ve read your books, actually re-reading one now. Love your blogs, so glad you are writing again! I’m retired 4 years now, and love every minute of being home. We grow a lot of our food and live a nice slow life now. I’ve had muscle issues (torn rotator cuff) and was so worried I would no longer be able to garden. However, we found a wonderful young man (16) just down the street who has been a Godsend to us. He does the heavy lifting, digging, clearing which has enabled us to continue gardening. I’ve learned a valuable lesson—don’t be afraid to ask (pay) for help when needed! So much love your way on this important anniversary and remembrance of Hanno ♥️
You remind me not to be so lazy, lol, thank you!
ReplyDeleteAnd I enjoyed reading that article you shared about "relevance deprivation syndrome".
I just discovered your blog (seeing it listed on Out My Window); something told me "click on that one." Very grateful I did! I am just starting to read some of your posts: love your writing, love even more your mindset and attitude on simple living and other topics near and dear to my heart.
ReplyDeleteHi Rhonda. That pizza pic made my mouth water! You are prepping your garden for winter and our strawberries are just beginning! Today I spent time weeding my flowerbed. It was unpleasant because of the no-see-ums. For something so tiny they have a nasty bite. They aren't around for long. They must be good food for other species but they are annoying. I am already thinking about next year's garden and how I can make more room for our granddaughter to play. I kind of regret where I planted my blueberry bushes now, but they are doing so well that it really was the best location. This will be our first harvest and the child for whom they were planted is just about old enough to pick them and the strawberries too. One bush is just loaded with berries! Last year as a baby, she loved the strawberries and the cherry tomatoes. I am happy to provide clean, pesticide-free and Apeel-free food for her. Next year I am going to add an apple tree and keep it pruned small so I can handle it. That should be fun, and there will be apple blossoms to enjoy! and no oily coating on the apples. Sorry this is so long. Hope you found this interesting as I find your blog interesting. Dee in New York State
ReplyDeleteRhonda, I always enjoy your posts. They motivate me to keep going in my own home and to continue to find ways to bring beauty and meaning to every day mundane tasks. Thank you for your faithfulness is writing and sharing bits of your life.
ReplyDeleteDear Rhonda, I am so happy you are blogging again. I am 55 now and have read your blog since around 2005-8 ish… and I am not one for commenting often, I apologize, but I haven’t had much to say: until now :-)
ReplyDeleteFirstly, thank you for all the years of blogging and for your lovely books. I have ordered the one I am missing.
I am reading on p. 15 of Down to Earth about how simple living is making do with what one has, including the location. Bloom where one is planted, vs grass being greener on the other side. I have moved often enough to know the grass is often weedy or withers under scorching pressures etc…. but the thought struck me that this is a chance for enormous creativity. And I loved that idea…. I am 55 and often wish this or that, but no, now I am going to look at things with an eye to finding the creative way towards simplicity where I am now & grow from there.
So thank you…. and also thank you for speaking openly about aging. Wishing you the best ❤️Lynne from Norway
Nicole's Puppy is so cute isn't it. Gosh 2 years since Hanno passed, I find the week leading up to an anniversary like this is harder than the actual day. I can't remember if you posted your latest bread recipe for your square loaf or not. Today it was a bit rainy in Brisbane so I whipped up Turkish Bread which my son and I have eaten all afternoon so we aren't really hungry tonight. It's such a quick recipe, mix one hour to prove, then divide by two rest for 15 mins, add the egg/olive oil wash and sesame and nigella seeds and into the oven for 10 mins....so easy and delicious. It always amazes me that bread is just flour, water and yeast [or my sourdough starter]. Hope you have a good week. Kathy A, Brisbane
ReplyDeleteHello from Texas...Your blog posts are soothing to me - almost like reading a letter from my mother, though I am sure you are no where close in age to her. I do the same thing when I clean something up, organizing and purging. last week I kept going to the garage to admire all the progress I've made and pat myself on the back, ha! The pizza looks really good, btw.
ReplyDeleteYour posts always inspire me Rhonda, but that first sentence today is especially encouraging. Living a simple life is an act of rebellion against societal norms and, I believe, offers a way of life that is filled with meaning and purpose.
ReplyDeleteToday I will be painting of a room that I use as a study. I was thinking how this is a task that I have previously paid someone else to do but now that I'm not working I can do it myself which is much more rewarding. I also have some pancakes to make from my sourdough starter, bread to make and I will watch my daughter play netball. She's 22 but I still love to go and watch her play!
I've been following Grandma Donna for a while now since you spoke about her and I love reading her posts as well. I can imagine that you are very similar souls. Carolyn 💚
Hi Rhonda. You sound busy and happy. That pizza looks delicious! Glad to hear that you are still doing so well financially, on your own. All the things you teach make such a difference in retirement. Today I did some vacuuming and polished the furniture with Old English oil. I need to cut back the Periwinkle. I love Grandma Donna, too. You two must be soulmates.
ReplyDeleteIt Sunday and my day to catch up on reading. Thank you for such a gentle inspiring post, I love reading of the real day to day things that make life so rich and beautiful. Today I have slowly made my way through my home care tasks - changing and washing sheets, sharpen my knives, sort a pantry shelf, menu plan and write out a shopping list. All interspersed with quiet breaks for a cups of tea and a little reading or YouTube vlogs of other homemakers for inspiration. Have a lovely week to come. Leiani in Perth
ReplyDeleteA bit off topic but I would like your dog food recipe. I believe I saw that at one point but can't find it now. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWhat did you type in for your search? If you type in "Homemade Dog Food" the link will take you to it. https://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/2019/04/homemade-dog-food.html
DeleteI love reading your posts Rhoda, I have done so for many, many, many years! Recently I’ve been caught up in the busyness of life (also running in circles!) So I’ve come over to your blog to read and slow down again. You helped me many years ago, such valuable advice that I followed and allowed our family to slow down and have me at home to support them, it’s so enriching and heartwarming to watch your family blossom. My husband says, they can’t blossom without me and that makes me feel good and I enjoy what I do and I get a lot out of it. Like you, it may look old fashioned but I feel it’s revolutionary! One of the things I especially love about your blog are all the comments, I take the time to read them all, such a wonderful internet family you have around you.
ReplyDeleteOff to read another post now 😊