Hello everyone. I'm so pleased, and a bit surprised, that so many people have flooded back in here. I've had over 47,000 visitors since Sunday. It's lovely to be here with you again.
This is where I sit to think about life and plan changes in the garden.
Like most of you, I'm suffering with the higher cost of living now. Hanno and I had a good nest egg to fall back on if we needed anything out of the ordinary, however, that has shrunk a lot in the past year. At my age it's very difficult to earn money but I want to do a set of online Zoom workshops to help get me back on track. They will cost $50 each (I want to keep them as cheap as I can) and we'll have 10 people in each 90 minute session. There'll be plenty of time to ask questions and discuss your own circumstances. If you would like to take one of the workshops, I'd like you to comment on what topic/s you'd like to talk about and what days and times you're available. Please note, I can't do workshops in the evening because I'm too tired and you wouldn't get your money's worth. I can do weekends though. So let me know as soon as you can. If no one comments, I'll start with Gardening for beginners and Cutting costs in the home. I'd like to do other topics as well such as Pruning, Watering, Mulching and Compost, Keeping chickens, Seed saving and heirloom seeds, Living alone, Baking, Cooking from scratch, Making laundry liquid/powder and other simple cleaners, Ageing and Living well through each decade. I'm sure there'll be more topics - I have so much I'd like to share with you.
The photos above and below are gardens Hanno and I tended together.
So far this week I've been organising my garden. It hasn't been a good gardening year here because of the humidity. The monsoonal trough up north has been very active and it's cause high humidity and with that comes lots of chewing and sucking insects. I had some bugs here that were chewing through rose buds and the tops of radishes, and there has been a lot of powdery mildew. So I gave up on the weekend - normally I'd start winding down from summer and cleaning up and pruning in early March but I started a month early. I've almost finished the rose pruning and I'm topping up the pots with potting soil and straw mulch this afternoon. Going into autumn there'll be an organised wild garden just growing a few of the vegetables I always eat.
My home care plan has agreed to rebuild the roof of my bush house which I'm delighted with. I'm buying the materials. The floor, walls and shelves are all still in fine form, they were all built by Hanno. 😊 However, over the years I've had three roof repairs and replacement of shade cloth. That's where the problem lies now. The repairs were disorganised and casual and I've been lucky not to have been clonked on the head by falling timbers. When that's set up properly again, they'll be no stopping me.
In the meantime, over the weekend, I'll be planting six borage seeds, two Lebanese zucchini seeds, Long White Icicle radish, lettuce, a mix of miniature heirloom tomatoes, Lebanese cucumber and Rainbow Chard. These are the vegetables I use frequently and it cuts costs if I buy good seeds and grow them myself. I have enough seeds in most of the packs to do multiple plantings.
I try to sound very relaxed about the garden but the truth is I'm obsessed. I love gardening and it's the one task I do every day. But I see that as a good thing because I need to keep moving at my age. I'm not going to spend time on the computer or watch TV when there is fulfilling work to be done in the garden. I reckon not looking at life through a screen of some kind, being outside and getting my hands dirty, is a good way to live.
🌿 🌾 🪴
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25 Comments
How lovely to have you back again Rhonda, I only found out because Donna mentioned you were back. I enjoy the wisdom in both your accounts. It has been so terribly hot that most of the garden is dying back but I hope to get some veg in next month, we have time before the first frost for another crop. Take care from Judi.
ReplyDeleteHi Rhonda . Lovely to see you back . I love a blog best . I’m also busy following G Donna and it was great to read about your friendship . Hasn’t it been a different year climate wise . We’ve also noticed real differences in our garden . Love to you and Gracie - Jacky L
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad your blog is back - I truly love it!
ReplyDeleteLike the previous two commenters, I heard about your return via G Donna. Yours was the first blog that I started with when I began my debt reduction/frugal living journey. That was over 15 years ago (!!). I'm now totally debt free and living on a very small private pension in the UK. I won't qualify for my Government pension for another 5+ years so every single penny has to be glared at, atm!
ReplyDeleteI learned an awful lot from your blog ( it was much, much later that I discovered G Donna's blog), and I'm thrilled that you've returned to blogging.
Very much looking forward to reading your future posts- they are like an oasis of tranquility and reassuring sensibility in an otherwise frenetic and worrying modern life.
Bright Blessings
Sheryl
Hello Rhonda, I found you about 10 years about when my two daughters were very little. Somehow I lost you as life got busy but the other day your name popped into my head and I’m back! I’ve been feeling the urge to simplify and focus on home more and more so I’m loving going through your new and older posts and looking into ordering your books too. It still feels quite against the grain to want to live like this but I want to embrace it and coming here for information and advice is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHolly, UK xx
Welcome back Rhonda I am so glad you have returned as you are such an informative inspiration. I am looking forward to reading all the links again. Living in the outer suburbs of Melbourne the pace of rush rush has caught up with us and I crave and thoroughly enjoy so many of the slow living and thoroughly fulfilling ways to be productive in the day to day life and particularly being cost effective. We are hot and dry with well below average rainfall and it is a daily struggle to keep the garden flourishing and the beautiful wildlife cared for. I look forward to all your pearls of wisdom to give me added purpose and continued enjoyment of what I term as my small and satisfying chosen lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteHi Rhonda! I always enjoy finding a new post to read in your blog. I am interested in attending one of your workshops so long as the time is reasonable for me, I am based in Alberta Canada so there would be a big time difference. I am in my mid 30s and a new mom and I still find your posts and content very interesting. Obviously I am in a different life stage, but simplifying things still appeals to me greatly and I would like to focus more on that. I would be interested in gardening for beginners, cutting costs (for my life stage), and establishing efficient routines and decluttering while working part time with a young family. I would probably be interested in other topics too though. Thank you for sharing your life with all of us, I really admire the way you’ve chosen to live your life even as you’ve gotten older. Seeing how my parents are not aging well and not taking care of their home/themselves makes me nervous to get older, but when I see people such as yourself who are doing things they love every day I feel much better ☺️
ReplyDeleteYour name will be the first on my workshop list, thank you. Don't be nervous about growing older, if you know what to expect, if you don't fall ill along the way and if you're prepared to work in your home, like me, you can sail through it and enjoy life. I've just started taking notes and thinking about an ageing post. It will be up during February but I have no idea when.
DeleteThank you!
DeleteWelcome back, thrilled to see you here! I’ve been a reader from the very beginning. In today’s world, being down to earth is what we need. Looking forward to more.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly how my mother spent many of her days - hands at work in the garden when the weather allowed, hands busy sewing or crocheting when it did not. Never an idle moment and she would tell me that she slept soundly. She might have the TV on, but just to provide some noise in the background. After raising 8 kids, she was used to a certain level of that!
ReplyDeleteI have always loved gardening here in the south of England.. from an early age taught by my dad. Sometimes I have lived with very little outside space to grow and not much time either but have always had salad and sweet peas !
ReplyDeleteI am now 70 and live in supported housing , I have pots and pots of flowers outside my flat . Some of the other residents have started helping and everyone appreciates and admires the summer show .. tomatoes too .
My pride and joy though is my allotment.. five minute walk from my home . I grow so much of my food in deep beds , no dig spaces . My children have helped me set up and made it easy to keep . I have a shed and greenhouse there . Just wanted to say I fully understand your need to grow veggies and flowers and fruit . It’s something deep inside us .. we have to garden !
So happy to see you back!
ReplyDeleteIts so wonderful to have you back in blogland again Rhonda. I am going to pull your books out this weekend as I want to try my hand at soap making again very soon. Thank you so much for all that you share.
ReplyDeleteSo good to see you back Rhonda. I was here in the wee hours this morning, nabbing your five minute bread recipe and came back now to find the baking instructions. Didn't see the new posts but did see the title change for the Not the last post. What is weird is that the link to your blog has completely disappeared from my bookmark bar, it was there at 2 am but not now.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what happened there. I have no contact with your blog, you initiate downloads and you do that from Blogger. I changed the Not the last post title a few days ago, maybe Wednesday. Anyhow I hope you don't have too much of a problem with it and you reinstate my link to your bookmarks. The internet is a very weird place. 😬
DeleteHi Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteAs so many others have said, it was such a wonderful surprise to see that you're back!! Thank you for re-starting your blog, which is such a treat for so many of us.
I'm also very happy that you are planning some online classes, and I would love to attend your class on Baking. I should probably also do the first one (on Pruning, Watering etc) as our garden would love me to be much better at watering. I can't see any mulching being done at our place though because in my part of Sydney the brush turkeys think that mulch is a gift for them!
Thanks,
Colette
Thanks Colette. I'll be in touch about the workshop when I have more people.
DeleteHi Rhonda. If you do a workshop on preserving at some point, I'd like to put my name down for that, please. Good to see you back, Lisa. lisa.powick@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks Lisa. I'll add you to the list and be in touch when I have more people.
DeleteHello Rhonda,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're back! I read the news on GDonna's blog.
Now I'll remove the word "inactive" from the link to your blog on my blog.
It's wonderful that you and Gracie are doing well!
We in Germany are waiting for spring, and I'm waiting for the time when I can get back into the garden. There's still a bit of snow here at the moment. Have you ever tried gardening in winter? It's almost more enjoyable than in summer because—at least where I live—there are fewer pests, and it's not so hot and dry. It's fun to dig up Swiss chard from under the fleece covering it.
Warmest regards from Germany, Sibylle
Hi Sibylle. I can garden all year where I live but this year has been a bad one for insects so I pruned the roses and tidied up early. My main planting and gardening time is autumn, winter and spring.
DeleteThanks for your reply. It seems every climate zone has its challenges.
DeleteHere, it's the really noticeable warming and the many new (introduced) insects. We have to adapt and learn from Southern Europe.
So happy to see you back to blogging! I don't comment often but have enjoyed your blog for many years and find your quiet and simple way of life inspiring. Still raising kids (though now down to two teens at home) but implementing when and where I can.
ReplyDeleteHi Rhonda, just read the good News in GDonna's blog. So happy you are back! Best wishes from Hamburg
ReplyDeleteI welcome readers' comments. However, this blog never publishes business links or advertisements. If you're operating a business and want to leave your link here, I will delete your comment .