down to earth

I've been wanting to review our financial situation for a while now and when the Brexit referendum came up with a surprise "leave" result last week, I knew I had to start. Of course no one knows yet what sort of changes this vote will bring. The only certainty is that there will be change. I hope for the sake of all my UK and European friends that the changes won't be too drastic or drawn out. Whenever there is uncertainty in the world and it looks like there may be hard times ahead, the first thing I do it make sure my own house is in order. If I know I'm doing all I can do, if our budget is solid and we're prepared for anything, I know we have a good chance of getting through it.

Over the weekend I spent time looking at our financial situation. I went through all our contracts and accounts so I know exactly where we stand and if there is any way we can improve what we're doing. Wasting money at any time is unwise, to do it now is stupid. I also looked at our stockpile and garden and worked out how we could cut back if we need to. One thing is for sure, the less we rely of others to live the life we want to live, the better. Being self-reliant in a connected community is the best way to move forward and provide for yourself. That is true all the time, not just in times of crisis and change.

Above are two elderberry bushes I propagated to give away along with an edible cranberry hibiscus and a Grumichama cherry that Morag gave me.

I've been wanting to look at my food shopping for a long time. I think we're doing okay but I can't be certain until I check. So I'm in the process of making up a price book which is something I did very early on in my simple life. I expect that price book will help me as much now as it did back then. I've kept my shopping dockets from the past month so I know the current prices of all the groceries we buy regularly. There are apps you can use on your phone to do this too, but I can't be bothered keying in all the info and for me, paper works best for this. In the coming weeks, I'll be using that price book when I menu plan and make up my shopping list and I'll take it with me when I shop. It should help me not to over pay for anything on my list.

I'll add a few more cheap and easy meat-free meals to my rotation. Dropping meat from the menu is an easy way to save money; we usually eat too much meat anyway. The protein we eat doesn't have to be animal protein, it can easily be plant-based protein so finding new recipes will add variety to what I serve in the coming months. I'll continue to shop for what is in season because it's usually at it peak flavour and cheaper. 23 meals to cook when you're broke

I often cook from our garden so I've also taken the time to look at how that will function. We have a productive vegetable garden now but I want that to continue right through to the end of the year so we increase the amount of vegetables we eat but don't buy as many. There are a couple of things I want to add to the garden but mainly we have to successfully follow up the greens, beans, herbs and salad vegetables that we're currently growing so there are no gaps in the supply. Succession planting has always been a hit and miss affair for me but I'll focus on it now and plan more carefully.

We don't have any financial problems right now. We've been systematically replacing appliances with good quality energy saving models for the past few years. That has set us up well for the future and has helped reduce our electricity costs significantly. Our home maintenance is very good, we have a near new car, we don't need new clothes or shoes at the moment. I do need to work on gifts, make soap and continue to cook from scratch, make our cleaning products, mend clothes and sew household linens when we need them instead of buying them. I'll continue to compost and recycle and we'll try to cut back on our consumption of electricity, gas and water, not just because it's expensive to waste those resources but because it's something we should all be doing.

And what if all this is for naught? What if nothing dire happens in the UK and Europe and we sale into the future with no ripples to tip our boats over? Well, then all this will be for our own peace of mind and to address the increasingly desperate problem of our environment. That's something we all need to do, starting yesterday. I wonder what your immediate plans are and if they've been influenced by the vote. I'd love to know what you will do, maybe I'll pick up a few things that will help us here.

What a few days we've had. Everything was going well with the bathroom renovation until the waterproofers arrived and applied a coat of whatever it is they use. They came back the following day for another coat. That stopped us sleeping in our bed for the next few nights. The smell was overpowering and gave me asthma. Not much housework as been done this week. I've spent a fair bit of time outside, had morning tea with Morag and her daughter in the garden on Friday and I have stayed away from the bathroom-end of the house. Today the floor will be levelled with some sort of liquid gloop and when that dries - possibly in two days with all this rain we have at the moment, then the tiles can be laid and the new fixtures and fittings installed. We're looking at the end of the week at the earliest for it to be completed.

And here I was thinking it's only a bathroom, it will take a couple of days.

There has been rain on and off all week and yesterday a lot of rain fell over the east coast of Queensland. It's surprising because winter rain is unusual here in our state. It looks like it's broken the drought in some places out west, so that's a great outcome for the farmers and rural communities.

We had Jamie here over the weekend which is always a pleasure. We made cupcakes and he played with his Legos, making some magical aircrafts and all sorts of spectacular "people". There wasn't much time outside because of the weather but he brought his Lego Movie with him so that DVD saved the day.

Viola tricolour - Love-in-Idleness.

Even though the house has been turned upside-down, outside it's a different story. Outside has a power all its own. I've never had much control out there where nature reigns with a strong and steady hand. Roses are flowering, sweet peas are climbing, I've planted some love-in-idleness aka Viola tricolour, and iris seedlings are sitting on our rain-soaked table waiting their turn to be planted. Tricia collected an iris seedpod for me when she was out walking last year and these seedings are the results of those seeds. I'll be planting them in with the vegetables to bring in the bees and give me something wonderful to look at and care for. One thing is for certain, with this rain and our overflowing tanks, everything is growing well and we're harvesting every day to eat and share.

I'm looking forward to getting back into a small part of my routine this week. It won't be the full production but small elements will slip back into place for me when I make soap, declutter and organise the front verandah. There's no rush to do anything, I'll take my time and enjoy the process of reconnection and the discipline of daily life.

I love this quote from the book Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair that I've ordered from Book Depository:

Here’s the true secret of life: We mostly do everything over and over. In the morning, we let the dogs out, make coffee, read the paper, help whoever is around get ready for the day. We do our work. In the afternoon, if we have left, we come home, put down our keys and satchels, let the dogs out, take off constrictive clothing, make a drink or put water on for tea, toast the leftover bit of scone. I love ritual and repetition. Without them, I would be a balloon with a slow leak.

and this:

People like to say that it - significance, import - is all about the family. But lots of people do not have rich networks of hilarious uncles and adorable cousins, who all live nearby, to help them. Many people have truly awful families: insane, abusive, repressive. So we work hard, we enjoy life as we can, we endure. We try to help ourselves and one another. We try to be more present and less petty. Some days go better than others. We look for solace in nature and art and maybe, if we are lucky, the quiet satisfaction of our homes.

I think I'll love this book. It will remind me to think about "the quiet satisfaction" as it unfolds, to look for meaning and appreciate things that make ordinary days at home so significant and enriching. Life is not about toil to me, it's not the main point of every day. I love to work and do my fair share but I want to enjoy every day and appreciate the beauty lurking in my home too. Finding those beautiful gems in a home I've live in for almost 20 years can be tough sometimes but it's not impossible. And when I do something I'll remember forever or when I increase my knowledge of my environment or myself, when I cook a great meal, drink our fresh orange juice, eat a crisp pea straight from the vine, follow a pattern until the end, or when I sit breathing fresh air deeply that, my friends, is something that helps me appreciate what is and keeps me going until the next time.

I feels quite liberating and exciting to wake after a good night's sleep knowing I have the entire day, week, year with no commitments other than those needed to take care of my family and run my home. Ideas come to mind, I decide to make a list of projects I've put off because now I have the luxury of time to do whatever I want. My needs and ambitions are simple though and all my current plans involve home projects and fluffing our nest. I'm so grateful to be at this point and I'm happy to be able to share it with you.

The evolution of our bathroom. The story continues ...

The house is chaotic today because we have workmen here demolishing our old bathroom and making way for the new. The sound of their work belies the true nature of our calm home but I know there is a time for everything and out of this busyness will come a bathroom that will serve us well for many years. Soon the noise will stop, making way for quietness to return and be part of our days once again. But for now our bedroom is swathed in old sheets and there are towels on the floor to keep the renovation dust under control. I'm staying out of there too because of my asthma. I just creep in there for quick photos.

A basket of vegetables for Sunny and Kerry.

One of our sons has been staying with us for a few weeks while he established himself in a new job and searched for a new home for his family. That's done now, he put in the hard yards and yesterday he left to drive north, pack his family up and return here to a little country town to the north of us. I am so proud of him and his commitment to his family and his work. It will be good having everyone here on the coast, not that we'll live in each other's pockets, but the potential for visiting and helping is always there. That's what families do best.

Last week I discovered the musical Hamilton so while the 2016 Tony Awards were being presented yesterday, I wrote this blog post and listened to the Hamilton soundtrack quietly in the background. I'm very pleased that the rap musical won so many awards, especially as it's already won a Pulitzer Prize for drama. Generally I don't like musicals but this is exceptional, creative, inspirational and joyful. I've heard the music so much over the weekend, that it plays in my head long after I stop listening to it. If you've never heard the music or of the musical, check this out and this and tell me what you think of it.

An easy one-pot meal - lemon and herb chicken with vegetables. I'll used the carcass to make pumpkin soup for today's lunch.

The house looks like a bomb has gone off but I'm happy to leave most of the cleaning until the workmen go early next week. There have been a few tidy-ups and some laundry done, and of course the meals but for the next week, little else will be done. I know the world will not fall in on my head because we have a few days of disarray, soon it will be over and all will return to normal. I hope to be out in the garden for a large part of the next few days. We've been harvesting quite a bit from the garden to eat and share and it all has to be replanted to keep us in fresh food over the months to come. I want to make calendula soap this week and if I have the time, I'll defrost some rosellas and make up some jam. So much to do! But maybe I need to pull back and just wait until the house is back to normal. Maybe I should just spend this week in the garden and work on my projects when order is restored here. You're such a wise thing, blog, thank you for helping me organise myself. :- )

You might think that I've been off galavanting with no time to post here. Well, you would be wrong. I've been living the most ordinary of days, enjoying the cold weather, sitting in the sun and doing all the things that are too common-place to mention. I'm doing what you do in your home, you already know what I've been up to.

I've passed on my radio commitments to my friend Morag Gamble and here is her first broadcast. She'll be doing her radio broadcast every month so if you're in Queensland you'll be able to listen, live, on your local radio or at the 612 website if you're out of the state. Morag has a great blog with many interesting and thought-provoking posts, this is one of them: 5 Simple Ways to Improve Your Soil and Grow Better Food or you could start with today's post.

There are a few tickets left for my free talk at the Toowoomba Library this Saturday, 11 June at 11am. Bookings are essential. Hanno will be with me, we'll have my books to sell at discount prices and if there are some people who want to stay behind after the talk to chat, we'll be there for that too. See you there! The Toowoomba talk is my last public event and then I will once again become the non-distinct Rhonda Hetzel, living my ordinary days in splendid isolation.

My gate is closed.

Behind that closed gate I've been mending Hanno's work shirts, reattaching handles to shopping bags, baking miracle cake and brownies, making cauliflower soup and roast pork, using left overs, knitting, gardening and enjoying the solitude and stillness. Life's good and I have a feeling of liberation and satisfaction.

We're looking forward to our bathroom renovation which starts next week. Our colour scheme is grey and white and we want to keep it simple. Hanno has been working in the warm sunshine on the back verandah, putting together a vanity and mirror cupboard from flat packs. The plumber has capped off the taps and shower in our bathroom and we're using the main bathroom instead.

We have taps and a shower waiting to be installed, beautiful Australian tiles called Bellingen Ash reading to lay, and paint almost jumping out of the tin onto the wall. We are primed and ready to spring into action when the work men arrive next week. They'll be demolishing the bathroom as it has been for the past 18 years, removing the spa bath and moving us into the present day. In the bathroom at least. ;- ) I wonder if our choices will stand the test of time. I guess only moving forward will help us discover that. I wonder who else has renovated recently.

Salihan at EcoYarns contacted me today to thank everyone who visited her site during the sale last weekend. It was a splendid success and Salihan wants you to know she appreciates the support we give her.

I received an email last week asking why I do the work I do. The person who sent it said I seem to be a bit obsessive and that at my stage of life, I should be doing less. She said I should sit back and enjoy life a bit more. I'm sure she meant well. It's an ongoing goal of mine to enjoy every day and I am conscious of that every waking hour, probably more than most people are. One of the many significant things I get from the work I do and living simply is a sense of purpose. That feeling is enough to get me out of bed in the morning, it fires me up to work in my home, grow food, cut back when others are buying more and every day I appreciate being able to do the work I need to do to give me the life I want. I feel I'm contributing and that my life has meaning beyond being a commercial entity available for hire by anyone who would pay the price to use my brain and energy. When I was working for a living, I knew my purpose - it was to earn money so I could buy everything I needed and wanted. I wish I'd thought deeper about my life back then because I think it is possible to live simply and work for a living, and many of you do that. Had I thought more about my own situation back then, I might have made different choices and perhaps travelled a different path.

What was missing then was the undeniable feeling that my life had meaning apart from being a paid worker. I wanted a sense of purpose that resulted in making life meaningful and I didn't find that until I'd given up on it all, walked away from my working life and started from scratch all over again. Getting back to bare basics opened up my horizons and gave me the opportunity to build a different life. If I had not been prepared for the work I do here at home, that opportunity might not have been there for me.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas Edison

Now I find purpose and meaning in being able to provide for my family, teach my grandchildren, share my knowledge through the forum, my books and this blog. Small, ordinary, practical tasks fill my days and make me feel satisfied when I go to bed at night. That is important to me and possibly to many of us. I feel useful when I knit for my grandkids instead of buying something off the shelf. I feel I'm doing the right thing when I serve up a meal that's been cooked from scratch and partly produced in my own back yard. Making soap and cleaners, gardening, preserving and baking help us live well. And when I look at the work I do I feel proud that I have the ability to do it and that I organise my days so that I work, as well as relax and enjoy life.

Life is tough for most of us. There's pressure to perform, we have to be good role models for our children and many people feel busy all the time. By taking a bit of time to think about what you want out to life and then organising yourself to either learn how to do what you need to do or just getting stuck in to it, does pay off. I don't want to live a life in which I'm working and busy all the time and I don't want to just get by, I want to thrive. I want to enjoy my hours, expand my mind, I want to be a good wife, mother, grandmother and friend. Life's too short for anything less than that. I wonder if you feel that too.

I realised in the past couple of days that soon I'll go through another life change. On Saturday June 11 at 11am, I'm giving my last public talk. As many of you know I retired after the book tour and this talk at the Toowoomba Library is the last part of the tour. It's the last time I'll ever be out and about spreading the word about simple life. I've been doing it for a long time now, sometimes at libraries and sometimes with like-minded folk at workshops. I feel very grateful to have been given the chance to connect with so many people and I've been surprised at the number of people who have come along. It's been a highlight of my life. But the time has come to withdraw back into my own life and let someone else take the spotlight.

If you've been thinking of coming along to one of my talks, this is the last one. If you can come along, I'd love to meet you. Hanno will be with me and we'll hang around for a while after the event to talk to whoever is there. The event is free but you must book, the booking page is here.

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It is well known over at the forum that Rose's organisation posts are great motivators and help us set up various routines for house work. Recently Rose started a month long series of posts called The Simply Organised Challenge. The challenge ran for 28 days focusing on different tasks and ways of working. The full challenge is there for you to read through and if you have the time to do that, I know you'll be pleased you did it. She's just started on a decluttering challenge but start with the organisational challenge first because it will help you organise yourself and think about your work in a different way. Day one is here.

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I cleaned out and organised my stockpile, pantry cupboards and freezer in the last couple of weeks. It was a job I didn't particularly want to do but I knew it had to be done. My sidekick Hanno was there to help so we rolled up our sleeves and got to it. I love looking in those cupboards now and I feel pleased that we put in the time to clean and organise all the goodies we have in there.

This is our stockpile cupboard. I store unopened food and jars in here. When a product is being used, I take it from the stockpile, often store the contents in a glass jar, and then store it in the pantry.

There is no real secret to organising groceries or cleaning the cupboards that contain them. Vacuum the cupboards, especially along the shelf edges to get rid of any small insect eggs or dust. Use something mild like vinegar or soap and water to clean the shelves, then allow them to dry completely before returning the food. Check and wipe every jar or tin as you return it to the cupboard. Look at use-by dates and if that date has already passed, if it's in glass, clear plastic or cellophane, check the contents. Remove anything that is mouldy, obviously fermenting in a jar or jars with bulging, rusty or damaged lids. Remove tins that are bulging too.

These two photos are of our pantry. Only opened food, currently in use, is kept in the pantry.

When you bring dried foods home from the shop, place them in the freezer for two days to kill off anything lurking in the packet. Then place the packet on the shelf in your cupboard. If you already have stock in the cupboard, place newly purchased products at the back, and take from the front.

Above is the layer of meat placed in the freezer when we restocked it. It's mostly beef, chicken, pork and lamb, with a pack of puff pastry on the side. Below is the freezer yesterday, it still has the layer of meat at the bottom and now has a pack of salmon portions, rosellas, elderberries and a container of soup in there as well.

It's a good idea to run your freezer down at least once a year, defrost it, clean it out and return everything as soon as possible. We did this before we went away in March and left the freezer empty for almost four weeks. When we restocked, I placed a layer of various meats at the bottom of the chest freezer, I may go to two layers later on, but more more. On top of the meat I have at various times, bread, fruit juice, frozen vegetables or fruit picked from the garden. I have nearly 6kg of rosellas and a few packs of elderberries in there at the moment. I always store the fruit and bread either in the baskets or on top to prevent them being squashed before they freeze solid. A written inventory of the freezer helps a lot, especially with a chest freezer. Just itemise what's already in there and list new items when you add them. Make sure you describe and date everything and cross off what you take from the freezer.

And just a quick word about the fridge because we all store food in there too. About a year ago I discovered sealing clips and bought a pack of 10. Since then I've become a convert and have them in constant use to seal plastic bags in the vegetable crisper and open packets of frozen peas in the freezer. My vegetables are lasting much longer and those clips have saved me wasting food. Currently I have a cauliflower and broccoli in bags sealed with the clips and they've kept extremely well for the past two weeks. Even soft vegetables like capsicums have kept in these bags unwrinkled for 3 - 4 weeks. When I showed these clips to a friend she said they'd been out for years but as I rarely shop nowadays I'd never seen them. You may well using them too and if you are, I'd love to know your opinion of them.

And finally, the best way to keep celery fresh is to cut off the top and store that in a bag for use in soups and stews, then wash the celery under the cold tap, shake out the excess water and wrap the it in aluminium foil. If you completely cover the celery in foil, it will stay crisp and useable for six weeks.

If you have time, tell me about your storage methods. We all buy or grow food so it's an important topic, and having tried and true storage methods will help us all cook healthy food with little or no waste.

It's a beautiful time of year and we're just about to go into winter. The weather has been unseasonal here, as it has been in many parts of the world. I wonder how you're faring where you are; I wonder if you're worried. It's been warm here with temperatures reaching the mid to high-20s most days and a few nights cool enough to warrant flannel sheets on the bed. There were no passionfruits on our backyard vines this season and right now, when we should have just finished harvesting, the passionfruit are starting to flower. They won't come to anything, the flowers will drop off when the cold weather sets in and we'll be left wondering if we'll eat our own home grown passionfruits next year. Many years ago when I read about climate change, I wondered what would happen and how we could cut back on our carbon emmisions here. I suppose we put in an effort to reduce what we bought, we wasted less, stopped flying, bought a hybrid car, significantly reduced our usage of plastics and imported goods but it wasn't enough. Now I'm scared of what is ahead. Every year new records are set and some of the fruit and vegetables we grow here behave in strange ways. Have you noticed the same thing where you live? I believe those of us who are living simply notice the impact we have on our surrounding environment but every modern life is supported by materials that just weren't around a hundred years ago. I wonder what price we're paying for those materials or if that price will be paid by our grandchildren instead. Have you made any changes in your home because of climate change? Many of us worry and complain about the weather and what's happening in the world but when does that worry become a genuine effort to change how we live?

I feel as if I've just retired even though I stopped working for a living when I was 55. I gave up being a technical writer, then, after being totally fascinated by simple life, started writing about it and became a blogger and author instead. I didn't go out to an office every day but I put in the hours in front of a computer and still lived a life of deadlines. My days are gentler now, I said no to more published work and followed my natural inclinations back home. These days, instead of patchworking my home life with my writing life, I'm free to do as I wish, potter around to my heart's content and have my creative, intellectual and practical needs fulfilled within the confines of these fences.

Mornings start slowly because I have plenty of time to do what I need to do. During the day I've been re-establishing routines, working on my fabric and yarn handicrafts, helping Hanno with the garden, cooking, baking, making plenty of tea, reading and thinking about what is to come in the next few years. In the past couple of weeks, I cleaned out the stockpile and pantry cupboards and have decided to cut back a little on the stockpile. It's still an important part of my home management but now that I'm not writing, I have more time to go to the market and keep a better eye on my food stores. I'm committed to adding more home preserved foods to the stockpile too and they'll replace some of the jarred and tinned food I was buying.

I've just started making yoghurt again. It was a regular part of my kitchen chores up until a couple of years ago, as was preserving in jars, but when I got busy writing books, some things had to go and I started buying supermarket yoghurt. That is never as good as the homemade version so I'm pleased to be back. I made my first litre in a long time just the other day and it feels good to be using my dairy skills again. When I gave up making yoghurt and preserving, I didn't feel guilt or any resentment about not having the time, I just accepted that for then, it was the right thing to do. I think some of us get tied up in knots when we can't do what we think we should do. We all have to recognised our own limitations and if stopping one or two tasks makes the rest of the housework easier, then that is what should happen, without the guilt.

But now it's all there for me again, whatever I choose to do, I can do. I feel grateful for that and I know such freedom is a rare thing nowadays. It's certainly something to work towards though, no matter what stage of life you're at. If, like me, you have a period when you can't do all you want to do, it's wise to think of those days as a season that is part of your personal evolution. It won't last forever and there will come a time when your life will have different priorities and will change again. You might feel regret for not being able to do what you want, but don't feel guilt. Every day the good and the bad are part of your life, and guilt stops you seeing that usually there is more good than bad.