down to earth

It's going to get worse before it gets better. With the cost of petrol continuing to rise in Australia and around the world, which also increases the price of food and everything else made and delivered using oil, Hanno and I are looking for more ways to cut our use of oil based fuel and products.

Here where we live, we're trying to ready ourselves as best we can for a world with far less oil. Energy descent. I know a lot of the readers who come here every day, like Hanno and I, are learning as we go. I've been reading about the concept of Peak Oil for a few years now and nothing I've heard from any politician or oil "expert" has convinced me there is nothing to worry about. To the contrary, their reluctance, until recently, to acknowledge there is a problem has made me even more convinced the problem is a big one. But finally the elephant in the room could be ignored no longer - world wide oil prices spoke the truth, oil supplies are dwindling.

In preparation for this new world we are trying to create as much as we can at home. We grow some of our own food in an organic vegetable and fruit garden and get eggs from our chickens. We harvest rainwater from our roof. We make our own soap and cleansers, bread is baked here, clothes are mended, dishcloths knitted, seeds sown, old products modified and recycled for another life. We squeeze as much from each dollar spent as we can. In the past five years we've cut our living expenses to less than a quarter of what they used to be. We did that by being mindful of our place in this fragile ecosystem and by reskilling and making do with what we have.

At the moment we aim to reduce our trips in the car, stop buying anything plastic or wrapped in plastic and not use the airconditioner to heat our home in Winter, but we need to do more. In his wise article, Retrofitting the Suburbs for Sustainability, David Holmgren states:

"So what do we have to do to make it work? Basically, the answer is “Just do it!” Use whatever space is available and get producing. Involve the kids – and their friends. Make contact with neighbours and start to barter. Review your material needs and reduce consumption. Share your home – by bringing a family member back or taking in a lodger, for example. Creatively and positively work around regulatory impediments, aiming to help change them in the longer term. Pay off your debts. Work from home. And above all, retrofit your home for your own sustainable future, not for speculative monetary gain. In an energy-descent world, self-reliance represents real opportunities for early adopters of a permaculture life style:

Rises in oil prices will flow through to all natural products (food, timber, etc);
Higher commodity prices will be a stimulus for self-reliance and organic farming;
Local products will be more competitive than imports;
Repair, retrofitting, and recycling will all be more competitive than new replacement;
There will be rising demand for permaculture as life-skills eduction; and
There will be a resurgence of community life, ethics and values."

In keeping with what David is advocating, one of the things I will be doing soon is to help reskill people in our community. There are many people who need to learn the skills of baking, soap making, gardening, sewing and knitting. We are already teaching some of these skills at the Centre where I do my voluntary work. I hope to teach all of them soon. I will also work with my local groups that are working towards building stronger local communities - communities that are able to sustain themselves during the coming years when the oil we have relied on all our lives is no longer cheap and freely available. I encourage you to seek out your local sustainability or relocalisation groups and see what is happening in your area.

Whether you believe the Peak Oil premise or not, you can't deny the price of fuel and food now. I encourage all of you to change your lives in ways that will help you live well in the future. Learn all you can about providing for your own needs, connect with your community and support or implement new and innovative sustainable ways for your region to cope with energy descent. And read what you can so that you'll be prepared. David Holmgren's Future Scenarios is a good place to start.

I am not trying to scare anyone I am encouraging you to prepare yourself and your family for change. It's still small steps, it's still doable and it's nothing to panic over, but you need to start now. Gone are the days of listing what we are doing and thinking it's enough. We need to move it up a notch and make sure that what we are doing is working for us now and will continue to work in the future.

There was a very good interview on this subject on the ABC's 7.30 Report last night. The transcript of the interview with Richard Heinberg is not up yet but check during the day and read what he said. It's very interesting. I just checked and the transcript is still not there. Hopefully it will make an appearance tomorrow. In the meantime, I found this BBC article.

Recently, one of the regular readers, I'm sorry but I've forgotten who is was, asked me to write about my dogs, Rosie and Alice. They are two aging Airedale Terriers now 12 and 11 years old. Rosie is a rescue dog that had been badly treated by her first owners. We found her after our first Airedale, Murphy, died of auto-immune disease at the age of 18 months. When I phoned the breeder to order a puppy, she told me about Rosie because she was the same age that Murphy was. I ordered the puppy but decided to buy Rosie as well. Alice came along about three months later, she is Rosie's niece.

Rosie had a lot of pain in her hips when she first arrived here because she had been ridden like a horse by two little boys. In those early days she growled at Hanno and our sons, if they touched her around the back legs. She never growled at me so I think it was only men and boys who mistreated her. We started treating her with emu oil in her food and after a while it looked like she got over the soreness and eventually came to trust all of us.

Rosie

When we started to live as we do now, I wondered how non-working dogs could fit into our more frugal lives. The cost associated with the dogs - good food, vet bills etc, might be seen as an unnecessary expense. If Rosie or Alice got sick or injured, we would face hefty vet bills. They were our responsibility and we required of ourselves that they be looked after as well as we possibly could. How could we justify the keeping of them? Could they fit within the framework of a simple life?

Yes, definitely.

I thought about this quite a bit early on and came to the conclusion that not only did they fit within our new philosophy of life, they would help us live to our values. I believe the way I live is not only about reducing the complexity of my life but also about finding joy and beauty in the ordinary and mundane things I surround myself with. I believe that we must find our own happiness not in the shiny high cost items on sale in our shopping malls or European holidays, flash cars or large houses, but in what we already have in our life. It is our responsibility to make ourselves happy with with less - much less. I find a lot of joy in natural things - our garden, the chooks, and of course, Rosie and Alice.

Alice

Our dogs are not working dogs in the traditional sense, but they do help protect us - they're excellent guard dogs, and they also protect our chickens. They have been taught to live with the chooks and although Alice will round them up for us when told to, they would never harm the chooks.

Their main value however, is that they make us happy. They make us smile. They jump for joy when we come home. They play with us and and make us laugh when they chase each other like a couple of clowns.

They don't cost a lot for their food and care. We make their daily food for them and I often make them treats. The other expense is for tick/flea medication. We live in a paralysis tick area surrounded by bush where the ticks sit on leaves or are brought into the back yard by native animals like bandicoots and possums. We use Advantix for large dogs which costs us about $50 for three months. I dose them with that six months of the year - so they're covered for the tick seasons and six weeks both sides of it. In the past we only covered them over summer and they both got ticks in Spring, they were both very sick and almost died. It cost us $900 in vet bills to save them. They don't often go to the vet, but when they recovered, he said they were the most healthy Airedales he'd seen in many a year. He asked me what we feed them and was pleased we didn't give them canned food. We learnt a valuable lesson about ticks that year and it was a great confirmation that we are feeding our girls well.

Simple living is not about deprivation. It is about finding joy in the ordinary and living well within our means. Our lives are made better by sharing our home and our resources with Rosie and Alice. We have found a way to keep them in good health without it costing too much but above all else we love them and they're part of our family. I would find it difficult to live without a dog at my side.

In winter, I could easily live on soup alone. No, scratch that, oat porridge in the morning and soup in the evening. Give me that and I'd be your friend forever. I am a simple soul.

Here is my recipe for vegetable soup and herb dumplings. There is a no meat version of the soup and a meat version.

Traditionally, winter vegetable soups are made with root vegetables. They are in season in winter, and are cheap then, so it's the ideal way to take advantage of that and make a big pot that will keep you going for a couple of days.

These quantities will make a big stockpot full of soup which lasts for about five meals in our home. It is a very good soup for children who don't eat a lot of vegetables. Instead of chopping the vegies, you can shred them and they can't be recognised. The kids will be drawn in by the dumplings and have to eat the soup to get to them.

STOCK FOR NON-MEAT VERSION
three stalks celery
2 onions
1 carrot
fresh thyme and parsley
all chopped finely

To make this stock, chop all your ingredients, except the herbs, and fry them gently in a sauce pan with a little oil. Cook them until they're caramelised - they will be brown, not burnt. You'll need to stir the vegetables so they don't brown too much. When they're nicely brown, add water, salt and pepper to taste and bring to the boil. Add the herbs and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Use a strainer and strain the stock, removing the vegetables and herbs. What you have now is a vegetarian stock.

STOCK FOR MEAT VERSION
Buy about 1 kg (2 pounds) beef soup bones. You want the bones with a lot of bone marrow in them for better flavour and more nutrition. The butcher will often cut open these bones so you can see the inside of the bones.

Put the bones in the oven with a little oil drizzled over them and roast for about 45 minutes, or until the bones are brown.

Then put the bones in a stockpot, cover with water and 1 chopped onion and some fresh thyme and parsley. Bring to the boil and simmer for at least an hour. Using a strainer, remove the meat bones and vegetables from the stock.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SOUP
3 medium onions - chopped
3 large carrots - sliced
4 stalks celery - chopped
1 swede - chopped
1 turnip - chopped
1 parsnip - chopped
handful of parsley

2 cups of either pearl barley or brown rice - not both - washed well before use
salt and pepper

TO MAKE THE SOUP
Add the fresh vegetables and herbs to your stock in a large stockpot. Add the barley or rice and stir. Bring to the boil and simmer for about two hours.

INGREDIENTS FOR DUMPLINGS

Two cups self raising flour OR 2 cups of plain flour (all purpose) with 2 teaspoons of baking powder

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter

a handful of chopped herbs - either chives, green onion tops, thyme or parsley are great

To make the dumplings, add the flour, salt and pepper and butter to a bowl and, using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour. You keep doing this until the mix looks like fine bread crumbs - see photo below.

Then add the herbs and enough water to make a firm dough. The dough should be like a moist bread dough. When it's formed into a nice dough, take walnut size portions and roll them into balls. Plop the dumplings into the soup. They will float on the top of the soup and cook for about 15 minutes. Put the top on your stockpot so the dumpling tops cook in steam. When they're firm, they're ready.

Just to recap, this soup might take most of the day to cook, but you are only spending about 30 minutes actually standing at the stove or chopping ingredients. The rest of the time is the soup cooking slowly.

So make your stock first, this could be done the day before.
When the stock is ready, chop your fresh vegetables and cook the soup.
Make the dumplings and add them for the last 15 minutes of the soup cooking time.

There is enough protein in this soup but if your family must have meat, make little meatballs and add to the soup. You can make little meatballs with 500 grams (1 pound) topside mince (ground beef), mix one egg with a tablespoon or milk and soak two slices of stale bread in it. Break it up and add to the meat, salt and pepper and form into balls. Fry these until cooked and add to the soup just before serving.

Some of you would remember that I bartered a couple of things for some fertile partridge wyandotte bantam eggs around Christmas time. Two lots of eggs were sent but none resulted in any chicks, which was mainly due to our inexperience. The second part of the barter from my side was a simple living stitchery, similar to the one on the side bar. I designed this a few years ago and had it in my home as an inspiration until I gave it away to Peggy at Hidden Haven Homestead. I think it might still be hanging in her home. Well, I've finally finished the stitchery and will post it off this morning. Hello Helen if you're still reading! I haven't forgotten you, I'm just slow. ;- )

My days are often peppered with short periods of needlework of some kind. I generally have several projects on the go at once, usually stitching or knitting, that will be used in our home or given as gifts. Right now I'm also doing a few dishcloths for the Etsy shop so I can package them with soap.

I know many of you love craft work and Renee commented recently that she could spend the whole day in the yard working, but wants to find time for her sewing as well. So how do you fit it all in? When there is so much work to be done, how do you manage to squeeze in the needlework, the work you enjoy and look forward to?

I don't look at needlework as a separate pleasure. I do find a lot of pleasure in it but I see it as part of my housework. When I want a break from more strenuous chores, I sit for a while with a cup of tea and my knitting or sewing, and I relax, regain my strength and then go to some other type of work. I believe we have to find our own pleasure in what we do. Working in your home on repetitive tasks, or physically hard work, would make even the saints among us complain. Try to structure your day with periods throughout it when you're doing something you love. That might be sewing, knitting, painting, writing or some other creative activity that you will benefit from. Taking time out from the washing, ironing and cooking with one of the gentle arts, will give you the strength and the motivation to keep going. It also gives you time to think about your day and what you're working towards.

I think some ladies feel guilt when they take time to sew or knit. They get a lot of pleasure from the doing of it so they think it's just a pure pleasure for them. That's not quite right, ladies. Yes, it is a pleasure, but it also contributes to your home - it is either part of your home making or your home maintenance. No matter how much pleasure you gain from the needles, it is one of your chores as well.

If you do get pleasure from craft work, or if it is something else that does that, structure it into your day. We talked about balance recently - this is a balance item. It is one of those things that you can look forward to during the day, it is still fulfilling your requirement to contribute in a meaningful way to your family and home, but because of its gentle nature, it will provide you with some respite from the heavier jobs.

Remember, this simple life is about finding pleasure in the ordinary and everyday tasks we all face. Don't be afraid to sit down with your craftwork. It is a great skill you bring to your family and if you find pleasure in doing it, well, that's just the icing on the cake.

When I first started reskilling myself for all the things I do here, I went straight to my old Needlecraft book. I bought this book in the 1980s and since then it's been the best guide for me with every kind of needle work. I checked and it's still being sold on Amazon, so I'll add it to my boxes, but you can very likely get a copy of it at your library. If you can get hold of a copy, it will be a worthwhile guide for you into the beautiful and sometimes bewildering world of needle craft.

The book gives excellent advice, clear guides and tutorials on embroidery, knitting, canvas work, crochet, applique, lacework, patchwork, macrame, quilting and rugmaking.

It also shows you how to recover from mistakes. I certainly needed that along the way.

For more information about the book, the link to the Amazon site is here.

And finally, it's Bloomsday! Some of you would know that my favourite book of all time is Ulysses by James Joyce. June 16 is celebrated in the book and has since become known as Bloomsday.