The beginnings of our new season garden.

From the outside, our simple house belies the fact that such rich lives are being lived here. You can see and feel it in the backyard with the abundance of life evident there, but at the front, well, our small home looks like many others dotted endlessly throughout the urban and rural areas of Australia. But Hanno and I have found the secret of living well and we are developing the art of it every day. It took that break away from blogging for me to step back and look at what we've got here. Our lives are not just skin deep, there is real depth here.

Tomatoes, capsicums and green onions.

Taking a break from this blog, even though it is a familiar friend to me now, helped me step back and take in how our lives here have evolved and shaped us. During my break I made sure I slowed down. It's one aspect of this simple life that I always need to readjust. Swiftness and efficiency often take over from slow and mindful, especially on work days and when I'm away from home. I need to slow myself back down again, put the brakes on and remind myself that work done slowly and mindfully easily gets through the chores and there is no stress at the end of the day.

So while I've been away, Hanno has been working on the garden and I have to tell you that the soil this year is the best it's ever been. From almost empty beds just a few short weeks ago, we now have cucumbers nearly ready to eat, capsicums (peppers), lettuces, tomatoes, bok choy, beetroot, radishes, sugarloaf cabbages and green beans. In the bushhouse, we planted seeds for leeks, tomatoes, more sugarloaf cabbages, silverbeet and those wildly mad zinnias that bring bright colour to the garden. The zinnias are ready for planting now, the vegetables need another week or two.

Bok choy growing fast in front of grass clippings waiting to be made into compost.

Yes, it came back again. It was hiding behind the nesting boxes.

Cucumber tendrils have grown higher than they should. In the background is a lemon tree with about one hundred lemons growing fat and juicy.

Some of the seeds we planted. The zinnias will be planted out today.

Vivian at Eco Yarns is having a sale. She says: "To welcome the year, we have a discount code valid till 15th January 2014. Use code NY14 for 14% off all orders."  I have been using Vivian's yarns for the past two years and recommend them to you. Click here to check out the great range of eco-friendly cottons, wool, linen, fleece, needles and much more.

- - - ♥ - - - 

Written in 2011

When I was working, and particularly when I was in my 40s and early 50s, I was very ambitious. I wanted to be happy, successful and have a thriving business. I ran my own company, producing a town newspaper for one of our big mining companies, was well as reports and training manuals. I loved taking control of this little business, producing products that people needed and knowing that I was making a success of something that I wasn't supposed to know much about - writing about mining. Times have changed now, but back then women were supposed to be in the office, not writing about how to operate dump trucks, underground workshops and control rooms.

I got to a stage though when I couldn't continue in that field. I stopped enjoying the trips to the mines, I didn't like working in a mostly male environment and I hated the travel. I retired early and wondered what I could possibly do that would replace the feeling of strength and satisfaction I once felt working for myself.

Enter homemaking and being a stay at home wife.

Soon after I made my change I tried to make sense of housework. I had never enjoyed it and felt it was an annoyance that interrupted me going out and enjoying myself. But when I came home to stay and realised that I probably wouldn't work for a living anymore, I knew deep down I had to somehow find at least some satisfaction in my work at home. Little did I know the mother lode of happiness was waiting to be unearthed.

In the beginning, I wondered how on earth I would be able to fill the day, and not just one day but every day that was to come. I was reading all the time, thinking about how I wanted to live and one thing was clear, I didn't want to work again. So, if I knew that, the oppositie was also true, I would be spending a lot of time in my home. I started a few experiments in cleaning and rearranging things and it didn't feel that bad at all. I was lucky in that I enjoyed my own company so I went from there to wondering if I would get to a point of enjoying being at home. I'd always loved cooking so I started cooking, then I baked bread and tried to perfect my plain ordinary lunch time loaf. That worked! I made very good bread. I started making the bed every morning, worked on making some natural cleaners, then soap, and before I knew it, I was happily occupied all day.

After a couple of months at home I got to the stage of going to bed happy, content with what I'd achieved and making plans for the following day. I was thankful for each new day and the opportunity to discover new ways of doing my work. New thoughts were beginning to emerge and I was smiling a lot more. We have always lived with elements of simple life - we had been keeping chickens and gardening for many years, so I decided to expand on that. I started planting more vegetables, then tried to grow everything we would usually buy. That lead to more new recipes, a homemakers journal to keep all the information in and gently, from one day to the next, real change started happening.

I came to realise that homemaking is very much like running your own business, and just like a small business, you get out of it what you put in. I had to work to a budget, there were performance indicators to guide me and the amount of work I did reflected on the entire enterprise - I could make it or break it. My business meetings were replaced by family gatherings, making a presentation in front of a group became cooking a meal for a celebration and while I was not paid by cheque or direct debit, I was certainly paid in love and appreciation from others, and that wonderful feeling of satisfaction. When I looked back on my short history at home, I was amazed that I was happy and interested in what would happen every day. But the thing that surprised me the most was the feeling of strength, enrichment and fulfilment homemaking gave me.

I know now that there are many ways to be a strong woman. Running your own company and being successful is one way but you also demonstrate strength and significance as a mother, matriarch and homemaker. You are keeping your family functional, happy and focused. You are the person who makes it possible for many others to do what they do. You are the one who makes a safe, comfortable haven for the family. Your cooking nourishes, your cleaning keeps them safe, your organisation keeps them on track. Your wisdom helps lead your family. Your decisions mean something.

I still think the work I do in my home is like running a small business. I have different departments, a have to stay in the black with my budget, there are quite a few people I try to keep happy; but there is also a huge point of difference. Never once in all my time working for a living, even when I had my own business, did I feel really in control and free to do whatever I wanted to do, as long as it didn't sink the ship. I feel that every day now. There is an extraordinary feeling of freedom working at home. There are no rules except those I make for myself, I can do whatever work I feel like doing most days and there is no one looking over my shoulder. I know many of you feel the same about your own homes, whether you work there full or part-time. I doubt I would be as happy in any other place now.

Don't let them fool you, there is joy to be found at home. If you listen to the people who don't know that, you'll be thinking that being at home, and the chores to be done there, are demeaning, demanding and disgusting. If you read magazines, they'll tell you all about how to do this and that, they'll give you lists of "the best 10 holidays ..." and tell you 20 different ways to serve a chicken leg, but they never write about the satisfaction of homemaking, or the joy to be found by making your home a safe and cosy haven for all who live there. That is my job. ;- )

I used to be one of those people who looked down on housework as something to be avoided at its best, and demeaning at its worst. But when I came to live a simpler and gentler life, I discovered along the way that doing the work needed in my home, slowed me down and made me think about my daily work in a different way. The work remade me.

Instead of whizzing through the housework as fast as I could, I slowed myself to do each job well. That slowness allowed me to think about the task as it was being done and how that task connected to the others that followed. I realised then that all those connected tasks made our home what it is - and that it could either be the comfortable and nurturing place I wanted to live in, or a chaotic jumble of disconnected and generally unfinished chores that didn't encourage anyone to relax and put their feet up. I wonder now if having that chaotic home caused me to go out shopping for things to fill our home - I think I might have been looking for comfort in the shops instead of hand making it at home. That's what we've been encouraged to believe - that if we need something we will find it in a shop somewhere. We are taught at a young age that we buy happiness.

I'm wiser now, I know now that my happiness is made with what I already have at home. There are no special requirements needed; rearranging, keeping everything clean, changing with the seasons and making odds and ends, gives me more satisfaction than shopping ever did.

So how is happiness and joy found in the normal course of the everyday? Shhhh, it's a secret, but I'll let you in on it. It's found by slowing down, focusing on what you're doing, taking pride in a job well done, and repeating that on a daily basis. When you get into the rhythm of your home and work towards making every square inch of it comfortable, the work itself gives the reward because you make your home exactly what you want it to be. Housework isn't difficult, and remove all thoughts from your head about it being completed every day. Every woman knows that housework never ends, so take your time. Slow down and do it well, stop thinking about getting on to the next task, just do what you're doing, then take a short break. Don't make it tougher than it is. Look at your work when you've finished and think about how that space works for you, could it be changed? Could you rearrange things to make it better? Is it just right? Good! Then tell yourself you've done a good job and feel happy that you did it. It is okay to be proud of your work, despite what anyone tells you.

Working slowly through your work will slow you down too. If you stop rushing, so will your brain and heart. Slow down and enjoy what you do, well, most of it, I doubt too many people enjoy cleaning the toilet or washing nappies. But even those things are part of us, so carry out those chores as best you can and enjoy the ones you like.

I don't have children to look after now, but I used to and I know that my routine now would have suited that time of my life very well. Now I do my every day chores slowly throughout the day - I make the bed, sweep the floor, bake bread, tidy up and cook, and alongside those everyday chores are others that are peppered through the hours. They make the day interesting because they are different every day. All of the photos here today were taken in my home during the course of one day. On this particular day, I cut open THE pineapple - the one that has been growing for two years in the back yard, and we tasted the finest, juiciest, sweetest pineapple ever. Brussel sprouts, two packs bought at Aldi at a very good price, were blanched divided up into four meals and added to the freezer. A handsome worker in the backyard removed an unstable frangipani and allowed co-workers to scratch in the bare soil, hoping for some fat grubs to eat. Tea was taken on the front verandah. The sewing room was tidied and a tablecloth made with fabric from the stash.

It's nothing special, is it? But it makes me feel good and it satisfies me. Making your home a place that sustains you and your family is one of the most important jobs you can do. Times are tough, there are all sorts of things going on in the world that are difficult to understand, but if you make your home a place that comforts, a place where you can relax and be your true self, a place where your children feel safe and warm, a place where you show your family the joy of living simply, then you are doing a really significant and essential job that takes the hard edge off the outside world. So when you shake open the sheets to make up that clean bed, when you set the table with knives and forks, water glasses and a flower in a cup, when your beef stew and dumplings is slowly bubbling away welcoming your family as they come home with the smell of home cooking, when you sit with your tea, when you sweep the floor, when you sew or knit or cook, I hope you find happiness in your home, because I know it's there. You might not have discovered the mother lode yet, you might just be picking up fragments every so often, but keep at it and you will be rewarded.

From the 2012 archives.

There was a common misconception when we were on the book tour that the way Hanno and I live works best for older people who have the time for it. I've written here before about how that's not right, that this way of living would suit anyone living in the country, suburbs or city, whether single or married, straight or gay, young or older. It's here for all of us, there is no doubt about that. I have thought a lot about this and I know that you can change the way you live no matter what age you are; all you need is the will to do it. My regret is that I didn't start sooner.

I wish I hadn't waited so long to change.

My right time came when I was burnt out and miserable and I doubt I could have done anything else. We made a complete change and luckily for us, it turned out well. I can't help but think about Hanno and I living as we do now but at a much younger age. There would have been different choices made, no doubt, maybe we would have ended up in a different area, but we would have spent much more time outside the mainstream celebrating life and being who we really are. So when is the right time? From experience, I doubt there is one right time. The sooner you can simplify your life, the better you'll be for it.

I was talking to young man the other day, his first child will be born later this year. He is ready to settle down and start a family but where he sees difficulty, job uncertainty and not enough money, I see opportunity and independence. When I was his age I thought that a baby must be born into a family using newly bought clothes and equipment. I know now it makes no difference whether what you have is new or old, what matters is that baby is loved and the family it's born into is stable. Stability, love and calmness will see every baby through. All a baby really needs is to be fed, to be warm and secure and held in loving arms. Everything they need can be gratefully accepted secondhand from friends and family, or made for a fraction of the shop price. Babies, as well as older children, are not deprived by this way of life, they thrive in it. Looking on Freecycle or in op shops, and telling your family and friends you're looking for certain items, will open up a new world, and show you that when security and love are provided in full measure, happy healthy babies thrive, even when there is very little money.

I wish I hadn't wasted so much.

I have always know that work is the key to a good life. When I was younger, I watched as my parents worked their whole lives. As I matured, I took on their work ethic but I left out an important part of the equation - working in my own home. The older I got, the further I moved away from the notion that being at home is the major part of everyday renewal and that home is where we rest and regain the strength to deal with the stresses of the outside world. Our homes must be far more than just the place we store our clothes and sleep in every night. Turning the shell of a house into something much more and doing the house work that every home requires, may very well be the making of you too. I know now that making a warm and comfortable nest for my family and me was as beneficial and important as any of the paid work I ever did.

I wish I'd worked that out sooner.

A home has the power to nurture and strengthen you and your family. Not only can you be your true self in your home - you can do anything you like there. If you want to work all day or read all day, if you want to make your backyard into a mini farm, if you want to set up a small business, if you want to teach your children about the night sky or how to plant a seed, if you want to enjoy time with visiting family and friends, if you want to reinvent yourself, there should be no one there to tell you not to. And when you really understand that your home is your safe haven, when you change your home to suit you and your family, this place you've chosen will be the making of you. Your home can have more influence over you than any other place. And the beauty of all this is that all homes have this potential power - tiny homes furnished with hand-me-downs and scrubbed-up op shop finds, rented flats and apartments with bricks holding up the shelves and smart homes with modern everything. Because it's what goes on in the home, the love given and shared, that makes the difference, not the newness of the building or the price and age of the furnishings.

I wish I'd know that when I was young.

Thank you for your visit here on Christmas Eve, I think it's the best one of the holly-days. Hanno and I wish you love, happiness and peace and a very happy Christmas with those you love. We hope all your sweethearts, whether they be large or small, gather close to you this Christmas. Thank you for being a part of our world and this blog this year. Your comments have made me happy, smile, frown and go cross-eyed and they've shown me that all of us belong to a huge, world-wide simple living community. That motivates me to carry on sharing what we know and what we do here.

Enjoy what you do to its fullest. Forget your worries and make happy memories.

Take care of yourself over the holidays and stay safe. I want to see you back here next year. Merry Christmas everyone. I'll see you soon.  ♥

Bella is a magazine for teenage girls. Here is a free sample of the online magazine. I think you'll agree that the images and ideas presented there are age-appropriate, endearing and very different to the sadly sexualised photographs and topics often in magazines for young girls. A subscription or one Bella mag would make an excellent Christmas gift for the young girls in your life. It's available in a print and online version so international readers can take advantage of the message and images of ordinary girls doing wonderful things. I'll be writing in Bella from the next edition.

Craftfoxes - I wanted to show you the little free fox hat pattern but there are so many gorgeous projects here I hope you check out the entire site.
This baby fox needs help, quickly. Watch what happens. - short video

Beautiful printable gift labels

Homemade honey and citrus syrups for colds and sore throats - thanks Evelyn

It's never too late to learn

The reason you should wash your hands in cool water

Most of you know I'm writing for Penguin again and hope to have that series of six ebooks published from March next year. They'll be sold internationally this time. :- ) In the past few months we've undertaken the mammoth job of moving the forum to a bigger and more stable server and now we've upgraded the software to a new and improved version. The forum has grown a lot in the past year and it's my hope we can continue to meet new and older members who are simplifying and to provide a safe and friendly atmosphere there were you feel secure enough to share your lives with us. The forum has evolved into a wonderful information and friendship driven space where encouragement, support and congeniality are waiting for all who wish to visit.  I have big plans for next year at the forum. However, the upgrades have taken up a lot more of my time than I expected them to. I'm still fine tuning as we settle in.

As a result I've been having problems getting everything done. Keeping up with my housework, helping Hanno, helping with Jamie, writing, the forum work and writing the blog are starting to take their toll. I was going to have a few weeks away from the blog starting next week, but I know I have to start that break now. This will be the second-last post for a few weeks, although I have a list of old posts I think might be helpful to many of you that will be resurrected. Weekend reading is almost completed for this week and that will be up as usual on Friday. And then I hope to finish off a book before Christmas, start another one after Christmas, enjoy the holidays with my family, take some time away from the computer and generally fulfil commitments and get my head in order for the coming year.

A huge thanks to all the forum volunteer admins and moderators - Sue, Rose, Lisa, Lynn, Sherri, Becci, Robyn, Amy, Alison, Meghan, Deanne, Sandy, Michele, Rhonda, Tessa and Allison. They are the driving force behind the forum and without them I would not be able to operate it. They are such a wonderful group of kind and loving souls.  Thank you ladies, for all you do. I appreciate you all very much.

I am continuing to fight against the consumerist mindset and have rejected proposals from many advertisers during the year. I am only willing to promote people whose products I use and love. So thanks to all my wonderful sponsors. Many of them have been with me for a few years now and I have a wonderful relationship with all of them. Merry Christmas to Eco Yarns, Eco Store, Maleny Dairies, Odgers and McClelland Exchange Stores, Biome and Beautiful Chickens. Thank you for your kind and generous support during the year.

And last but not least, thanks to you dear readers for continuing to read what I write. This has been my sixth year of blogging and I'm still inspired by the people who read here and still love reading the stories of lives being changed for the better. A special thank you to the readers who usually lurk in the background but who commented for the first time this year. There were a few of you. I appreciated that gesture more than you know. I hope I can tickle another comment out of you as time goes on.

Hanno joins me in wishing you all a very happy Christmas and a productive new year. I hope you all spend the holidays doing what your love with family and friends. May peace and happiness be with you all, my friends.  ♥

A week or so ago I said I'd answer any questions you had. I got two questions, both set out below. I hope both ladies are still reading.

We'd eat food from the stockpile and garden.

I'd use what was in the fridge in those first few days and cook what I could outside.

And a lot more time spent in the garden making sure we had a continuous supply of food. I think I'd continue writing using a notebook and a pencil.

We have a very old BBQ that we could use the grill off to cook on outside over an open fire. We have plenty of wood around here, we have water in the tanks and a creek flowing in the back yard. I know I'd miss my computer, the blog and the forum but I think I'd convince myself that missing such things would be good for me. I hope I'd gain strength from it rather than caving in and complaining about it.

To answer your question, I think I'd be more prepared for a time like that because we live a simple life and I'd also accept the hardship that came with it as just one of those things. And even it it did stretch on for a few months, while the first month would be exciting and new, the rest of it, I'm pretty sure, I'd just take in my stride - mainly because of my lifestyle.

Hi Rhonda,

I have a question for you about adding more chickens to the flock. How did you introduce them into your flock. We are hoping to add a couple more chickens in the spring. We will be raising them as chicks separate, then when they are old enough we would add them to the flock. So at what age do you introduce them and how?

As for simple living we started with one thing then added another. We do what we can and your right simple living is different for each of us. Love your blog!

Hanno pruned the lemon tree yesterday and threw the branches into the chook run. Chickens love exploring and climbing and it wasn't long before our girls had sorted through those new branches.

This isn't on subject but I can show you the difference in combs and wattles as a chicken ages. If you have a look at the next three photos, it will give you a good idea for what to look for when a chicken is maturing and getting ready to lay eggs.  The Barnevelder above has a small, pink comb and her wattles, below her beak, haven't grown at all. She not laying yet.

Madam above is a little older. Her comb is smallish, but bigger than the Barnevelder's and it's red. This blue Australorpe has just started laying.

And Lulubelle here is about four years old and has been a good layer for a few years. You can see her comb and wattles are fully developed and red. This photo isn't showing the accurate tone of red, it's quite a bright red. When a chicken starts getting sick, often her comb and wattles will be pink instead of red.

Simplefree, when you get new chickens you have to already have everything ready for them. Chooks bond to their territory so it's not wise to give them a temporary home and then move them again. Make sure their permanent home is ready, safe and secure. When you bring new chickens or chicks home they should be separated from the older girls to make sure they aren't bringing in any diseases. They should be placed in their new home for at least a week before they are allowed to roam or mix in with other yard animals or birds. That will allow them to bond with their new place and they'll learn where they come back to every night.

If you're bringing small chicks home, you'll need to provide warmth for them if you're in a cold climate. If you're in a warm area, a small coup out of the weather and wind, and away from the other chickens, will be fine. During the day they'll need enough space to walk around and see the other chooks (through wire) and they'll need a roost at night. They must have clean water and food every day but won't need a nest for a few months. If you want them to eat greens and kitchen scraps, introduce them during that early period and they'll be good eaters all their lives.

You can introduce the chicks to their older sisters when they big enough to cope with the bigger birds - maybe around two or three months of age, depending on their breed. If they're small birds, wait longer. On the day you introduce them to the same living quarters, wait until almost nightfall and in the twilight bring the new girls in. Generally at that time of night, the priority will be to settle for the night and with the fading light they probably won't take much notice. The next morning, be out there early to make sure the little ones have been accepted. There will be a period of establishing the pecking order, there always is, it's natural chook behaviour. You have to allow that to happen and only remove the chicks if there is a blood injury. If that happens, take at least two of them out because chicks need other chicks. If you only have three new chicks, take all of them out. If there are four, take out two and leave two if the remaining two have no injuries and seem to be coping. Keep the chicks separate until the injury has healed and try again. Good luck.

I was hoping to have Johnathan's cotton cardigan finished for Christmas but it is not to be. I foolishly mis-read the pattern twice! and I had to unpick a sleeve when it was almost finished, twice. So now I'm doing a bit of cardigan knitting most days and since the cricket started, it's been what I pick up when I sit down to watch. What a pleasure it is to watch cricket, knit and snooze. Yesterday, when we were looking after Jamie, he and I had a sleep after lunch and at one point, I looked over at Hanno, who was also watching the cricket, and he was sleeping too. Life is slow and gentle here and it doesn't matter if we doze off. There was a time when I couldn't sleep in the day time, even if I wanted to, but now all I have to do is to sit down for a few minutes.

When I first started knitting I only knit during winter. Now it's an all-year pleasure. I particularly enjoy summer knitting because of the cricket and it allows me to plan what we need for the colder months to come. But no matter when I knit, it's a labour of love to sit quietly and wind cotton or wool around sticks and to create something unique for those I love.

I am lucky to have Eco Yarns as one of my sponsors and Vivian's organic cotton is the yarn I love to knit with the most. I'm using it for Johnathan's cardigan and finished a Miss Marple scarf for my friend Kathleen in late October. She travelled to the US to visit her family in November and said the scarf was ideal to wear with almost all her outfits. It's not hot or scratchy like some wools can be. A free pattern for the Miss Marple scarf is available on Ravelry. If you visit Eco Yarns, be sure to check out Vivian's blog, she often writes about the project she is working on.

Some people wonder about the logic and reason of knitting. They say it's slow, expensive and wonder why anyone would spend time on something you can buy in the shops. I guess people knit for different reasons, I knit because I love the slow progress of one stitch at a time. It's almost like a meditation. It slows me down and shows me, unreservedly, that beauty and value can be created slowly and mindfully. I also love giving things away and there is nothing better than giving a beautiful baby something warm, soft and organic.

I know it can be expensive to knit up a jacket or shawl and if you look at an acrylic jacket in the department store, you might wonder why you'd choose home knitting. Well, what you'll create will be from your heart, it will be unique and the quality will be far superior to the cheap imports. When you touch hand-knitted jumpers or socks, it's not line after line of rigid perfect knitting, it's a celebration of home production and individuality. If you can't afford to buy new wool, look around your thrift shops and see if there are any pure wool jumpers or cardigans there. If you can get hold of one that is bigger than the size you want, you'll be able to unravel it and use that wool. Wool is very long lasting and forgiving. It can be unravelled and re-knit many times - each time producing a one of a kind garment. You can do that with the wool you buy too. If you decide you don't like something you've knitted, undo it, wind it up into balls and rework the yarn in a pattern you love.

If you've never thought about knitting, maybe it's time to give it a go. You can learn how to knit by watching the many beginners videos on You Tube. You'll start off with "casting on", then learn plain, purl and cast off. Most knitting is a combination of those four processes. You'll probably start off feeling a bit clumsy but it gets easier the more you knit. Start with something easy like a scarf or fingerless mittens but be prepared to love the slowness of it as well as the things you make.

What's on your needles right now? What's your next project?

Pride in the wool: the rise of knitting

Lightweight handwarmers from Purl Bee

Purl Bee's beginner knits

I think I can see myself knitting this for one of the babies in my life

The time I was questioned by police for knitting in Starbucks

New life in the hanging baskets.