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I received an email from a reader last week who is packing to move to a new home. They are moving because her husband has been promoted and the new position is in another state. She is concerned that she won't like the new home and as she's put a lot into her current home, it's making her anxious. She asked for my thoughts on moving, so here they are.

 Garden working bee.

August in The Simple Home

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” 
William Morris

There are few things better on a cold winter’s day or evening than settling down to do some craftwork or mending. As the cold weather swirls around the house, it’s cosy and warm inside with plenty of flannel, wool and fleece to keep you warm. Like all of our simple life activities and tasks, handiwork, mending and making go on all year but you need a time in the year to plan projects, organise your materials and learn new skills. This is it, welcome to domestic crafts and household linens month.


Gracie's birthday portrait, taken this morning.

It's Graice's second birthday today and she's running around like a crazy cat this morning. She's such a funny dog and it looks like she's really happy on this special day.

I still get a lot of emails from readers asking for more frugal living and budgeting posts but this is the closest I'll get to it.  I think you either get it or you don't and for those who want to read my thoughts on saving, budgeting etc, it's all here on the blog. I don't change my mind. What worked 10 years ago, still works today and our systems stay the same.  And besides, changing your mindset is the most important part because if you can't do that, or don't want to, I doubt you'll see the forest for the trees.


Maybe my kind of budgeting isn't for you. I don't think everyone will enjoy working towards having and wanting less. You might want to use your credit or debit cards for general use. Dividing up your available cash into envelopes might mean nothing to you. And if that's the case, my thoughts on frugal living won't excite you.  There are many people writing about frugality nowadays. There are many more experts around since I started my non-expert, but carefully considered, advice.  I've never thought of myself as an expert and that is not due to lack of self confidence. It's more about there being no fixed and fast rules for simple life.  The basis of simplicity is the mindset - the absolute commitment to living well on a small amount of money, being a genuine part of a family and community, having enough and knowing it, even when it's much less than your neighbours are happy with and creating a life for yourself that revolves around what you love and the interests you've discovered.  We live and let live, we recycle, mend, make, grow and create and we do that with generous and accepting hearts. Each of us does that in our own way according to our version of the life, our experience and values, our age. The trick is to do it, for it to become your way of life, and even when times are tough, or you have extra money in the bank, you keep to your frugal ways.

It was becoming "normal" to not write a post here so I thought I'd better get back and say hello to you all.  I had an enjoyable trip down to Armidale to pick up my sister, Tricia. We stayed overnight at Glen Innes then completed the 560km return journey arriving home in the early afternoon. It was good to get out on the road again, enclosed in my car bubble I could see what was going on and get a better understanding of the horrific drought that's taking a toll on the countryside here. We drove back through Stanthorpe and I took the opportunity to buy fresh apples for $7 a box. It was a real treat to see roadside stalls selling fresh winter produce like rhubarb, pumpkins, avocados and honey.



One of our Barnevelders is worrying us. She started limping during the week and now she can barely walk. She is eating and drinking and apart from the leg problem seems perfectly healthy. We've separated her from the rest of the flock and she's spending her days in the vegetable garden where she's not troubled by Gracie and the other chooks. Do we have any vets reading here or anyone with chickens who has had a similar problem?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on what's happening.

July in The Simple Home

"... he got out the luncheon basket and packed a simple meal, in which, remembering the stranger's origin and preferences, he took care to include a yard of long French bread, a sausage out of which the garlic sang, some cheese which lay down and cried, and a long-necked straw-covered flask wherein lay bottled sunshine shed and garnered on far Southern slopes." - Kenneth Grahame

The Noosa Permaculture Group visiting us for a look at our garden and a chat.  
Here is our morning tea.

There are few things that demonstrate every-day, practical love of family and friends more than preparing delicious food and treats, and taking time to welcome visitors with a freshly prepared morning tea or lunch. Home baking is July's topic in The Simple Home and now in the middle of an Australian or New Zealand winter, nothing warms a home more than a hot oven full of bread, cakes or biscuits.
The girls are laying 6 eggs a day now. This is two day's worth.

Hello everyone. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods.  I'm still recovering and feeling quite good today.  I went to see my doctor yesterday and have a treatment plan I'm happy with, with the option of a cortisone injection into my knee if I want to go down that route. I have the form here, all I have to do is book the appointment if what I'm doing stops working.  

Hello friends. I'm almost back to normal and with the exception of a bung knee, I'm feeling pretty good. I had the exceptional gift of being able to rest and take my time with recovery and even though in years passed I would have become impatient with illness and the time it takes to recover, now I feel grateful I have the time and good sense to appreciate the process.  Thank you for your patience and the lovely comments you sent.

The Montville rose, and visitor.
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ABOUT ME

Down to Earth is a blog by Rhonda Hetzel, dedicated to simple, intentional living — from home cooking and gardening to frugal budgeting and handmade crafts. It’s a space for gentle inspiration and everyday wisdom on creating a life that feels real, balanced, and deeply fulfilling.

Down To Earth Book

Down To Earth Book
My books are all published by Penguin. Down to Earth, The Simple Life and The Simple Home have been in book shops since they were published in 2012, 2014 and 2016, respectively. On 20 October 2020, Down to Earth was published as a paperback.

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Popular Post of All Times

Making ginger beer from scratch

We had a nice supply of ginger beer going over Christmas. It's a delicious soft drink for young and old, although there is an alcoholic version that can be made with a slight variation on the recipe. Ginger beer is a naturally fermented drink that is easy to make - with ginger beer you make a starter called a ginger beer plant and after it has fermented, you add that to sweet water and lemon juice. Like sourdough, it must ferment to give it that sharp fizz. To make a ginger beer plant you'll need ginger - either the powdered dry variety or fresh ginger, sugar, rainwater or tap water that has stood for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to evaporate off. You'll also need clean plastic bottles that have been scrubbed with soap, hot water and a bottle brush and then rinsed with hot water. I never sterilise my bottles and I haven't had any problems. If you intend to keep the ginger beer for a long time, I'd suggest you sterilise your bottles. MAKING THE STARTER In a...
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The last post

This will be my last post here.  I've been writing my blog for 18 years and now is the time to step back. I’ve stopped writing the blog and come back a couple of times because so many people wanted it, but that won’t happen again, I won’t be back.  I’ll continue on instagram to remain connected but I don’t know how frequent that will be. I know some of you will be interested to know the blog's statistics. 
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How to make cold process soap

I'm sure many of you are wondering: "Why make soap when I can buy it cheaply at the supermarket?" My cold process soap is made with vegetable oils and when it is made and cured, it contains no harsh chemicals or dyes. Often commercial soap is made with tallow (animal fat) and contains synthetic fragrance and dye and retains almost no glycerin. Glycerin is a natural emollient that helps with the lather and moisturises the skin. The makers of commercial soaps extract the glycerin and sell it as a separate product as it's more valuable than the soap. Then they add chemicals to make the soap lather. Crazy. Making your own soap allows you to add whatever you want to add. If you want a plain and pure soap, as I do, you can have that, or you can start with the plain soap and add colour, herbs and fragrance. The choice is yours. I want to add a little about animal and bird fat. I know Kirsty makes her soap with duck fat and I think that's great. I think t...
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Preserving food in a traditional way - pickling beetroot

I've had a number of emails from readers who want to start preserving food in jars but don't know where to start or what equipment to buy.  Leading on from yesterday's post, let's just say up front - don't buy any equipment. Once you know what you're doing and that you enjoy preserving, then you can decide whether or not to buy extra equipment. Food is preserved effectively without refrigeration by a variety of different methods. A few of the traditional methods are drying, fermentation, smoking, salting or by adding vinegar and sugar to the food - pickling. This last method is what we're talking about today. Vinegar and sugar are natural preservatives and adding one or both to food sets up an environment that bacteria and yeasts can't grow in. If you make the vinegar and sugar mix palatable, you can put up jars of vegetables or fruit that enhance the flavour of the food and can be stored in a cupboard or fridge for months. Other traditional w...
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Cleaning mould from walls and fabrics

With all this rain around we've developed a mould problem in our home. Usually we have the front and back doors open and that good ventilation stops most moulds from establishing. However, with the house locked up for the past week, the high humidity and the rain, mould is now growing on the wooden walls near our front door and on the lower parts of cupboards in the kitchen. Most of us will find mould growing in our homes at some point. Either in the bathroom or, in humid climates, on the walls, like we have now. You'll need a safe and effective remedy at some point, so I hope one of these methods works well for you. Mould is not only ugly to look at, it can cause health problems so if you see mould growing, do something about it straight away. The longer you leave the problem, the harder it will be to get rid of it effectively. If you have asthma or any allergies, you should do this type of cleaning with a face mask on so you don't breathe in any spores. Many peopl...
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Five minute bread

Bread is one of those foods that, when made with your own hands, gives a great deal of satisfaction and delight. It's only flour and water but it symbolises so much. I bake bread most days and use a variety of flours that I buy in bulk. Often I make a sandwich loaf because we use most of our bread for lunchtime sandwiches and for toast. Every so often I branch out to make a different type of loaf. I have tried sour dough in the past but I've not been happy with any of them. I'll continue to experiment with sour dough because I like the idea of using wild yeasts and saving the starter over a number of years to develop the flavour and become a part of the family. However, the loaf I've been branching out to most often is just a plain old five minute bread. By five minutes I mean it takes about five minutes actual work to prepare but it's the easiest of all bread to make and to get consistently good loaves from. If you're having people around for lunch or...
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This is my last post.

I have known for a while that this post was coming, but I didn't know when. This is my last post. I'm closing my blog, for good, and I'm not coming back like I have in the past.  I've been writing here for 16 years and my blog has been many things to me. It helped me change my life, it introduced me to so many good people, it became a wonderful record of my family life, it helped me get a book contract with Penguin, and monthly columns with The Australian Women's Weekly and Burke's Backyard . But in the past few months, it's become a burden. In April, I'll be 75 years old and I hope I've got another ten years ahead. However, each year I'll probably get weaker and although I'm fairly healthy, I do have a benign brain tumour and that could start growing. There are so many things I want to do and with time running out, leaving the blog behind gives me time to do the things that give me pleasure. On the day the blog started I felt a wonderful, h...
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What is the role of the homemaker in later years?

An email came from a US reader, Abby, who asked about being a homemaker in later years. This is part of what she wrote: "I am a stay-at-home mum to 4 children, ages 9-16. I do have a variety of "odd jobs" that I enjoy - I run a small "before-school" morning drop-off daycare from my home, I am a writing tutor, and I work a few hours a week at a local children's bookstore. But mostly, I cherish my blissful days at home - cooking, cleaning (with homemade cleaners), taking care of our children and chickens and goats, baking, meal-planning, etc. This "career" at home is not at all what I imagined during my ambitious years at university, but it is far more enriching. I notice, though, that my day is often planned around the needs of my family members. Of course, with 4 active kids and a husband, this is natural. I do the shopping, plan my meals, cook dinner - generally in anticipation of my family reconnecting in the evening.  I can't h...
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Every morning at home

Every morning when I walk into my kitchen it looks tidy and ready for a day's work. Not so on this morning (above), I saw this when I walked in. Late the previous afternoon when I was looking for something, I came across my rolled up Zwilling vacuum bags and decided they had to be washed and dried. So I did that and although I usually put them outside on the verandah to dry it was dark by then. I turned the just-washed bags inside out and left them like this on a towel. It worked well and now the bags are ready to use when I bring home root vegetables, cabbages or whatever I buy that I want to last four or five weeks.
Image

You’ll save money by going back to basics

When I was doing the workshops and solo sessions, I had a couple of people whose main focus was on creating the fastest way to set up a simple life. You can't create a simple life fast, it's the opposite of that It's not one single thing either - it's a number of smaller, simpler activities that combine to create a life that reflects your values; and that takes a long to come together. When I first started living simply I took an entire year to work out our food - buying it, storing it, cooking it, preserving, baking, freezing, and growing it in the backyard. This is change that will transform how you live and it can't be rushed.  
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Trending Articles

The last post

This will be my last post here.  I've been writing my blog for 18 years and now is the time to step back. I’ve stopped writing the blog and come back a couple of times because so many people wanted it, but that won’t happen again, I won’t be back.  I’ll continue on instagram to remain connected but I don’t know how frequent that will be. I know some of you will be interested to know the blog's statistics. 
Image

Making ginger beer from scratch

We had a nice supply of ginger beer going over Christmas. It's a delicious soft drink for young and old, although there is an alcoholic version that can be made with a slight variation on the recipe. Ginger beer is a naturally fermented drink that is easy to make - with ginger beer you make a starter called a ginger beer plant and after it has fermented, you add that to sweet water and lemon juice. Like sourdough, it must ferment to give it that sharp fizz. To make a ginger beer plant you'll need ginger - either the powdered dry variety or fresh ginger, sugar, rainwater or tap water that has stood for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to evaporate off. You'll also need clean plastic bottles that have been scrubbed with soap, hot water and a bottle brush and then rinsed with hot water. I never sterilise my bottles and I haven't had any problems. If you intend to keep the ginger beer for a long time, I'd suggest you sterilise your bottles. MAKING THE STARTER In a...
Image

Time changes everything

I've been spending time in the backyard lately creating a contained herb and vegetable garden. My aim is to develop a comfortable place to spend time, relax, increase biodiversity and encourage more animals, birds and insects to live here or visit. Of course I'd prefer my old garden which was put together by Hanno with ease and German precision. Together, we created a space bursting at the seams with herbs, vegetables and fruity goodness ready to eat and share throughout the year. But time changes everything. What I'm planning on doing now, is a brilliant opportunity for an almost 80 year old with balance issues. In my new garden I'll be able to do a wide range of challenging or easy work, depending on how I feel each day. It’s a daily opportunity to push myself or sit back, watch what's happening around me and be captivated by memories or the scope of what's yet to come.
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The most wonderful news

This post will give me more joy to write than anything else I could think of today.  I told you  there are a few exciting things happening here at the moment, well, I am now able to tell you the most exciting one of them.  Our son Kerry and his beautiful partner Sunny are having a baby!  Hanno and I will be grandparents in late March.  I can barely believe my eyes when I read what I have just written.  This is one of my original stitchery patterns. This wasn't planned but it's welcomed wholeheartedly by all of us.  Both Kerry and Sunny are hard workers and now that they have a baby to love and care for, they've decided it's time to buy an apartment together.  Sunny is going home to Korea to tell her family and when she comes back again, the search will start to find their first home together.  We are all so excited!  My knitting has taken on a life of its own and when I think of all the projects I could start, my head spins.  Thi...
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About Blog



Down to Earth is a blog by Rhonda Hetzel, dedicated to simple, intentional living — from home cooking and gardening to frugal budgeting and handmade crafts. It’s a space for gentle inspiration and everyday wisdom on creating a life that feels real, balanced, and deeply fulfilling.

Last Year's Popular Posts

The last post

This will be my last post here.  I've been writing my blog for 18 years and now is the time to step back. I’ve stopped writing the blog and come back a couple of times because so many people wanted it, but that won’t happen again, I won’t be back.  I’ll continue on instagram to remain connected but I don’t know how frequent that will be. I know some of you will be interested to know the blog's statistics. 
Image

Every morning at home

Every morning when I walk into my kitchen it looks tidy and ready for a day's work. Not so on this morning (above), I saw this when I walked in. Late the previous afternoon when I was looking for something, I came across my rolled up Zwilling vacuum bags and decided they had to be washed and dried. So I did that and although I usually put them outside on the verandah to dry it was dark by then. I turned the just-washed bags inside out and left them like this on a towel. It worked well and now the bags are ready to use when I bring home root vegetables, cabbages or whatever I buy that I want to last four or five weeks.
Image

You’ll save money by going back to basics

When I was doing the workshops and solo sessions, I had a couple of people whose main focus was on creating the fastest way to set up a simple life. You can't create a simple life fast, it's the opposite of that It's not one single thing either - it's a number of smaller, simpler activities that combine to create a life that reflects your values; and that takes a long to come together. When I first started living simply I took an entire year to work out our food - buying it, storing it, cooking it, preserving, baking, freezing, and growing it in the backyard. This is change that will transform how you live and it can't be rushed.  
Image

Workshops update

  This photo shows what the weather's been like here.  That's steam coming off my neighbours shed roof after a brief downpour of rain.  I hope we’re getting closer to organising these workshops. I didn’t explain this clearly enough: Group 1 is four workshops, Group 2 is four workshops. Out of those eight workshops I thought we probably end up doing three or four.
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Creating a home you'll love forever

Living simply is the answer to just about everything. It reduces the cost of living; it keeps you focused on being careful with resources such as water and electricity; it reminds you to not waste food; it encourages you to store food so you don't waste it and doing all those things brings routine and rhythm to your daily life. Consciously connecting every day with the activities and tasks that create simple life reminds you to look for the meaning and beauty that normal daily life holds.  It's all there in your home if you look for it. Seemingly mundane tasks like cleaning and cooking help you with that connection for without those tasks, the home you want to live in won't exist in the way you want it to.  Creating a home you love will make you happy and satisfied.
Image

Time changes everything

I've been spending time in the backyard lately creating a contained herb and vegetable garden. My aim is to develop a comfortable place to spend time, relax, increase biodiversity and encourage more animals, birds and insects to live here or visit. Of course I'd prefer my old garden which was put together by Hanno with ease and German precision. Together, we created a space bursting at the seams with herbs, vegetables and fruity goodness ready to eat and share throughout the year. But time changes everything. What I'm planning on doing now, is a brilliant opportunity for an almost 80 year old with balance issues. In my new garden I'll be able to do a wide range of challenging or easy work, depending on how I feel each day. It’s a daily opportunity to push myself or sit back, watch what's happening around me and be captivated by memories or the scope of what's yet to come.
Image

Simple life workshops on Zoom UPDATED

I've added more topics to the list. This post is for those readers who expressed interest in doing online Zoom workshops or who want to register now. The topics haven't been chosen yet but potential topics are:  vegetable gardening and composting; starting a vegetable garden and choosing vegetables suitable for a beginner;  cutting costs in the home, housework and routines; homemade laundry liquid and powder, soaking, stain removal and washing clothes and household linens; cooking from scratch and building your pantry to help you do it; homemade bread - white, rye, wholemeal and ancient grains. I'm not doing sourdough; living on less than you earn and developing a frugal mindset.
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