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Hello swappers! Don't forget that tomorrow, Wed., March 5 is the deadline for signing up for the shopping tote swap. I will also be working to get the photos reloaded for The Parade of Tea Cosies round 4. I believe that the internet was hungry and ate them. I will get them back up this evening!!
Recently my sister Kathleen sent me a magazine article called Grin and Tonic. I don't know what magazine it's from, there was a time when I knew every popular magazine by their page style, now I'm happy that I don't know. Anyhow, it's a very interesting view on happiness. In part it reads:
"While not exactly simple, some of their findings suggest there may indeed be a science to happiness - even a recipe. (And if your own idea of happiness is a flat-screen TV or a pair of Jimmy Choo heels then cover your eyes because the truth is, well, not very glamorous.)
...
When University of Wisconsin researcher Dr Richard Davidson hooked up a Tibetan monk to an MRI and asked him to meditate on, of all things, compassion, he got the most surprising result of all.
"There as a dramatic increase in activity in the areas of the brain associated with happiness. There is an inextricable link between personal happiness and kindness."

Well, well, well. Fancy that. So all those times our mothers and grandmothers told us to be kind to others they were really showing us the way to personal happiness.

The article goes on to state that in another study they found that five random acts of kindness a week for six weeks "produced a dramatic increase in the subjects' levels of happiness".

This is one thing I know to be true. I know that being kind to others makes me happy. And it's more than the feeling I get when I am thanked for a kindness, it's more than the smile that sets on my face when I see the delight of someone who has been surprised by kindness, it's more than that, much more. This kind of happiness is within, it's more permanent than a fleeting smile, this kind of happiness stays with you, it can be built upon.

Before I changed my life I was kind to others but never went out of my way to be. Now that it's a more conscious action I make sure I'm kind whenever the opportunity arises and I have deliberately chosen to spend some of my time where I will be in a position to help others. It has made such a difference. It has shown me that my own life truly is blessed, that giving is much better than receiving, that my soul is enriched by people I would otherwise not have met and that my life is better by doing this simple thing.

There is a knack to kindness - it should be quiet and matter-of-fact. Grand acts of kindness, done only for the thanks or what will come from it, are quite the opposite of what I'm writing about. This kindness is often carried out with no thanks or expectations of it. And I'm not talking about making yourself a doormat either. This kindness will make you stronger. Doormat kindness is loud and obvious and done to make yourself popular or to look good. I think real kindness is like a whisper, only you and the recipient know.

I have never been happier than I am now and I owe that to the kind of life I live. I have deliberately made the choices that give me this kind of life and I repeat those deliberate choices almost every day. I knew long before I lived this way that kindness, generosity and sharing would be a big part of my life but until I started living it, I didn't know how happy I would be made by those simple choices.

If you feel that your life is out of control and you're not sure how to steady it, think about what I've written here. You can change at any point by making small, deliberate choices in your every day life. Kindness is easy and simple but the rewards that come from the quiet execution of it are far more complex than I can fathom. All I know is that I have been changed by giving and if you can change one person's life by an act of kindness, then you will start to change your own life too.


Hello everyone. I hope all of you enjoyed all the rounds of the "Parade of Tea Cosies". I just wanted to remind everyone that the deadline to sign up for the shopping bag tote swap is Wed., March 5. If you have any friends who might be interested please pass on the blog address so they can sign up too. Have a great week and we will sort out the swap buddies on Thursday and Friday (it is a popular swap and there are nearly 90 already signed up). I hope to post the swap buddies on Saturday, March 8. Happy swapping!
I'm really excited about today. Today is the day the new Centre opens its doors to the public for the first time. Today will be a day to remember.

My two days off went by quickly and although I tried to slow down, I hurried through my weekend chores so I'd be ready for today. I don't like hurrying because I fail to appreciate what I'm doing or why I'm doing it, but at least I got through it all and now I'm prepared for the week ahead. Yesterday, while Hanno worked in the vegetable garden, I swept, did some cleaning, ironing, cooking, tended to the emerging seedlings, finished off my article for Warm Earth magazine and started casting off the cowl scarf I started a couple of weeks ago. It feels good to finish off projects and although the article and cowl finished on that hurried day, I have taken my time with them and am happy with both.

One of the housekeeping tasks I did yesterday was an important one for me, I made soap - enough for the next few months. Some soaps turn out better than others and this one is excellent. It's creamy and smooth and I know it will cure well. I used the same recipe as that in the soap making tutorial (in the side bar) but I didn't have enough rice bran oil so I made up the quantity with a very nice Australian olive oil. It made up 12 large bars of soap and despite giving some to my boys, there will be enough for Hanno and I for a few months.

At 1pm, Hanno came in for lunch and I sat with my knitting to watch the first cricket final. India won! Pfffffffft. As I sat there knitting away and watching the cricket I formulated a plan for my birthday. I will be 60 next month and I want to mark the occasion in a way that suits how we live. There will be about 10 people here and I want to have a lunch in the back yard under the shade of the fig and pecan trees. I'll serve vegetable soup with tiny herb dumplings, hot home-baked bread with homemade butter and salad with sprouts, garden greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, boiled eggs and local Maleny cheese. Dessert will be a brandy and coffee cake with local cream. I think that at least 50 percent of the lunch will be produced in our back yard, about 25 percent from the local area and 25 percent from sources further afield. I'm looking forward to being 60, as it will start a new phase of my life, and to celebrate the day with my family and a few close friends will make it really special and something I'll remember for a long time.

And now I must have breakfast and get ready for this day. This is one to remember too. Thank you for stopping by today, thanks for Sharon and Lorraine for organising these incredible swaps and thanks to all the ladies who sent in photos of the wonderful tea cosies.

These are the three oils I used yesterday for my soap.

My trusty soap mixer.

And the end product. I'll have to tidy up the bars of soap when they cure a little. I needed to get them cut before I watched the cricket.

to cate from lightening
to karen g from maria
to denise from leah
to leah from denise

These are all the pictures we have received so far...we will add more as we get them. We would still love to get photos of the cosies, so we can show off your hard work and creativity!!!

Sharon and Lorraine
from renee to jean



to Christine from sharon








to sarah j from hannah

from sandra (Au) to mary (tx)






to sandratee from pura










to liane from judy
to judy from liane
to jackie from liz
to hannah from sarah j
to donna from amy
to maria from karen g
to margaretc39 from lillymarlene
to liz from jackie
to lillymarlene from margaretc39
to lightening from cate
to sharon from christine
to sharon from robbie
to sarah from ann (UK)
to sandra from mary
to robbie from sharon
I am so glad that everyone is excited about the shopping tote swap. I hope that those who haven't yet signed up will go ahead and take the plunge-it is really a lot of fun!! I would also like to ask Deb of Homespun Living and Jayedee to please give us an e-mail address (don't forget to spell it out to keep the spam away). I am still receiving tea cosy photos and will start posting the "Partial Parade of Tea Cosies" (say that really fast five times) this week-end. There will probably be about 5 different posts of the photos so look for yours in the next few days. If anyone has any questions about the swap please feel free to e-mail me at cdetroyes at yahoo dot com Happy Swapping!! Sharon
I am really pleased to see so many readers joining the tote bag swap. It's a way of connecting with others in this wonderful blog community and of having a bit of fun getting to know your swap partner. The end result of developing sewing skills, and then using your handmade tote bag, is the icing on the cake. If you have been too shy to join, or you're unsure of your sewing skills, give it a go. If you have any problems, just post a question in the comments and I'm sure there will be many of us who will help you through.

The move went smoothly and almost everything is packed away again. I worked yesterday and felt really satisfied and happy that the house is beginning to feel like a real home. We made plans for the garden and a new car park, I hooked up the computers again, the phones are working, the internet will be connected next week and on Monday, our opening day, we'll have a sausage sizzle with the Flexischool kids so we can all celebrate our move.

Yesterday we had our first unexpected visitors for morning tea - the local member of parliament and the shire councillor. We had the plans for our new building (to be built next year) laid out on the kitchen table around the muffins someone brought in and cups of tea and coffee, and I had a little smile when I thought that this gentle way of planning with hot tea and a feeling of goodwill, is how all planning should be done. This real connection with people over shared ideals and hopes for the future is powerful, and it gets results. There is a good feeling in that house and we'll all smiling like Cheshire cats.


But back to reality, where today I have a lot of work to catch up on. I want to watch the Cricket semi final tomorrow and I need to do all my work today so I can go back to work on Monday knowing I'm up to date at home.

It's a mixture of gardening, laundry, baking, cleaning and tidying up today. I removed the tomatoes from the aquaponics garden on Thursday and have them all clumped together in one soil pot. They'll all be repotted and I'll take photos of the work so I can write about potting tomatoes next week. I'll check on the seedlings while I'm out there and give them a feed of seaweed to strengthen them before they're planted out. It's great to have summer out of the way and to move into Autumn, my favourite time of year. I just took the dogs outside to be fed and there is a real nip in the air this morning, it might be time to move my jumpers and cardigans up in my closet drawers. Everything seems possible to me in Autumn, it always feels like a time of fresh new beginnings. I wonder if it's because I was born in Autumn.

We have a tray of kale to be planted out, along with some squash, cucumbers and a few sugarloaf cabbages. In that blue container are the tomatoes that where submerged in rainwater last week. They seem to be fine now. I'll put them out in the sun today to allow the soil to warm up and help the seeds germinate and grow.

When Hanno cut the avocado branch off the other day we found these elkhorn ferns up high in the tree top. I brought them home instead of having them carted off to the rubbish dump. In the photo above you can see the gnarled branch of that old avocado tree where these ferns and lichen had been growing for who knows how long. I've leave them on the branch to grow in the bush house.

If you're in Australia or New Zealand, I hope you're enjoying your weekend. For those of you further away, I hope you have plans for a relaxed weekend with your loved ones. Thank you for dropping by and sharing this big week with me. It will be Spring for some soon and Autumn for others, let's all move into our new seasons with the hope of good times ahead.

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I'm Rhonda Hetzel and I've been writing my Down to Earth blog since 2007. Although I write the occasional philosophical post, my main topics include home cooking, happiness and gardening as well as budgeting, baking, ageing, generosity, mending and handmade crafts. I hope you enjoy your time here.

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Popular posts last year

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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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

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This is my last post.

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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.
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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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All previous blog posts

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      • Workshops starting 1 March
      • Planting vegetable seeds and new workshops
      • Back where we belong
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    • May 1
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    • February 1
  • 2024 25
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    • August 1
    • July 3
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    • April 2
    • March 3
    • February 2
    • January 2
  • 2023 13
    • December 1
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    • September 3
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    • February 2
    • January 2
  • 2022 17
    • November 3
    • October 4
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  • 2021 50
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Trending Articles

NOT 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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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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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.
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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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It's the old ways I love the most

I'm a practical woman who lives in a 1980’s brick slab house. There are verandahs front and back so I have places to sit outside when it's hot or cold. Those verandahs tend to make the house darker than it would be but they're been a great investment over time because they made the house more liveable. My home is not a romantic cottage, nor a minimalist modern home, it's a 1980’s brick slab house. And yet when people visit me here they tell me how warm and cosy my home is and that they feel comforted by being here. I've thought about that over the years and I'm convinced now that the style of a home isn't what appeals to people. What they love is the feeling within that home and whether it's nurturing the people who live there.
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Back where we belong

Surprise! I'm back ... for good this time. Instagram became an impossible place for me. They kept sending me messages asking if I'd make my page available for advertisers! Of course, I said no but that didn't stop them. It's such a change from what Instagram started as. But enough of that, the important part of this post is to explain why I returned here instead of taking my writing offline for good. For a few years Grandma Donna and I have talked online face-to-face and it's been such a pleasure for me to get to know her. We have a lot in common. We both feel a responsibility to share what we know with others. With the cost of living crisis, learning how to cook from scratch, appreciate the work we do in our homes, shop to a budget and pay off debt will help people grow stronger. The best place to do that is our blogs because we have no advertising police harassing us, the space is unlimited, we can put up tons of photos when we want to and, well, it just feels li...
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