If you've been reading here for a while you'll know I often write about finding a balance. For me, time management is the tool I use to find the balance between work and play. It's important to know that if you give yourself too much play time, you won't have the time to do the work you need to do and, of course, the reverse is true too - working through the day with no rest or time for yourself isn't healthy. You need to find the balance that suits you.


My life is pretty easy and relaxed now that my boys have grown and moved away. Now it's just Hanno and I, and our chooks, dog and cat. But there was a time when I felt like I worked from sun up to sun down, plus some. Luckily I realised early on that I needed to look after myself too and I made sure that I always gave myself time each day to sit and relax or do something that enriched me. I made time available to myself, I didn't give it all to my family or my home. I gave the gift of time to myself because when mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And when I write mama, I mean papa too.

If you work day after day doing only for others, no matter how noble and useful that makes you feel, it will eventually weigh you down and you'll begin to resent it. It is very important for you to nurture your family, but it's also very important to nurture yourself as well. You have to find something to renew and enrich your spirit every day - that may be sewing, having a cuppa with a good book, prayers or meditation, having a nap, writing or painting, soaking in a hot bath with cucumber slices on your eyes, doing your nails, writing letters, taking the dog for a walk or knitting. Whatever it is must give you joy so you go to bed each night feeling you've done your best in your chosen work - be that at home or outside the home, and that you've given time to yourself to be you.

It doesn't have to take a lot of time, but if you use your time management skills, you'll be able to juggle your time to make available what you need. And this is something I found worked well for me - I told myself that I appreciated the time I had for myself. I actually said, sometimes aloud and sometimes silently, "this is good, you'll enjoy this", or "ahhh, I really need this time today, I'll make the most of it." Whatever it is that you say to yourself, say it so you mark your time as being separate. Acknowledge your enjoyment - it makes it more real.

While time management is a big subject, the steps towards managing your time are all small. Start off with your list of "to dos" for your day, make sure you have your time in there too and refer to the list in the previous time management post. Always remember we aren't managing our time so we are slaves to our work - we do it to work efficiently, to get our necessary work done and to give ourselves time to relax and do what we love. I can't tell you what it is you'll spend your free time on, only you know that, but I will tell you that if you give yourself that time to do something you love, it will make a significant difference in your life.

I spent quite a bit of time over the weekend staring out at the scene above. It's what I look out on when I sit in my workroom. "Workroom" is the inappropriate name I've given my sewing and writing room, but I have to admit, I don't feel like I'm working when I'm in there. Nevertheless, I did a few hour's work on my book, pottered around and talked to Hanno through the window while he painted posts on the front verandah.

It was a lazy weekend. There was rain, a few visitors, knitting and a bit of cooking. All in all a very pleasant time. I hope yours was too.

It's been a gruelling couple of days here. Tuesday afternoon my DIL Cathy was rushed to hospital with high blood pressure. My step son works three hours away, so I called him to come home, then Hanno and I went to the hospital. Cathy had a series of small strokes. She only in her mid-40s. She is okay and is home again now, and when I visited yesterday she looked good and said she felt okay.

Hanno and I went to the doctor yesterday, I got the all clear but Hanno has something suspicious in his blood test and needs a scan and more tests. He says he feels fine so we'll just have to wait and see what the scan shows. My sister Tricia phoned last night to tell me our cousin Stephen is dying in a Sydney hospital. For a family that has never had much in the way of illness, we sure are making up for it.


My garden is providing much needed solace for me right now. I go out there and I swear it transforms me. It's a particularly abundant garden at the moment with a lot of fruit growing, and although it's very slow, the promise of it is there.

You are more likely to build the life you want for yourself if you use everything you have at hand. One of the things we don't always think of as an asset is the time we have available to us every day. Time is intangible, sometimes we forget it's one of our treasures. One of the many things I had to learn to give me the full measure of each day was time management. I have to know that the time available to me each day is used productively.

It's too easy to sit down with a good book or my knitting, it's too easy to read blogs for hours and it's too difficult to recover from it. My simple life is about a mindful rhythm of work that bubbles along at an easy pace, it's about consistency of purpose and it's about focus and getting my jobs done. In a nutshell, it's about time management and if I keep to my plan I know that everything I have to do, as well as those things I want to do, will be done.

I work harder in my home now than at any other time in my life. There are chores to be done here that in past times would have been done by others – I, like many others, bought convenience and freed my time to work for money to pay for it. I've seen the light now – I know that I can still have all I need and want in my home if I do the work for it – and to fit it all in the time each day affords, I need to manage my time effectively.


Here are a few things that I do that might work for you too:

LISTS
I have goals. Every morning when I rise, I know what I want to do that day. I used to write it all down but now, with the experience of so many days and the rhythm of my work built into my days, I know what and when I will do my work. But this is one of the things you can do to organise yourself - write a list of what we need to do tomorrow. Write your list in the order you will do your tasks, or the most important tasks first, but we flexible enough to change it if it doesn't all go to plan.

GET UP EARLY
This is a difficult one to develop. I started doing this when I was much younger and my boys were in primary school. Then, I was working full time and studying for a degree, as well as being a mother and a wife. I discovered that if I rose early I had a few hours of time when I was alone to study or write. I still do this but now it's the time I write my blog - so what I want to do doesn't impact on what I have to do.

PLAN YOUR MENU
Having your meals organised will help you relax enough for your other tasks. You'll know what you'll be preparing for dinner that night and have all the ingredients waiting for you. No last minute panic, no rushing to the store to buy something that is missing.

DELEGATE
I believe children benefit a lot if they grow up knowing they contribute in a practical way to the welfare of their home. From an early age, give them tasks, within the limits of their age and ability, that help with the overall running of the house and teach them how to look after themselves in the process. They can start off putting their dirty clothes in the laundry hamper, picking up toys and feeding the cat, and progress to more involved tasks as they mature.

DO A BIT OF HOUSEWORK EVERYDAY
My days are made up of housework but for those of you who work outside the home as well, get into the habit of doing a few tasks each day. You might clean the bathroom, wash a load of laundry every morning, or vacuum the family room. Whatever it is you can manage during the week, it will keep your home in order and give you more time on the weekend to spend with the family.

SAY NO TO TIME WASTERS
Turn off the TV, walk away from the computer, say no to the neighbour who always pops in for morning coffee. Say no to whatever temps you away from today's list.

GIVE YOURSELF TIME
Saying no to time wasters will free up time for yourself. It will give you time with your family or to spend on sewing, or a spare 30 minutes to sit alone with your thoughts and a cuppa.

STOCKPILE
Stockpiling groceries has turned my weekly trip to the supermarket into one that I do maybe once a month. Shopping once a month instead of weekly will free up quite a few hours for other things you need or want to do.

SAVING MORNING TIME
Doing a few extra things at night will free up time the following morning. Most families are in a rush in the morning - if you can do a quick tidy up, make tomorrow's lunches, put on a load of laundry or pick out clothes to be worn the next day before you go to bed, you'll free up time the following morning.


We all have different demands on our time but one thing is common to us all, if you can manage your time effectively, delegate and make the deliberate choices that your own life requires of you, you will live well and have enough time for your family and for those things you want to do. I have no doubt that many of you have developed ways of managing your time to suit the life you live. I'd love to know what you're doing so please share if you can.

On the subject of time management, I received an email this morning from a reader who was very upset that I hadn't yet replied to her email sent a week ago. I haven't yet replied to emails sent three weeks ago, however most of you know that I try to reply to a few each day. I've been ill and then trying to catch up with my work, not to mention my book, and some things remain undone. I am sorry you all have to wait but I can only do what I can do. I'm taking the email address down again and hope that things settle down soon. And to that reader, I will reply to your email but there are others ahead of you.

I had goose bumps yesterday listening to the wonderful speech given by President-elect Obama. I believe he will return hope to American and show the way to a much brighter future. The American election received extensive coverage in Australia, and I'm sure in most Western countries, because no matter how much we all complain about the influence of America on our individual cultures, our future as allies is bound together and we either sink or swim together. So congratulations to all my American friends for having the courage to vote for your first African American president, and for the record number of voters who turned out to make history.

I particularly liked this part of Senator Obama's speech:

"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope. "

There are hard times ahead for all of us but I have more hope today than I had yesterday that with good leadership – both here in Australia and in the international community, we will move together towards a better future.

COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE CLOSED

I picked a swag of tomatoes the other day. They're still green, a few are starting to turn red, but basically they're green tomatoes. That is how I always pick my tomatoes and I believe it makes no difference to ripen them on the vine. Over the years, those that have ripened in the garden have had the same taste as those ripened in the kitchen.

I pick them green to encourage new flowers to form, and therefore increase the yield. We also have a variety of insect pests here and picking green takes the temptation of a juicy ripe tomato away. Picking green gives us more tomatoes. In a perfect world tomatoes would ripen on the vine but my world is far from perfect, so green tomatoes it is. I have to say that I love seeing ripening tomatoes in the kitchen. It gives me the sense that things are growing well, even if they're not.

But lets get back to the beginning and talk about planting tomatoes. While there are many different ways to get the best from those seeds you have, this is how I grow tomatoes.

Prepare a clean and sterilised single cell tray or single small pots. They can be sterilised for this purpose by soaking clean pots or trays in a bucket of water to which a tablespoon of liquid bleach has been added. Allow to soak overnight or for a couple of hours. Rinse under clean water and allow to drain. Fill the trays or pots with a good potting mix, place one seed in each cell or pot and cover with fine seed raising mix. Water gently with a spray bottle or very fine hose spray. Don't let the water be too forceful or it will dislodge the seeds. Set in a protected area out of the sun and water every day.

When the seedlings are about 8 to 10 cm or 3 or 4 inches tall, transfer to a slightly larger pot. Transplant each plant to a new pot but instead of planting up to the level it grew in the previous pot, bury it deeper. Remove the lower leaves and plant a bit deeper than that level. New roots will come from the node you removed the leaves from and you'll have a stronger plant. Place these plants in a sheltered but sunny spot and continue to water them. Being in the sun will allow them to toughen up a bit before being planted in the garden. When you see signs of new growth, it's time to plant them in the garden.

Don't plant your tomatoes where tomatoes, chillies, eggplants or potatoes have been growing in the previous couple of years. This will encourage wilt disease. Prepare your garden bed about two weeks before you plant. Tomatoes like a rich soil so add lots of compost, a little blood and bone or other organic fertiliser and a sprinkle of potash in each plant hole. Be careful not to add to much nitrogen to your bed as that will make the tomato form a lot of green leaves at the expense of the tomatoes. Water this bed well and keep it slightly moist until you plant.


Most tomatoes need some form of growing support so before you plant your tomatoes, select enough stakes for every plant you have and hammer them into the garden - spaced far enough apart so each plant can grow well without touching the next plant. If you live in a humid climate, this is particularly important. You want good air flow around your plants. Once you have your stakes in, plant out your seedlings, again removing the lower leaves and placing them lower than they were growing in the pot. Water in well using a weak solution of seaweed extract, making sure you don't water the foliage. Your aim here is to increase the amount of root on each plant. The more roots you have the better your tomato will grow. Most plants will not have to be tied up at this point. Let them settle in for a week or so and then tie them to their stake.

If you have any soil diseases, you will increase the likelihood of your tomatoes being infected if you water in a way that splashes soil onto the lower leaves. If you have to cut off the lower leaves to avoid this, do it. Consistent watering is essential if you are to avoid Blossom End Rot. This is a calcium deficiency brought on by inconsistent watering that stops the plant drawing necessary calcium from the soil.


Once your tomatoes are planted and watered, mulch heavily with straw and mound the mulch up around the stem of the plant. It is fine to do this and it will encourage more roots to grow from the stem into the mulch. Then it's just a matter of time. If you've added potash to the planting holes, it will encourage flowers to form. Keep watering according to your climate, making sure the plants are well hydrated. For example, we water here every second day. It is better to water deeply to encourage the roots to go deep rather than watering every day which will keep the roots closer to the surface. Once every two weeks, apply a weak solution of seaweed. If you notice the plants aren't growing well, apply a weak solution of an organic nitrogen fertiliser. But if you've planted in a well prepared bed, this probably won't be necessary.

When you tomatoes start growing, look at them every day. You'll probably be watching for the heliothis grub - photo here and birds. If you notice a few grubs it's best to just pick those fruit off and kill the grub. If you know you will have a lot of grubs, you can spray with a bio spray called Dipel. I rarely spray for anything, preferring instead to closely observe what is happening in the garden and removing the offenders early by hand.

As I stated earlier, it's okay to pick green tomatoes, they will riped on your kitchen bench or in a bowl on the kitchen table.

If you want to save seeds for your next crop. Choose the best tomato from lower down on the bush. You want to choose the best fruit because they will be the qualities you will pass on to the next crop. Pick the tomato and let it sit in the shade until it is overripe. Cut the tomato in two and scoop out the seeds with a clean spoon. Place the seeds in a clean glass with three tablespoons of water added. You need the seeds to ferment, so place the glass in a warm window sill and let them sit for a week. You'll notice scum forming when the seeds ferment. That is good. When you're sure the seeds have fermented, pour them into a strainer and wash them thoroughly but gently, removing the flesh surrounding the seeds. Then place on a paper towel or newspaper and allow to dry thoroughly. When they're completely dry - after a day or so, store them in a sealed and labelled container.

And that is how I grow tomatoes - a very important crop here in my home. If you eat a lot of tomatoes and you only have room for one or two plants, let those plants be tomatoes because home grown tomatoes are entirely different to store bought ones.

It’s been a funny old weekend. I think the haze of pain and painkillers is finally leaving me, I’ve done some work on my book and tried to catch up a little on housework not done over the past few weeks. Not doing my work here disconnects me from my purpose so getting back to it feels comfortable and reaffirming.

We have a snake living in the chook house. I think she is there for the mice and rats that hang around at night eating the leftover grain and seed. She's not bothering the chooks, she just sits up near the roof and moves away slowly if we get too close. She is a non-venomous python - either a carpet snake or a spotted python. You can see her in the photo above after she moved into the thick undergrowth behind the chook house, below you can see her yellow belly under the roof of the coop.

I don't consider myself a good knitter. I think my talent lies in picking projects that I'm capable of doing. :- ) That said, most knitting is plain or purl, or various combinations of it. My mother taught me to knit but I didn't see the value of it until I understood more about its meditative qualities and could slow down enough to appreciate and be changed by it.

If you're new to knitting, it's quite easy to become more proficient. You do that by knitting dishcloths - think of each one as a little sampler, but your sampler has the additional benefit of being usable as well. Sharon and other knitters have posted a lot of learn to knit sites so all you need to have is some time, a pair of needles and yarn. Once you've mastered cast on and cast off, plain and purl stitches, go back to your knitting site and have a look at the knitting abbreviations. All knitting patterns use these. On your next dishcloth, practise some of the next steps like K2tog (knit two together) or YO (yarn over), mixing them in with your plain and purl stitches and see how your pattern develops.

I am not proficient enough yet to worry about tension. I just knit until it fits. ;- )

This Ascot scarf is a simple pattern of plain, purl, K2tog and YO and it goes like this.

Cast on 34 stitches.

Knit 8 rows.
Knit 1, YO, K2tog and repeat until the end of the row.
Purl one row.

And repeat those three sets of instructions until the scarf is the size you want.

Finish with knit 8 rows and cast off.

You'll need to find some form of fixing the scarf on the neck. I chose two press studs that are hidden under two of these crocheted flowers. I set the press studs at an angle to allow the scarf to fit in around the neck but open up a little towards the shoulders. If you click on the photo above, you'll see the press studs on the right hand side. You could also use buttons or a pin/brooch.

This grey scarf measures 6 inches by 18 inches and took about 1½ balls of pure wool. I used size 6 needles. The scarf is a variation of this scarf which would be a great project if you have some silky yarn.

I want to thank everyone who contributed to yesterday's comments on Nourishing Traditions. I always enjoy reading your thoughts but I want to take this opportunity to explain something about myself that a few of you don't understand.

I firmly believe that everyone has the right to a different view to my own, and to express that view in a thoughtful and respectful way. Difference helps makes us what we are as a group of people - it makes us more interesting, it gives me reason to think about the comments left and, over time, it helps shape me and possibly others who read here. Difference allows us to see other possibilities.

When I recommended this book to you yesterday it was not so you could do what I'm doing. I don't want anyone to be an imitation of me. I made that recommendation so you could read that book and get from it whatever your stage of life, knowledge and past experience will allow you to get from it. I am 60 years old and I have enough life experience to know that many of the things that were good for me when I was 30 do not work well for me now. Needs modify throughout life, nothing is stagnant, change is necessary.

So the recommendation was not to drink raw milk or to eat meat or anything else. The recommendation was simply to read the book - and to see if it made enough sense to you to make some changes. I found the information on cholesterol and heart disease to be very interesting. I often wondered why deaths from heart disease continued to increase when the consumption of low fat foods increased. But everyone will get something different from this book and that is a good thing.

I want to remind you that my blog is not a prescription for anyone to follow. It is simply an account of how I live. If what I write gives you ideas or motivation, that's wonderful, but always remember that your life is about YOU, not me. I hope you will always be open to change, but only ever make changes after you've thought about them carefully and in the context of your own life.

Kim NZ made a good point on the cost of meat. Kim, I expect that our costs will be minimal but I will monitor it. We won't eat meat every day. Our diet will continue along the same lines - eating from the garden and backyard for the most part - we will replace a fish meal with a meat meal maybe once a week. So far I have bought 2 kg of shin beef, with the bone in, that cost $9.90 a kilo. A kilo (with bone) will make us four meals so it's affordable at the moment.

To all those people who are waiting for a reply to an email, I'm slowly getting through them and hope to contact you soon. As always, I enjoy your input here and I love that we are such a diverse group of people. I hope to be back later with the pattern for the ascot scarf.