down to earth

I suppose it didn't take long to write my book but it seemed to drag on at times and certainly gave me cause to think about how I usually spend my days. I still do a bit of freelance writing when it comes my way but the majority of my time is spent as a homemaker. When I first gave up paid work, I wanted to close the world out, spend time in the garden collecting eggs, vegetables and flowers and along with that, I hoped to renew my spirit. I needed to do it; I was on the verge of being burnt out.

I thought the garden and the chooks would help me recover from spending years in the workforce and shopping malls, and of course they did. What I didn't expect was the charm and pleasure I found in ordinary domestic work. Sweeping the floor, making beds, baking bread, making soap, mending and knitting slowed me down and revealed to me that being the kind housewife I became was exactly what I needed to strengthen and save me.

I guess I am what most people would call an old fashioned housewife, but what I'm doing, the way I do my day to day tasks, isn't old fashioned to me, it's how I was taught and what I saw everyday as I was growing up. I was born in 1948 so I was a child during the 50s and a teenager and a young 20-something in the 1960s. All through those formative years I saw the women around me washing up at the sink, hanging clothes in the sun to dry, mending clothes, walking to the shops to collect fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and milk each day. What I am doing was imprinted on me all those years ago, every day I am thankful for the knowledge it gave me and I see no need to modernise.

I've grown used to the workings of a simple home - the baking, cooking, sewing, gardening and mending. When I didn't have the time to do it all while I was writing, I felt deprived and a bit empty. I don't think anyone should be defined by their job, but I know I am what I do. I am a housewife. I keep house, I volunteer, with Hanno's help, we make as much as we can to support this life we live, and we are not deminshed by that, we are enriched and energised by it.

I worked in the community yesterday but today I'll be working here, along side Hanno, doing the things I missed during the past few months. I can't tell you exactly what it is I missed - what part of it or what particular task - I missed IT, the entire thing, doing my house work, which usually started by writing a blog post and sending it out to you. So here I am, back, ready to continue on, open to everything that comes our way and very grateful that soon our family will grow and, once again, the cycle will continue.

Addition: The book is called Down to Earth and will be published by Penguin early 2012.

Hello again! I've been beavering away in my little office for a few months now, with the door closed from eight till five. I have to work like that because I am so easily lured away by any flimsy excuse or thoughts of knitting and cricket. But it paid off, I met my deadline and had the manuscript in on time yesterday. I feel a huge sense of relief and freedom. I'm going to enjoy getting back to all my regular chores and having the time to do whatever I want each day.

The idea of being able to create a Down to Earth book really appealed to me and being able to do it all from my home was the icing on the (whole orange) cake. I have no doubt there will be suggestions to rework and restructure bits of it, but I'm happy with that and I'll learn from my mistakes. There is still a lot of work ahead with editing and promoting the book, so I'm fortunate to still feel immense enthusiasm for the project. I hope, like this blog, the book provides information about the practical day to day activities of a simple life and helps many people clarify and work through life changing decisions. And of course, I want it to be a good read. I have my fingers crossed on that one.

What else has been happening in our neck of the woods? Today I'm back working at the Neighbourhood Centre and really looking forward to being there again. This Sunday, Hanno and I will drive down to the Gold Coast to have lunch with Shane, Sarndra, Kerry and Sunny. Sunny's baby will be born very soon (in March) so I'm sure the lunch will be full of catching up and talking about the future. Oh! another update - both babies are boys. : - ) Sarndra had a scan last week and was told she is having a boy (in July). We're all very happy and looking forward to holding both babies and getting to know them. I have to find some time now for more knitting.

Thank you for the love and support you've been sending me these past couple of weeks. I've had emails from many of you saying hello and sending kind words. Thank you also for voting for the blog in the Bloggies. I am amazed and delighted that we've been able to build up such a strong and genuine community around the blog and forum. Even though we are far apart, the friendships formed are real and very special to me.

The green bottle above is my latest batch of ginger beer. I've been experimenting with glass bottles and it's worked well. If the gas builds up too much in the drink, it pops the cork.

When I started blogging I felt like a bit of an outcast. Many of the people who were blogging about simplifying then had a political agenda wrapped around peak oil or climate change and almost no one was blogging about simplifying their homes. But I kept plodding along, developing my style and just writing about our transformed lives. I didn't expect too many people would notice what we were doing and it didn't matter much. What I was aiming for in that first year of blogging was to record a faithful and, hopefully, interesting account of how two ageing hipsters, turned their backs on mainstream life and built an unconventional but decent simple alternative.

Most of the books on simplifying then focused on debt, mindfulness, or going back to the land. I wanted to write about everyday activities, the practical side of life - those things we all do during the course of a normal day. So I wrote about getting out of debt, slowing down and producing food from our land but I also added how I made my bed every morning, the ins and outs of washing up by hand, hanging washing on the line, making dog food, aprons, dishcloths and soap at home, farming fish, fermenting, recycling jars and a hundred other things. For me, they were the actions of my day, I was interested in the mundane tasks of my home, I wanted them to be part of our simple transformation, and if they were that, to write about it. I wanted to write from the heart, to be open and non-judgmental, to show rather than tell, and to support and encourage those who wanted these things too.

For some reason people started writing and asking my opinion about many things and when I thought I could help, I answered. I don't like giving advice unless I'm asked for it and I really dislike reading blogs that preach a narrow one size view of simple life. As far as I'm concerned, if there are 5000 people reading this blog today, then there are probably 5000 different interpretations of how a simple life may be lived. Sure, there are points of overlap, but on the whole, we're all different, have different values and should not expect, nor want, to be carbon copies of each other. Difference and contrast are part of the appeal.

I'm often asked why I think my blog is popular and I never have an answer. If I were to guess, I'd say that I put the everyday tasks of a simple life in context and, hopefully, write about them so that others feel they're accessible and doable. I still love blogging, we continue to learn new skills and ways of doing our work and soon we'll have two new babies in our family to get to know, marvel at and to write about. I once thought there would be a certain short lifespan for my blog but if I continue to faithfully record the day to day lives of those two ageing hipsters, I cant see it stopping any time soon.

When you're an organic gardener, it pays you to work in with the natural ecosystem in your backyard. Try to stay away from sprays, because even the organic options sometimes kill beneficial insects and have withholding periods. There will be times when you'll have to use a commercial organic spray, bait or powder, but make sure it's the last option. I don't think that every recommended organic methods works. For instance, over the 30+ years we've been growing vegetables, I've tried companion planting every so often, but it's never worked for us. However, there are other organic techniques that do work and we rely on them year after year.

Marigolds alongside bok choy, tomatoes and cucumbers.

One of the things we do here is to plant flowers in the vegetable garden. Almost any flower will be suitable because most flowers bring in the bees, but there are a group of flowers that attract beneficial insects. Not all bugs are bad and if you go around killing every insect you see, you will be doing completely the wrong thing. Some bugs eat other bugs, or their eggs, and some of them lay their eggs in the bodies of other insects. It sounds pretty gruesome but it's how the natural world works and it can help you.

Yarrow flowers - this plant is also good for activating compost.

Dill flowers

Please be aware that the insects in each country may be different. Some will be the same everywhere, but others specific to certain countries or regions. In Australia, these insects are always a pest: the European wasp - these are aggressive and dangerous; ticks - the paralysis tick can kill dogs and cats; mosquitos - carry disease; the large earth bumble see - these were accidentally released in Tasmania and have been an environmental disaster, completing with native bees for food; fire ants - a relatively new pest but a serious threat in the areas they've colonised.

Daisies next to cos lettuce.

These are the beneficial bugs: most bees - in Australia there are two solitary native bees: the teddy bear bee and blue banded bee, and our little native bee, the sugar bag bee. We also have the honeybee, introduced into Australia in 1822 because the English thought there were no bees here. All those bees are good and if you have bees visiting your garden, particularly the native bees, you're very lucky. There are photos here showing some of our bees, including the pest large earth bumble bee. Ants are sometimes good and sometimes not. If they start farming scale for the honeydew, find the nest and get rid of them. Predatory wasps, hoverflies and most ladybugs are good fellows. You can see photos of these bugs here. It's a good idea to learn how to identify the beneficial bugs. For the American and Canadian gardeners, here is a site for you. Again, learn how to identify these insects. They will help you produce all those vegetables you want. For my UK friends, here is a site for you. Other insects that you want in your garden include:

assassin bugs
lacewings
stink beetles
parasitic wasps and predator wasps like paper wasps and mud daubers
many spiders
dragonflies
praying mantises
robber flies
lady beetles, but not the 28 spot beetle that looks like a lady beetle - they eat plants Photo here
ant lions

If you have children, you'll have to be careful if you have wasps visiting. Our rule of thumb here is that if they start building a nest close to where we are, such as the one the paper wasps started building on our front verandah last year, we remove the nest. Otherwise, they stay. If you see the occasional wasps in your garden, it is nothing to worry about, it's a healthy sign. Predatory and parasitic wasps are not aggressive and will only sting if you disturb their nest or attack them.

Flowering lettuce also help attract insects.

If you're going to create a garden and be outside in the sunshine you have to expect to come across other living creatures. Don't be scared of them. Like us, they're a part of the beautiful natural scheme of things and have a role to play in our world. If you're a new gardener, do some online research to educate yourself about what to expect in your region. Work with the natural elements, not against them and you'll be rewarded.

Nasturtiums and yarrow.

Now you know what bugs you want in your garden, how do you get them there. Flowers! The insects will come if you plant the flowers they love. Beneficial flowers include:

Cosmos
Daisies, including echinacea, feverfew, chrysanthemums, gerberas and chamomile
Red clover
Queen Anne's Lace
Carrot flowers
Dill flowers
Marigolds
Alyssum
Nasturtiums
Yarrow

Most insects need water, so put out a small container, off the ground, full of pebbles or stones so the insects can land and leave the water safely. It would be best placed in a protected area, like under a tree, or close to some herbs. They'll need some pebbles to land on so they don't drown. That would be an excellent project for the children. It would get them involved in the garden and it could be their job to refill the water container, keep it clean and make sure there is the right amount of water and pebbles.

Gardening, particularly organic gardening, is not just planting seeds and watering; it's more involved than that. It's all these little things that make the difference between a garden and a productive healthy garden. And the thing about gardening is you learn something new every year, you never know it all, but even in those first few years, it gives rewards and pleasures that will bring you back year after year.

My sister recently moved into a new home - a cute little two bedroom cottage that is about 60 or 70 years old. There are many things to love about her house but one of them is the larder. It's set off the old kitchen where the original fuel stove still sits. We don't build houses with larders now and few people have cellars but the good news is that the pantry is making a comeback. It's one of the most requested spaces in new homes. Food storage is back!

But here in the real world most of us have to deal with what we have and adjust our food storage to suit what's actually in our homes. I'm lucky that I have a pantry in my kitchen and a stockpile cupboard just around the side of the fridge. We also stockpile various items, mainly toiletries, frozen goods and bulk flour in our second bathroom. It's cool in there most of the year, just like a larder would be. Over the years I've stored grains and flour there, we've only had one problem with mildew and mould, and that was with our extended period of recent rain last last year.

In the old days a larder was traditionally situated on the side of the house that got the least amount of sunshine but our second bathroom/larder is in the middle of our house and has no outside windows. Our house is fully insulated so it remains at a fairly stable temperature and except for the hottest of hot days in summer, that bathroom is suitable for cool storage. The floor is tiled so sitting bags of oats or flour there, after they've spent a day or two in the freezer keeps them cool, dry and safe. When I start making cheese again, that is where they will be stored. I'm going to ask Hanno to make two long shelves with hooks underneath so I can place the cheeses along the shelves and hang garlic, herbs and other odds and ends under them. If I lived in a colder climate and I didn't have a room for cold storage, I'd be tempted to build a brick or block storeroom outside. I'd completely seal every ventilation slot and window with wire mesh to prevent any nasties getting in. It would be an excellent place to store vegetables, cheese, homemade wine, grain and flour.

Above is a variety of grains, pasta and small bags of SR flour being stored in the freezer. Below, bulk flour for breadmaking. I buy my flour from Simply Good at Morayfield, there is also a shop at Alderley.

Your biggest enemy when storing food is humidity, sunlight and pests. If you keep having problems with mould in your pantry, it may be too humid and you might be wise to look further away from your kitchen to store those foods. I have found that if I always freeze dry foods when they come into the house, then store them in their unopened bags or in a glass container, I have almost no bug problems. Sunlight on food dries it out and bleaches the colour. If you've put up jams or fruits in jars, even though they look pretty on the shelf, they won't last as long as they would in a dark dry and cool cupboard. One thing is for sure, if you're like me and always cook from scratch, have a garden and a stockpile, it is worth all the time you put into making sure your food remains fresh and safe. How have you set up your food storage areas?

This is a Friday photo feature that anyone with a blog can join. It opens the door to us sharing our lives through these photos and gives us all a new way to discover each other, and maybe form new friendships. Your photo should show something at home that you're thinking about TODAY. If you're in another country you should join in when you read this, even if it's still Thursday.

To take part, all you have to do is post a photo, write a short caption explaining it, and link it back to here. Please write a new post, don't link to an older one. When your photo is published, come back and add a comment below, with a link to your blog photo. Please visit all the blogs that appeal to you and leave a comment. If you are wondering why no one has commented on your On my mind post, maybe it's because you haven't commented on anyone else's. Slow down, take the time to cruise around and enjoy your cyber visits.

Meryl asked yesterday for a map of our garden, so that's been on my mind. This photo was taken two years ago from the roof of the house. When we set up our garden, fences were a priority. Naturally, Hanno built them and put them up. I meant to add yesterday too, that the garden is his territory. I plant seeds, water and harvest but Hanno does the bulk of the gardening work.

The small backyard outside our back door is where Alice is fed, she also used to play in the main backyard but now she sleeps inside most of the time. When we have guests, we often set up tables and chairs in the small backyard and we can lock out the dog and the chooks. The chooks have got a big run attached to their house; sometimes they spend their days in there, sometimes they're let out to free range in the main backyard. At the moment though, they're cleaning up the vegetable gardens for us in preparation for our March plantings - Hanno took out a piece of fence between their run and the garden so they can just wander in. The main backyard is also fenced, we have a gate to go down to the creek and around the side of the house. In my view, fences are necessary in a productive backyard. Without them chooks will run amok and pets can go wherever they want to. If you want to produce food, you have to be in control of the entire productive area.

We're starting to think about this year's vegetable garden. We usually do our main planting in March and although I thought we might be able to bring that forward a bit because of the rising prices of vegetables after the floods, it looks like it will be March after all. We're both busy with other things that are important and can't be put off. So March it is. Still that's only a couple of weeks away.

All these photos are of our vegetables in recent years.

Along with all of us in sub-tropical and tropical climates, I guess a lot of my northern hemisphere friends will be reading seed catalogues and making lists of vegetables for this summer's crops. We generally plant the same reliable seeds and seedlings every year because what we grow what we eat. If you're a new gardener and you're not sure what you should be planting, you'll find the answer in your kitchen. Grow what you like to eat and what you can team up with the food you have in your stockpile and pantry. Whatever you're buying a lot of now at the store, make sure it has a spot in your garden. If you don't have a lot of space or are a new gardener, plant the vegetables that cost the most to buy and the ones you use the most of. If you intend canning/preserving tomatoes or peaches or beans, whatever it is, grow enough to eat fresh and to put up in jars.

Heirloom tomatoes - Lillian's orange Heirloom and Brandywine.

If you love potatoes, plant some. A small crop the first year, and then expand on that in following seasons. If you have room for vines to scramble over the earth, plant some vine fruit like watermelon or rockmelon|cantaloupe, as well as pumpkin. You can store pumpkins for about six months. All vegetables, particularly melons, are great things to trade with neighbours for a dozen eggs or a jar of honey. Make a bit of room on the edges of your vegetable gardens for herbs and just plant those you eat or will use in some way in your home. Don't forget to take the time to enrich your soil with manures and compost. Nothing you will do in the garden is as important as that if you are going to rely on your garden to feed you.

I have already planted up tomatoes but we'll also plant snow peas, Lazy Housewife beans, cucumbers, beetroot, turnips, celery, capsicums|peppers, chillies, ginger, radishes, Portugese cabbage and Sugarloaf cabbage, Swiss chard, spinach, kale, bok choy and Chinese cabbage (I am hoping to share some cooking with Sunny after the baby is born). We'll put in a few lettuce and potatoes and add some chives to the already growing parsley, thyme, sage, comfrey and bay leaves.

Our backyard fruit is coming along well, we'll have another crop of lemons and oranges ready to pick soon, and a lot of passionfruit. Blueberries are starting to come on and there are some mandarins and pawpaw|papaya this year. I think we missed the bananas again but I might try a few strawberry plants closer to June. It looks like it's shaping up to be a good growing year. The tanks are full, we have compost maturing and we are ready, willing and able. Are you planting this year?

We knew it would last for a long time but this economic crisis is dragging on longer than I expected it to. There is no doubt there have been dire consequences for many people. Homes and jobs have been lost and more than a few lives and businesses destroyed. I hope genuine recovery is possible for all those who suffered.

At the beginning, when we were being warned to tighten our belts, I knew things would be tough, but I saw it as an opportunity for all of us to change, to move from being spenders to savers. After a period of hardship, I hoped for progress that would lead us to an environmental awakening. I hoped people would have a Eureka! moment and work out the savage link between spending and the overflowing landfills spewing carbon and methane into the atmosphere.

There is $72 in that bowl - it's my change jar.

Those of us who have been living within our frugal means for a long time knew that if we knuckled down and kept to our budgets, if we were cautious and if we didn't lose our jobs, if we could continue our thrifty ways, we would survive the crisis. However, there wen't many of us doing that, most people were living close to the edge. As the crisis dragged on, I was surprised to see people I've known for a long time change in ways I never thought possible for them. They started cutting back, being prudent with their spending, looking more to the future and not just to now; money stayed in their pockets and started being saved. Now that conditions are easing (in Australia), I have real doubts they'll return to their old ways. It looks like permanent and deliberate change for them, with lives transformed.

I hope we don't go through such a desperate and difficult period of time and not have it teach us valuable lessons. There has to be some good come from it. The main thing it confirmed for me was to always spend less than I earn and that the best strategy for living well over a long period of time is to live on one income, even when there are two. I've had many emails from people telling me their stories of how they have done that and the enormous difference it made, and had they not been firmly committed to that way of living, before the EC, they would have gone under. It also reaffirmed my belief that stockpiling for many people, though not everyone, is a huge help in tough times, and that when you're living from week to week changing small things helps a lot. I'm firmly convinced that cooking from scratch can make a real difference to health and savings, and that overall, if you adjust the way you shop, eat plain and simple food, make your own cleaners and laundry liquid, and do it consistently, week after week, it will make a big difference to how much you save each week. And sometimes that difference will make or break you.

So what do you think about it? What, if anything, has the EC taught you? Have you seen change and improvement? Have you adjusted and reorgansied because of it?

I had an email from Theresa last week, she writes:

"Recently our family came upon some tough times when I woke up one morning with MS and needed immediate medical help. I'm only 30, otherwise healthy, and a stay-at-farm mother to a not quite 2 year old with a very supportive husband but no other family or even neighbors near by.

While I am getting a little stronger each day and am hopeful that things will get normal again someday, things have been tough to say the least and I am terrified of what the future will bring. Both my husband and child had a terrible flu for a week straight too on top of it all and now I just don't know where to start putting things right again!

Every aspect of my life is difficult right now, even little chores like walking out to feed the chickens can be impossible in our heavy snow. I don't want to give up on our small farm, much needed home repairs, more children, or my life but it can be so hard to think about what needs to be done and get a plan started.

I wanted to try and see if you had any advice for others in circumstances like this. Even something like a broken bone or illness can cause chaos in a home and it is important to find a balance again."

Dear Thesesa, reading your email made me feel so sad knowing what you're going through with a young child to look after. I had to look up MS and it says there are many different forms of the disease, but in the most common form you have a severe attack, preceded by a viral illness, you slowly regain your strength in varying degrees, but attacks occur very year or two.

You say you have no family or neighbours close by but I wonder if you have a family member who could come and stay with you for a couple of weeks while you get back on your feet again. If you know the illness will be in the acute state again, you'll need to set up systems in your home to deal with that and maybe when you're in an acute phase, you'll need someone from the family staying to look after you, to help with your child and to do your chores. It sounds like you're in the US or Canada, are there any support groups for MS there? Do you have community nurses? Do you belong to a church that could help?

I expect you've thought a lot about your illness and maybe you've already thought about what I'm about to suggest. If you have the strength to do anything, it should be to look after your child, then daily food, then laundry and general house work - in that order. You'll have to develop an attitude of acceptance - accept that you cannot do what you want to do, and be happy to do what you can do. Don't fret over housework not done - accept it as a side effect of your illness. You, your child and husband come first, always. If all of you are okay, leave the rest.

I really hope one of your relatives can come and stay for a while. If someone can, ask them to set things up for you to manage when they're not there. So, for instance, get a feed hopper for the chickens and a water container that won't tip over. That will cut down on the number of times you have to go out to feed them and haul water out. If they can feed themselves, you can go out every couple of days for a visit with your child, then slowly come inside again. If you're making bread, get a breadmaker. Buy a slow cooker so you can fill it in the morning and have a meal ready at night. If you don't have a stockpile, now is the time to start so you don't have to shop for groceries or feel bad because you can't. Set your kitchen up so that the things you use a lot are within easy reach. Do the same with your child's room. Get an open topped toy box that all the toys can be dumped in - by your child, so you don't have to be constantly putting toys away. Keep books on tables for him/her to read and favourite toys within reach so that when you're not feeling well or strong, he/she can get those things. This is like being prepared for a disaster that you know will happen.

You have to look after yourself and not stress out about not being able to do what you used to do. If you can organise your home for times when you have no strength or when you feel too ill to do anything, it will help you cope, in a small way, with your illness. Once the home is organised, you should be able to cope alone and with the help of your husband.

I hate asking for help and if you're the same, put that aside because you need help now. Tell your family you need someone to come and stay for a couple of weeks . Make lists of what needs doing to help you cope when you're alone. And let go of all thoughts of having a perfect home. You are the priority - your health and well being come before dusting, vacuuming and picking up. Accept there will be days when you can't do much at all, other days when all you can do is feed yourself and the family, and days when you can do much more, and be happy with that.

I expect your husband is working on the farm, and out of the house most of the day. You'll need to set up some sort of system so you can contact him if you become ill. Maybe a cell phone would work if you also have a landline. Suggest to your husband that he talks to a friend, doctor or counsellor about your illness. Even though he's not the one with the disease, he'd be feeling confused and anxious about it and he needs to talk to someone other than you about that.

There will be some good suggestions in the comments, I just know that, so let's open this up for discussion. You may have this disease too, or know someone who has, so if you do, tell us your experience. If you have any tips, write them down. Don't walk away from this. Even if it's just to wish Therese well, please leave a comment so she knows that even though we might be miles away and not know her by face or name, we acknowledge her pain and send kind thoughts.

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