Change is constant in our lives. We're always reacting to the good and the bad in our backyard and while the good results in smiles and a feeling of achievement, the bad makes us think about change and modifications, but never giving up. And such is the case now. We've had to have a good look at our backyard because it's not working as well as it could.  The main problem is that since we increased the number of chooks we have, they're impacting more on the backyard and most notably, the grass.

Many of you will remember that I'm a complete fan of grass. Some people aren't, they think it's a waste of resources, but grass can be grown sustainably. We never water or fertilise our lawn, the sky and the chooks do all the necessary work and we leave it to grow and provide a cool and soft area for grandchildren to play on. It helps remove carbon dioxide in the air and releases oxygen, just like trees do. We also use it as one of the main components of our compost. So as well as providing free feed and omega 3 oils for our chooks, which gives us omega 3 enriched eggs, it helps provide valuable organic matter and soil conditioner for the garden in the form of compost. It also helps filter water runoff before it reaches local waterways and on a hot day, it helps cool the air around the house in a way concrete never can. I would never live in a house that didn't have a lawn.

This is the area the chooks are sitting in all day and you can see in the photo that the grass has died off. When it rains, it's very slushy walking through here to go to the chook house. In the background, you can see where Hanno has placed the posts for the chook run extension.

But! Those chickens of ours love sitting close to the back wall of our house, right near the gate that stops them coming closer to the house and onto the back verandah. That area just outside the gate is now stripped of lawn - mainly due to their droppings burning it off, but also because of their scratching and all the rain we've had this year. We need to move the chooks away from that area without cutting off their access to grass.



The last of our Barnevelders was killed by a fox last week. It was such a sad loss. She was a beautiful girl, she'd just started laying and she held so much potential. I emailed Julie, where we get all our chooks now, and she'll have some little Barnevelders, Welsummers and an Araucana ready for us in early Spring.

This is the area we're extending the chook run out to. That first fence will go and the run will extend out to the second row of posts. The fence in the background is the start of our little orchard and the dense growth on the right is the rainforest that lines the creek just a few metres beyond.

So we've decided to enlarge the chook run so it goes right out under the fig and pecan trees, providing shade and sun, as well as the all important grass. But they'll be behind a fence so they won't be able to wander around like they can now. There will be a large square space between the end of the chook run and the orchard, so Hanno's decided to put in an extra vegetable garden there. It's virgin soil there, so it will need a lot of enrichment before it amounts to anything but we'll start on it soon and expect it to be producing decent crops within two or three years. The key to virgin soil, especially in Australia, is to add a lot of compost, all sorts of manures, lime, rock minerals and worm castings. It will also need some cultivating and watering and although that sounds like a lot of work, it's good work and worth the effort we put in. We don't like the no dig method - we are soil people, we like the opportunity for the plants to send down their roots into the soil to mine the minerals and to bring them up into the leaves, vegetables and fruit.


The last piece in this equation is mulch. Lots of mulch on the garden that will break down over the months, to be replaced by new mulch. It all adds to the organic matter in the soil. As soon as the soil is moist and the organic matter is there, earth worms will come to live there and a healthy cycle in the new garden will begin.

This is the interior of our chook house. We're thinking of painting the exterior walls lilac. :- )

I've included some photos of the chooks and our chook house here. I'd love to see where your chickens live. I'll set up a thread at the forum and I invite you all to post photos of your chicken palaces there. Let's collect a lot of photos to show the incredible diversity of chook accommodation all over the world. Click here for the forum thread.

Thanks to everyone who inquired about Hanno's health. He's fine now, his eye has healed well and apart from eye drops every two hours during the day for the next three weeks, it's business as usual. I was really pleased that it rained while he was out of action with his eye. Had it not been so wet, I know I would have had Buckley's chance of keeping him out of the backyard. When the eye healed and the rained stopped, he was raring to go. We'd been discussing changes to the backyard to better contain the chickens and that has evolved into an extra vegetable garden and so now it's full steam ahead. I'll write a post about the changes in the backyard later in the week.

We went to the Landcare Conference at the Brisbane Exhibition Centre on Saturday. What a day! There were a lot of very interesting speakers and I met up with a few friends I hadn't seen for a while. Along with us, we had our good friend Beverly Hand, who also gave a very interesting talk on Cultural awareness for engaging Indigenous people. I sat in on Beverly's talk, and she on mine, and I was treated not only to her courageously spirited talk but also to some photos of her family. I also sat in on a talk by Dr Graeme Sait who spoke about healthy soil, the narrow focus of NPK fertilising, soil minerals, microbes and compost. I feel the reason I went to that conference was to meet Graeme. We spoke briefly after my talk which he listened to, and he told me how interested he was in what I was talking about. I was really impressed by this man's knowledge and understanding - even in the short time I was there listening to him. He reminded me of the links between soil health and human health and convinced me I needed to know more about him and his topic. Yesterday I downloaded a copy of his book when I signed up for his newsletter and I've started reading it. It's very interesting and has reminded me that we've got some Biodynamic preparation 500 here and this week, we'll be applying it. When we finish that, I want to try some of Graeme's Life Force fertilisers. If you have time to check out his site, read the article about Blueberries.  What a treasure. He and his wife live here on the Sunshine Coast so I hope I have the good fortune to meet with him again.

Today I'm returning to the Maleny Neighbourhood Centre as volunteer coordinator, with help from Beverly who will come in on Fridays. Ali, who has been our paid coordinator since I left to write my book, left last week. She'll be doing her Masters at the local university and I wish her well. It will take up more of my time that I expected to give right now but the Centre is close to my heart and I can't walk away until it's on firm ground again.

And here at home, I'm still working away quietly with Hanno on those things that keep us fed, clothed and happy. The garden is starting to produce quite nicely, the chooks are laying well, I'm still knitting up a storm for various babies we'll meet for the first time later in the year, and I've just made a new batch of soap and laundry liquid that will keep us going for a few months. Tomorrow, we'll happily welcome home Sunny and Jamie after a six week holiday in Korea. I've missed them so much. They're coming up to see us as soon as they get off the plane. Yay!

Ernie and I are still working on our Blogging Workshop materials and have one booking so far for those in Brisbane. If you're a new blogger and are hoping to attend a workshop, please tell me where you are so we can look into venues in that area. I think the workshops will start next month.

So with all the changes life continues to throw our way, it's still business as usual. I hope you enjoyed your weekend and have an interesting week planned. After my short break, I'm really pleased to be back here with you.

I want to share a link with you today. I've been developing the Maleny Community Newsletter for the Neighbourhood Centre which will cover general club and group news in Maleny. Instead of using clipart for the masthead, I wanted to give a more human touch that showed where we were from and what we're about. There was a slight problem though, I had no money. 

A friend told me about a friend of his and I phoned Peter Hollard.

Peter is a local artist and teacher. I expected to have to convince him what a great idea this is but as soon as I mentioned the Neighbourhood Centre, he said "yes"! He's such a talented and generous man, I thought you'd like to see his blog. When the first edition of the Newsletter is out, I'll show it here, in the meantime, here is Peter's blog.  Please note, there are Life Drawings on the blog.

Carrying on from yesterday's post I thought it would be a good opportunity to explore the feelings connected with being at home and knowing that you make your own home what it becomes - be that good or not so good.

I've written before that housekeeping and homemaking were very low on my list of priorities when I first came home for good. I say 'came home' because up until that point, my home wasn't what it is now - it was just a place to sleep and invite people around to if we didn't go out. Pathetic. I'm wiser now, my home has taught me many things, including that if I didn't take the time to be at home, if I didn't fluff my nest and make it the warm and secure place I wanted it to be, no one else would and I would continue to search shopping malls for junk to make me feel better.

That split second when you suddenly realise that home is not the enemy and that looking after it is an act of love for all your family and a gift to yourself, is a powerful moment of absolute clarity and insight. You're aware that you make your home what it will be, no one else will do that but you, and whatever work you put into your home will be a reflection of you. It is an opportunity and a challenge. It will show what is important in your life, it will highlight those things you treasure, and, in turn, will reflect your tastes and interests to all who visit you.

When you realise that your home is your work in progress you are given the opportunity to make it the comfortable and protected place that all families need to relax, renew their energy, and grow closer to each other. The real challenge here is when you don't have a lot of money to spend but want a cosy, interesting and welcoming home. Most young couples fall into this area and the trick is not to fall for all the advertising hype and rush to charge up your credit card with the latest fashionable furniture. Smart couples search op shops, thrift stores and road side throw outs for bits and pieces that will suit their purpose. They build their homes on older furniture that is either free or very inexpensive and then modify it to suit themselves. The end result is a home unlike a million others who fell for the advertising. They have the satisfaction of working together to find what they need, and no credit card debt. My own son and his new wife are doing this right now. They have our old lounge suite and picked up a dining suite from a road side throw out. Their home is a delight to visit, it's comfortable, inviting and interesting. We are going there for lunch on Thursday and I'm looking forward to it very much. Working together through hard times is one of those things that draws couples together, it bonds them like nothing else.

But the furniture and bits and pieces you put in a home are not the full story. This story is completed by the work done by the homemaker and the feeling of contentment that comes from it. And whether you're a homemaker who does most of the work in the family home or if you're the delegator of chores and director of operations, the result is the same. A functional and secure home will nurture all who live there.

When I worked for a living and shopping was part of my recreation I used to be bored if I stayed at home. I wondered what on earth homemakers did all day. Now I know. I was lucky enough to wake up to myself, ditch the shopping and return to my home wholeheartedly. And anyone can do that - those who work outside the home and those who work in it. Accepting the power you have to make your home what is can be, to provide nutritious food, to shop according to your budget, to keep a clean home, to teach young children that everyone contributes to the welfare of the family by doing chores and helping, to look after what you own, to mend, recycle and reuse what you can, to live in an environmentally sound way and to express the love you feel for your family within the confines of a safe and peaceful home is the true gift of a homemaker.

You make your home what it becomes - it is your work in progress.

This post is from March 2011

Can you remember back to when you had babies to care for and how careful you were with their bedding? You'd make sure the sheets were clean and straight, you'd make the little bed several times a day and as soon as there was a wet sheet, into the washing machine it would go. You did those things, and more, because you knew how important that bed was to your baby. Well, I might be reverting to babyhood because I tend my bed as carefully as I would a cot or crib and I do it because sleep is important. Now let me declare my bias here up front. I LOVE my bed, always have, always will. I am a good sleeper. I'm rarely in bed more than ten minutes before I'm sound asleep. But I also do a lot of my thinking in bed in the cool dark hours of the morning and being in an uncomfortable bed would not be conducive to my sleeping or thinking. If I want to get the most out of every day, I need to sleep well.

Yesterday - our bed in the late afternoon sun.

I can almost hear the sighs from readers who just want to leave their bed untouched until they get into it again at night, but having a clean wrinkle-free place to sleep is one of the things that will make a difference to your day and how well you get through your work. You are mindful of your diet and exercise, you shower every day - or most days, you clean your teeth, make sure you store your food properly so it remains safe and healthy; your bed, my friends, is in that category. It matters. If you're just going to pull up the sheets during the day, why not give yourself another two minutes and make the bed. 

You don't need expensive sheets, blankets or doonas/duvets. It doesn't matter if nothing matches, what matters is that your sheets are clean and fresh, are tucked in properly and that nothing in your bed makes you uncomfortable or causes you to wake up. Of course, the best bed is the one you sleep in the first night after your change the bedding. The smell of sunshine on those newly laundered sheets remind me every single time that a simple bed, well made every day, has a power beyond what you think is possible.

My sister Tricia made these red worked pouches. They are for holding a nightie or PJs during the day and sit on the bed like little pillows.

I change our bedding every week, wash the sheets in cold water using home made laundry liquid. Everything is hung in the sun to dry and brought in that evening. Nothing fancy, just very simple. That first night the sheets are pulled tight and tucked in and, depending on the season, covered with a doona/duvet and a quilt, or what we have now that we're moving to Autumn, cool cotton sheets, a blanket and a quilt. Soon we move further towards our winter bed - an electric blanket on Hanno's side, fluffy flannel sheets and a few thick and cosy layers to cover us.

Every morning after that first night, I strip the bed down to the bottom sheet, smooth out that sheet with my hands, then make the bed by tightening the bottom sheet, making sure the corners are anchored and the sheet won't slip during the night. The top sheet, pillows and blankets are removed and shaken, then replaced. The same applies to each top layer. During the day the windows are left open to allow fresh air to circulate. The windows are closed when it's very cold, late in the afternoon. Every so often I leave the pillows outside in the sun for the day, and hang the quilts and blankets on the line. It's also a good idea to use a mattress protector and to vacuum the bed every couple of months.

Never matching or fancy, but clean and simple. That's all you need.

Simple clean cotton sheets and a homemade quilt can nurture the soul as well as aching bones and a stressed mind. Allow your bed to do what it's there for - to keep you warm, safe and secure until you wake. When you think about it, sleep is a strange concept. We go about our every day activities and once a day, we get tired, lay down flat and lose consciousness. Weird! No one knows why we do that, but all animals, birds and reptiles do. 

It is easy to believe it's too simple to be an important part of the day but those two or three minutes you spend smoothing, tucking and folding back, care for you during the eight hours you sleep. The time-expended-to-benefits-created ratio is in your favour. If you've never thought about this, or don't think it's worth while, make your bed every morning for a week and I think you'll quickly slip into the made bed camp. Beds are more important than we think. We're usually born in one and we will probably die in one. All that time in between that you spend in bed sets you up for your active life by allowing you to relax into sleep, to dream and to wake refreshed and ready for the busy day. Those three minutes are a sound investment.

Hanno's surgery went very well yesterday. We're going back for a checkup this morning but it all looks good and he's feeling fine. Thank you so much for the kind messages and prayers for him. He asked me to thank you all for him. He read everyone of them.

This post is from 2009.

Some of the lemons ready for juicing next week. Leaving them sit for a week makes them juicier.

I've had a few emails recently asking about how it's best to start living simply. I've written about this before but it's always an area of interest and often the first step is the most difficult.

This is a swarm of bees that settled in our orange tree.

Simple living is not about grand gestures - it's not moving to the country and it's not giving up work to become self sufficient. It's more about little things - small steps that make the way we live mirror our values. I believe that simple living is about being an individual - stepping away from the mainstream and living the life you want, even when that life is very different to those of your family and friends. Now I'd be the last one to tell you what sort of values you should live by. One of the best things about living in a free and open country is that we make those choices ourselves. So it would be wise to take some time out, sit by yourself, or with your partner, and write down the values that are important to you. For example, for me, it's important that:

I have other values that I live by but these four will serve as a good illustration of what I'm getting at here. Now that I have those four things, I would then make each of them a category to work on. In a note book, give each category a page to itself - write the value at the top of the page and then, over the course of a week or so, bullet points ways you can change your life to reflect your values. Some of the ideas you come up with might be easily achieved, some will be difficult but the point is to identify what you want in your life and what you need to do to make that life.

Above all else, don't copy me or anyone else whose life looks good. This way of living means you evaluate your life and make the changes you want. If you copy someone else's life, you'll be faking it. Now having said that, let me also say that if you evaluate your life and it ends up being similar to my life or your best friend's, then that is fine, as long as you went through the process and identified that is is what you want.

Lemon and coconut cake - recipe below.

When I first started living this way, I was in contact with many other women on a forum who kept telling me that simple living was about slowing down, being mindful and taking time for oneself. They told me the practical things I did everyday - the bread baking, keeping a simple home, green cleaning, preserving/canning etc, were homesteading, not simple living. I never believed that - I think that a simple life is the whole kit and caboodle. It's the way I feel about myself, my home, and the way I live, it's slowing down and being mindful and it is the practical expression of all those things in the daily tasks I do each day. The philosophy of it and the expression of it are part of the whole. The values you live your life by are expressed by the practical tasks you do each day.

The last mandarin.

Another helpful way of thinking about a simple life is to just think about the things you do now, and try to make them more simple - focusing on less rather than more. Draw a line in the sand today and say to yourself: from now on I will stick to my budget; I will reduce waste and never have my rubbish bin more than half full; I'm going to stop buying so many disposable products; I'm going to cook 50 percent of our meals from scratch - then add another 10 per cent in a month, then another; I will shop for groceries only once a fortnight (month/ two months); I will teach myself to knit. Your list may not look anything like that because it will suit your life and family, but it will give you a focus to work on and bit by bit, you'll be simplifying.

In my simplified life today I'll be tidying up the bush house, starting off some vinegar with wine left over from the wedding, taking photos of the garden, having my eyes checked by the optometrist, and cleaning the front verandah, as well as a few other things. Thank you for all the wonderful comments and emails you've sent my way this part week. I don't always have the time to respond, but I read every word and appreciate you taking the time to make contact with me. Often I'm quite overwhelmed by your comments and every day I'm thankful that my blog makes it possible for me to connect with so many of you. I hope you have a beautiful week.

LEMON CAKE RECIPE

Ingredients

• ¾ cup caster sugar
• 125 grams butter (¼ lb), room temp
• 3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
• 3 eggs, room temp
• 1 ½ cups self-raising flour, sifted OR 1 ½ cups plain (all purpose) flour with 3 teaspoons of baking powder added
• 1 ½ cups desiccated (shredded unsweetened) coconut
• 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 ¼ cups milk

Method

1. Place the coconut, lemon juice and milk in a bowl and let it sit for an hour. This will sour the milk.
2. Preheat oven to 175°C (350F).
3. Place sugar, butter and lemon rind in a large bowl, and beat until light and creamy, this will take about 4 or 5 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each one.
5. Fold flour and coconut mixture into the butter mix. When it's combined, place it in a round greased and lined cake pan.
6. Cook for 50 minutes or until , when tested with a skewer, it comes out clean.

This list is not nearly complete, nor could it ever be because all our lives as so different. If you have a tip that has worked for you, please add it to your comment as you may open a door for someone else by sharing it.

Thanks Viv, I think I've fixed it now.

We spent a delightful Saturday out at Bell, about 200km west of here, with a group of ladies, and two men - Hanno and one of the husbands. A while back I received an email from Karen asking if I'd do a workshop there. She and two friends, Kate and Annette, had bought the old local hall, set up a vintage themed cafe in the front and the back was given over as a space for community events such as workshops, playgroups and bartering sessions. I was happy to say yes - because saying yes to Bell meant I would be helping Karen, Kate and Annette with some much needed community development.

I think 52 people booked for the session that ran from 9.30 am till 3pm. A few women from the Down to Earth forum came along to meet up, share and learn and I finally met Callecat and Sussan. I have "known" Sussan for about eight years, she lives fairly close and yet we'd never met till now. It was also great to meet the infamous Callecat who learnt to make soap from my instructions here and then didn't stop making it.  LOL

During the workshop, I talked about simple life, that it can be done any which way, I demonstrated how to make laundry liquid, and we made strawberry jam and tomato relish. We discussed water bath processing but true to the Australian way of preserving, we didn't do it for our jam and relish - we talked about putting sterile jam in sterile jars and then let it be. I didn't get to taste the relish, even though I told the women there to taste as you go along, but that strawberry jam was delicious. Everyone got to take home enough for at least a taste and as we made up 40 litres of laundry liquid, we had enough to send home about a litre each. That's plenty to try in quite a few washes.

The hall was set up beautifully. It is a great space for workshops - it's roomy, bright and has the special feature of coffee aroma wafting in from the cafe.

All of us need inspiration and motivation to carry on. You get that by talking to people who understand what you're doing, by reading about people living simply and by watching women and men at their work.  Simple life may be called simple but it involves work and commitment to succeed. Luckily for us, the work is meaningful and enriching and it allows us to remove ourselves further and further from the materialistic mindset of ever-shopping consumers. Here at Bell, I found a group of people who were striving, just like Hanno and I are, to live true to our values, to be respectful of the land we live on, to become increasingly self-reliant, and content because of it. We may all be living different lives in different parts of the State but we have something in common that binds us together. We all know that it is possible to move away from from conspicuous spending, we are saving money through our efforts and paying off debt, and we value home and family and the work that goes into maintaining them.

The ladies who own the Pips 'n' Cherries at Bell - Karen, Kate and Annette, put such effort into that event. Thank you ladies. Their welcoming attitude was inspiring, the hall was decorated beautifully, the morning tea and lunch were homemade and delicious. Apart from the fact that we all wore modern clothing, we could have stepped into a scene from the 1950s where the CWA had put on a demonstration afternoon tea for the town's women. The hall itself was immaculate, obviously a lot of tender loving care has gone into it. The organisation, welcoming atmosphere and attitude towards sharing and learning resulted in a wonderful event. I was so proud to be a part of it. And what of Hanno, you ask? Well, he had his own little table, close to my demonstration table, he took photos and talked to everyone who came over to introduce themselves and he was spoilt by the Bell ladies who set him up nicely with good coffee and plates of food. Yes, Hanno enjoyed it too. Very much. ;- ) 

There was a lot of talking, sharing, questioning and open minds eager to connect with one another and to go home having seen how easy it can be to move towards making more from scratch. We talked about ripples there. The ripples that tend to move out from such events towards new people. I hope the people who came to Bell and those from the town, keep those ripples going because it is all of us who will make this movement towards a simpler life happen. I am just one person, it needs all of us to talk about what we're doing, and to take the time to show what we know for change to happen. I hope those ripple are still moving and won't stop for a long time.

If you were there, drop me a comment. I'd love to know what you thought of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow I'll be going to hospital with Hanno while he has an eye operation. He's having a cataract removed. It's day surgery and we have to go back the following day for the doctor to check his eye. Because of that, and a few other things I have going on, I'll be taking a short break from the blog. I'll be back with you next week. In the meantime, I'll pick some posts from the past that I think you may enjoy reading - either again or for the first time.  Take care everyone. We'll see you soon.

A woman asked me the other day for a couple of tips to keep her husband and teenage son happy at the dinner table. She's been trying to cut down the amount of meat they eat, mainly to keep to her budget, but also because she thought they were eating too much meat and wanted them to cut back. Unfortunately, when she made up  spinach pie or vegetable soup, they complained, said they were still hungry and didn't feel full unless they had meat.

I think the trick to this is to put a small amount of meat in most meals. In a spinach pie you could add a small amount of bacon, either as a garnish or in the pie itself. A vegetable soup can be made with home made beef stock, this will give a wonderful richness and a meaty taste to the soup, but also add a small amount of diced beef - maybe 250 grams/½ pound, 250 grams/½ pound of minced steak/ground beef made into tiny meatballs or a small amount of sliced up chorizo sausage. All these could be added to the soup and cooked in it.

If you think they're not getting enough and are still hungry, make some dumplings for the soup or bread and salad to go with the spinach pie.

DUMPLINGS - these are very much like scones

• 1½ cups self raising flour or plain flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder added
• salt and pepper
• 75 grams coldish butter
• herbs - such as parsley, chives, thyme, or tarragon or sage of you're cooking with chicken
• water

Place flour, salt and pepper in a bowl and add butter. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the flour looks like breadcrumbs.  Add the herbs then a small amount of water to make a fairly stiff dough and mix. Form small balls about the size of a walnut. Drop the dumplings into the soup to cook. They'll rise to the top and stay there. When they're cooked they'll look fairly light and if you break one in two, it will be like a herby scone. They take about five minutes to cook.

Another way to fill those tummies is to serve a pudding. I have found that many men (and women) will feel like they've had a good hearty meal if they're served a good old fashioned pudding. The one I regularly turn to is Jam Roly Poly but it could be apple pie, apple crumble, stewed fruit with baked home made custard, lemon tart or bread and butter pudding. If you add a pudding, it seems more like a treat, but you're also adding fibre, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.

Add all the dry ingredients to a mixing bowl and using your finger tips, rub the butter into the flour. When it's combined, add the milk and mix in. When it's mixed, cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to firm up. About 30 minutes should do it.

Onto a lightly floured board or bench, roll out the dough into a rectangle. Cut off any bits that poke out too far so you have a neat shape. Cover the dough with raspberry jam (or any jam of your liking) and carefully roll the dough into a sausage shape. You might need the help of a pallet knife or egg lifter. Brush with egg wash and place into an oven proof baking dish. You can curl it around to fit the dish. You need a dish with sides because this will spread out if cooked on a flat tray.

Cook at 180C/350F for about 30 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve with warm custard.

What little tricks and add ons do you turn to when you hear "where's the meat?!!"?

I had forgotten. Forgotten how full on it is to look after a newly walking toddler. We had a visit from Shane, Sarndra and Alex last week. They stayed for a couple of days so we had enough time to catch up and to see Alex busy himself discovering new places in our home. Shane has a new job in Gladstone and has already flown up there so after they put him on the plane on Saturday, Sarndra and Alex came back for another overnight stay.  Sarndra's friend had her second baby and Sarndra came up to see her and little Rosie. She took Alex on her first hospital visit, then went back the next morning and asked Hanno and I if we'd look after Alex so she could go alone. 

:- )

This was our first solo babysitting of Alex, who at 11 months is walking confidently and running sometimes, just like his father used to do at exactly the same age. It was a bright and warm morning so I got Alex's little shoes, put them on his feet and took him outside in the sunshine. He LOVED it, although he was unsteady and kept falling over on the grass, so I took off his shoes again and he was off like a rocket, much steadier this time with firm feet on solid ground. I put his hat on his head at least a 20 times and he took it off just as often.

It was really lovely to watch him busy himself in our backyard. He watched birds, he stared at the chooks through the fence, he chased our cat Hettie from her usual sitting post on the garden bench. We had no outside toys for him but he didn't need any, he kept busy with what he found. It was such a good start for us.

He found a couple of buckets and walked around with them, he carried around one of my Crocs, he stared at a leaf REALLY close, he pushed the broom, he put a pebble in the bucket and realised it made a noise. He discovered the laundry trolley and pushed that around with one hand on the trolley and one hand holding the bucket firmly. Of course, he found the water in the bird bath and splashed a while. He found every point of interest in that yard and I could almost feel him taking notice and remembering what he was seeing.

We picked an organic orange from the tree, peeled it and he grazed on that for a while. More running around, a nappy change, a sippy cup of water, more running, some homemade toast and Vegemite. Outside again. With the trolley and the bucket. Looking at him, I remembered that toddlers are easy and difficult at the same time. They're difficult in that you have to always watch what they're doing and sometimes rescue a cat from a vice-like grip, but they're easy in that every thing is interesting to them. Teenagers are easy and difficult too, but in a different way.

I love being a grandma and just like Alex and Jamie, I'm exploring this world through new eyes. There are so many things to be remembered and improved upon now that I'm older and wiser. Hanno is enjoying it too. He's talking about putting a sand pit in the backyard for the boys to play in. I can hardly wait until Jamie is back from Korea and is here with Alex. I can see days ahead when it will be the most natural thing in the world to play in opa and grandma's backyard. It's safe here, there is plenty of space to run and where better for little people to learn about chooks, worms and dirt, and how a seed can turn into a tomato.

This is part of a recent email I received from a young reader here called Stacey. She is asking about having what you want NOW:

The only thing I wrestle with is something I think may be a new trend in my generation - wanting something NOW and the feeling of urgency around it. My husband (mid-thirties) and I have envisioned that we would buy a house on an acre, add water tanks and chooks and solar etc. And currently we are saving a deposit for this imagined house. We would like to save a large chunk to ensure we have a smaller mortgage and change to be able to commence our ideas on the property. 

It is slow going with one income, but since leaving my job we are actually saving more money than we did when I was working (because we are mindful and respectful of our income now, rather than spending on frivolous things). I have one more year to go after this before I am a teacher and we are back to two incomes. 

However, I can't help feeling the sense of urgency all the time. Why can't we save faster? What if I deferred uni so we could have two incomes again? Why are my friends always ahead of me? So what if we have a higher mortgage, we can still afford it…. At times it honestly feels uncomfortable how much I want it to happen RIGHT THIS SECOND and I have laughed at myself many times thinking this is what a two year old feels when they want candy. 

I know I am not alone. I think the difference is that I do not act upon this impulse. 

Do you think this is a generation specific thing? Has my generation becomes a bunch of two year olds who want the candy NOW!?

I have many friends and family who seem to 'have it all' but I see on closer inspection that they are so far in debt, unable to take more than the paid maternity leave, can't afford things without a credit card etc. 

Thanks for your question, Stacey, I think it's something a lot of us struggle with.

The first thing I want to say, Stacey, is that your spending friends aren't ahead of you. They're behind. They might have more stuff, they might have a house and mortgage already, but you are ahead of them now, you'll be ahead of them when you get your mortgage and I have no doubt you'll be ahead of them when you pay off your mortgage. Being in debt to get what you want doesn't put you ahead of anyone.

I don't think it's generation specific. I think many of the younger generation certainly do seem want everything immediately, and maybe my generation fostered that in their children, wanting them to have the best of everything, but many of my generation want NOW too.  I think it comes from an attitude that is fostered by advertising, wanting us to be dependent on what we can buy. It is all about DE-skilling us so we're reliant on buying everything we need. It's a very childish attitude. Prudence and patience is something we learn as we grow up. Advertising is hoping to short circuit that tendency towards a more mature attitude, they want us to want everything now and they want us to have it now, even if we go into debt to have it.

I think it's also been helped along by mobile phones and the crazy ability to reach anyone at any time, regardless. People are slaves to their phones now, they can't wait. I've had a mobile phone for the past 22 years and I use it mainly to make contact if I'm going to be late or I want to check if there is anything needed at home before I come home. It is not a device for people to phone me while I'm out. In fact, that is one of the pleasures of being out. I don't have to answer the phone. Often I have the phone in my purse, not switched on, and if it is and it rings, I only answer it if it's my family. If I don't recognise a number or I don't feel like talking, I don't answer it. For most of us, most of the time there is no reason for anyone to be contactable every minute of the day. Wait. Wait for the person to call you. Wait until you get home to call. Wait until you feel like talking. Wait for tomorrow or the next day to call back. Your life doesn't have to be interrupted by someone who wants to chat.

Stacey, I think it's admirable that you and your husband have thought about your goals and are putting measures in place to achieve your dreams. One of the important aspects of simplifying is that part that encourages us to slow down, be more reflective and mindful. I find that very easy now but I know it's difficult to be slower and patient when all those around you aren't. It is a skill, it is something you learn, just like budgeting and gardening, so I can only suggest that you remain confident in your actions, remember you're on target and doing well, and understand that most things take their own time. Not everything needs to be fast and stress-filled. It's okay to be slower and to wait.


When I look back on a long life with Hanno, I realise that most of the things I cherish now are those that took their own time - having babies, paying off our debt, waiting for just-sown seeds to mature and start producing food for our table and being a grandma. One of the things I love doing now is to start a new knitting project. I take my time finding a pattern, sorting through my wool and cotton, thinking about what I'm making and then when colours and ply have been chosen, sitting down to start that long process of knitting. One stitch by one stitch, I sit and click. It's put down, picked up, put in on old flour bag to take with me to knit when I'm out, and it seems at the beginning that it will be too much for Australia's most impatient grandma to endure the endless thousands of stitches knitted one . by . one ... But it isn't. It is actually the process that taught that same queen of impatience how to wait.


You'll be okay Stacey. I know that because you're mature enough to ask this question, you know it is a weakness and therefore you can do something about it. All intelligent people do that. They recognise their vulnerabilities and they work on them. I'm not sure what your strategy will be to strengthen your resolve towards patience and restraint, but I do know that you and your husband will be rewarded for waiting, and you know that too.

This question will resonate with many readers so expect to read some great comments. So now readers, it's over to you - what advice do you have for Stacey?