down to earth

Thank you for all the kind and encouraging comments yesterday. It seems that what I thought is a localised drought is being felt world-wide.

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I haven't had a lot of time for knitting lately but every time I sit down, there I am, clicking away. Knitting is such a pleasure for me because I make household cloths I can't buy, make gifts that are unique and it gives me something to do when I sit down, so I feel productive. Knitting isn't something I make time for as a craft, I see it as part of my day-to-day housework, so I knit most days. I use the beautiful yarns from Vivian at Eco Yarns. Their organic cotton is the best I've ever worked with. I'm also using her super fine merino in fingering weight and NZ royal lambs wool for a scarf and matching arm warmers for my sister Tricia. It was her birthday on Saturday so when she arrived here yesterday afternoon, I had a nice little parcel for her.

This top dishcloth is bamboo, the bottom two are pure cotton. All were made using the end pieces and scraps from my yarn stash.

I went through my yarn stash over Christmas and pulled out all the odd and ends. I'm using all of them in the coming weeks to knit up another set of dishcloths. I'd like another 10 so I can retire some of the older ones. When I first started off on the dishcloths, I always used 8ply pure cotton, now I prefer a lighter cloth for washing up. I've knitted up a few of the bamboo scraps and they make a light and useful cloth. They're very soft, fit easily into wine glasses and small sippy cups and they dry out quickly. I've also done a couple of 4 ply cloths on large needles. Using only plain stitch, I get through one in a couple of hours. While I love the look of the fancy dishcloths, and when I give them as a gift I always do up Deb's waffle weave pattern, my own preference is a much simpler cloth. I always do my own cloths in plain garter stitch.

Tricia's pure NZ wool scarf - almost finished.

Are you a knitter? I know very many readers of my book started knitting dishcloths even before they finished the book, and wrote to tell me about it. I think dishcloths and laundry liquid were the first two projects most people tried. I certainly received a lot of mail telling me about grandmas teaching knitting years ago and now this! A welcomed return to knitting via the dishcloth. To me, dishcloths and aprons are symbols of this way of life. They're homemade, simple and part of every productive home. Making a dishcloth is a great way to start knitting. If you can pick up some knitting cotton for a reasonable price, all you need is a pair of needles, the size doesn't really matter because what you're making doesn't have to fit anyone. If you want a tight weave, choose fine needles if you're after a loose weave, choose thicker needles. You could make a beautiful gift for a new baby by making a simple set of organic cotton wash cloths. Knitted or crocheted, what could be better than a set of organic cloths and gentle, nourishing homemade soap. For that the ideal cotton would be Eco Yarn's organic cotton.

Lion's organic cotton made up into a little scarf and held together with half a vintage knitting needle with a beehive tip.

If you get the knitting bug, see if you can find some thick organic cotton like Lion's Organic. I've made Tricia a couple of cotton neck warmers for winter. She lives in Blackheath and although she loves the cold weather, like I do, she and I both feel uncomfortable if we have cold necks or hands. Enter the homemade scarf and arm warmers. She can wear these in winter and remain warm during the day without lighting the fire. You can make a scarf by casting on as you would for a dishcloth, then knit plain stitch for every row - that's garter stitch. When you can wind it around your neck loosely a couple of times, cast off and sew both ends together. Or, even more simply, when it's long enough to go around your neck once, add a bit more for a twist, then cast off. You'll get a nice looking cowl scarf without having to master the mobius twist.

The wonderful thing about knitting is that you can make useful and beautiful pieces quite soon after you start. All the knitting on this page is very basic, yet it's all useful and will keep the wearers warm or the dishes clean for many years. Start off with simple practical projects and after you develop your skills, move on to more complicated patterns. If, like me, you end up loving the feeling of twisting and turning yarn with sticks you'll always have something to do because when you're a knitter there are always new patterns to be discovered and all those dish cloths to knit.

What's on your needles right now?

Eco Yarn blog - lots of great posts and photos about knitting and some patterns.
At the D2E forum we have a very popular thread to showcase finished knitting projects.
Ravelry - online knitting and crochet community
Eastern European knitting

One of the reasons we chose to live in this area was that the climate and rainfall would help us grow food in the backyard. Usually we get about 1300mm/51 inches of rain a year here. The January average is about 200mm/8 inches, so far this year it's 0. In the past six months we've had a drought in our neighbourhood. It's not a generalised drought over the whole region, it just seems to be contained in our small area. Strange. Hanno and I went for a drive out west a couple of weeks ago, we drove through the rainforest and came out the other side in a town that is usually dry and brown. But this time it was as green as could be. It seems our rain moved west.

The next few photos are our garden at various times throughout the year. As you can see, Hanno does a great job organising the plants and keeping the weeds down while growing the most delicious fresh food for our table.

I think we've had only about a quarter of our normal rainfall in the past six months. Luckily we didn't keep our vegetable garden going over summer because even though we have town water and two water tanks, we don't like using the town water on the garden and the tanks are almost empty. It breaks my heart to see the backyard now. In the 15 years we've lived her, this is only the second time I've seen it like this. Usually our grass is bright green all year, we never water it with the hose, it's kept that way with natural rainfall. But now it is brown and the grass crackles under your feet.

Above is this area of the garden a couple of years ago. Below is the same area yesterday afternoon.

Producing organic vegetables and eggs is an important part of our lives now. We don't want to lose that. We usually end our vegetable planting in November, keep harvesting till December, then let the soil rest until we sow our annual crops in March. But the garden is looking parched and dead. I wonder how long it will take the worms to come back once the rains start again.

But we won't give up. In the next couple of weeks, we'll plan our 2013 garden. We'll start most things as seeds sown in the bush-house, then transplant to the garden when they're big enough. This is the most cost effective way of producing vegetables.

From seeds, they'll grow into seedlings and will then be planted out.

Generally we have enough for us and to give away to family and friends. It gives us a good feeling to be able to do that.

Above is the garden last March when we had just started to plant up for the year.

This is what it looks like now.

The drought has severely effected the citrus. Many of the small lemons are falling off now and our orange trees, usually packed full at this time of year, have very few fruit.

In these two photos - above and below, you can see our back lawn. It usually looks like this all year round.

But this is what it looks like now.

Above is the chicken run last year. Now it's a dry dust bowl.

This flock of plumed whistling ducks landed in the yard late yesterday. They didn't stay long, they were looking for green grass and water. Photo by Hanno.

Above is what the garden looks like when viewed from the back verandah.

This photo was taken from the same spot yesterday afternoon. Those few patches of green are chilli and capsicum/pepper bushes. They're still growing well.

I have no doubt our climate is changing. Australia is experiencing the hottest summer ever recorded. The weather bureau has added a new colour to our weather map - it's for over 50C/122F. We need to change how we live.

Hanno said the other day that he'll be starting the garden off early this year. It's essential we get those seeds sown in February so from about late March we have the beginnings of nine months of fresh organic food. But we can't do anything without water. Hopefully it will rain soon, the sub-soil and the top soil will be wet enough to entice the worms back, we'll sow our seeds, they'll start growing and the vegetables will turn this brown landscape into a green oasis. It all depends on the rain.

I sometimes get the feeling that many readers here think our garden is perfect all the time. Well, nothing is perfect and the photos above show you that we struggle as much as anyone. There is no golden ticket for anyone when there is no rain. But over the years we've learned patience and acceptance and I know that it might not be tomorrow but soon that monsoon will bring rain and new life to our backyard.

What is your greatest worry in your garden right now? If you have any photos to share of your backyard, post them over at the forum and we'll have a talk about it during the day.

I have been watching a few Amish documentaries on You Tube while I've been ironing lately and it made me wonder why I enjoy watching them so much. I guess I'm inspired. Not by their lifestyle so much as by the way they work together. I love seeing that. It reminds me of days I've read about, a long time before the advent of supermarkets and department stores, when we use to work together as families, and in groups to get more difficult work done. When I see people working along side each other like that, it makes me want to join in. I love seeing the CWA ladies working away on their various fundraising ventures - buttering scones and making pots of tea; I love watching quilters working on one piece together; I admire the strength of the men who raise Amish barns and the grace of the women who provide food and drinks to keep them going.

Yesterday's blueberry muffins.

I get a lot of mail from readers who regret they can't find anyone who shares their values. Many of us feel the same because we live in towns and cities inhabited by people who are firmly and seemingly happily cemented into their mainstream lives. They have no interest in learning life skills or in reducing their spending and consumption. I doubt they'd understand the concept of shared work. I think that's one of the reasons so many people read here. They find validation here in what they do, they know I don't think they're strange because they're knitting dishcloths, growing pumpkins and baking bread, because I do it too. It's like we're working alongside each other. And that may be hundreds or thousands of kilometres apart but you know I am here, I know you are there and together we're quietly working. People gravitate here and to the forum to read about like-minded people going about their everyday business of homemaking, growing crops, storing and preparing food, raising pigs and milking cows and goats. And they are satisfied and fulfilled by it.

We all go through various stages in our lives and we have to be open to those changes and flexible enough to adapt as we age. In the past I have worked with many women and men. The workload we all shared was made easier because we worked together. Now I'm working alongside my husband and I reckon we make a great team. We both do what we think we have a talent for and the jobs we like doing and luckily for us, that divides the tasks neatly down the middle. Most of our tasks are easily done by one person but when one of us is ill, the other takes it all on; when something is too big for one, we both do it.

When you look back on it, all those stages of work make up a productive life. Whether you're working in a large group or a small one, working as a couple, or you're alone raising children, or as a carer of adult children or parents. We're all working alongside each other and if you feel isolated and alone, all you have to do is to reach out here or at the forum and I or someone who hears you will reach back. No one is working alone when they work towards their own simple life. We're all connected by the work.

A few years ago we were vegetarians. That lasted about eight years but ended when Hanno wanted to eat meat again and it became so difficult to get genuine vegetarian meals when I was travelling for work. In the bush here vegetarian = a boiled egg salad if you were lucky and hot chips if you weren't. When I started eating meat again, I felt better for it, although I regret the lives lost to feed me and if I do waste food, I feel real shame when I waste meat. We still eat vegetarian meals, still enjoy them but I feel our health is better when we combine a small number of meat meals with vegetarian ones or reduce the meat portion of the meal.

I know it's difficult if you're cooking for people who feel they must have meat and nothing else will do but I would suggest you try one vegetarian meal each week and see how that goes. If you can't successfully introduce one vegetarian meal a week, you may get away with something like this meal, which is substantial and filling, to which you add a hint of meat (bacon or chorizo) to the sauce or the filling.

This is what we had for dinner last night - roast pumpkin ravioli - completely home made, of course, and made without a pasta maker.

FILLING - enough for two

¼ small japanese pumpkin or ½ small butternut - chop into small pieces and roast in a hot oven till brown

1 garlic clove - roast this, in the skin, with the pumpkin

chilli (optional)

salt and pepper

½ cup fresh breadcrumbs - made from stale bread

½ cup grated cheese - I used Mersey Valley, a very sharp cheese, you could also use parmesan - it needs to have a lot of flavour

thyme, parsley or chives, chopped (optional)

When the pumkin is cooked and cool, put it in a bowl and mash it. Squeeze the garlic out of the skin and add it to the pumpkin. Add all the other ingredients and let it sit.

PASTA - I only used half and froze the rest

2 cups pasta flour or 000 flour - you can buy this at the supermarket. If you can't find it, use plain flour.

4 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

a small amount of water to add teaspoon by teaspoon if the pasta is too dry

I made mine in the bread maker. Just put all the ingredients in and knead for 10 minutes. Take the dough out, flatten it a little, cover in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to relax for 30 minutes. I used half the dough for this and have half in the freezer. I'll make a thick strips pasta with homemade spicy tomato sauce later in the week.

Use plain flour is you don't have 000 flour.

Kneading the pasta in the bread maker is the easiest way to do it. If you make it by hand, make a well in the centre of the flour, add everything to the well and slowly start incorporating the flour into the wet centre. When it's all mixed in, knead for 8 - 10 minutes.

When you roll the dough out, don't use too much flour on the bench - it will make the pasta tough.

The ravioli is cooked when it rises again in the boiling water.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. When they are added to the pot, they'll sink. When they rise to the top again, they'll be cooked. That will take about 5 minutes, depending on how many you have in the pot.

SAUCE

Generally I have a tomato-based sauce with pasta but not with pumpkin. I don't think they go together well. You could make a coconut cream and chilli sauce. Just open a tin of coconut cream, put it in a pot, add salt, pepper and chilli sauce or flakes and stir. You could also do a cream herb sauce, using the same herbs you used in the ravioli in the sauce.

If you have filling left over, like I did, you can make this: place the extra filling in a saucepan, add half cup of cream, half cup of water and stir. You'll have to use your common sense for this. If it's too thick, add more water, if you don't have much filling, add more cream and less water. You could also use milk, not cream and water.

To make up the ravioli, divide the pasta up into smaller portions because it's easier to handle that way. I divided mine in two and froze half, then divided the remainder in two. Roll the pasta out with your rolling pin until it's as thin as shop bought pasta. Try to roll it into a circle or a rectangle shape - it's easier to cut. Grab a scone cutter or a large glass and cut the round shapes for the ravioli.

To fill the ravioli: in the middle of each shape, place a small teaspoon full of the filling. Pick up the shape, fold the pasta over the filling and crimp the edges, pressing them together firmly so no filling escapes while they're cooking.

If you want to make this ahead of time, lay the filled ravioli on a baking sheet in the fridge. Make sure the pasta isn't touching because it will stick. Make the sauce up and keep it in the fridge. When you make it up, all you'll have to do is to cook the ravioli in boiling water and warm the sauce.

Now that we've eaten this, I'd change two things. I'd add herbs to the sauce, or a sprinkling of herbs over the dish at the end, because it looked too bland. I would also make a side salad to have with it. It was delicious though. Hanno said: This is good! And after another mouthful: This is VERY good!

We had to leave very early for the hospital yesterday so I didn't have time to finish my blog. But I have good news! Hanno's angiogram showed a couple of small problems but nothing to be too concerned about. He has some "wall damage", a complete blockage in one tiny vessel that goes no where and a 30% blockage in a larger blood vessel. It can all be treated with medication. Hanno started back on his warfarin last night along with the new pill which he takes once a day. He goes back for a checkup in March. So, angiogram tick, let's move on with renewed hope and confidence.

Thank you all for you good wishes, prayers, comments and emails. I am sure I have the loveliest and most caring readers on the internet.

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I received this email recently, thought it was a great topic to discuss, replied to the sender to watch for an answer on the blog, copied the email here, deleted the email, and forgot to ask her if it is okay to use her real name. So, as I'm not sure, let's say this email is from "Mary".

I enjoyed your recent post about homemaking in later life, but I have a question about homemaking for younger people. You speak a lot about being a mother and grandmother, and about how that fits into being a homemaker. My question for you is what do you consider the role of a homemaker who does not want children? My husband has a construction company, and I take care of the paperwork. We have recently sold our company to a larger company, and he will be going to work for them in the new year. His work frequently takes him out of town during the week, and brings him home on the weekends. People are asking me what am I going to do now that I don't have the business to take care of. Many people know that I don't wish to have children, and seem to feel that there's no need for me to stay at home if I'm not a) going to have kids or b) do the paperwork for the company, especially since my husband works out of town. I am feeling frustrated because people don't seem to understand and I'm not sure how to get my point across to them, that working in my home is giving me joy and fulfillment. The people questioning me are people I care about and respect, who care about me as well, so I don't feel comfortable ignoring their questions. I'd like to be able to have a productive conversation but am finding that I can't come up with something better than "because I want to and I like it." Do you have any advice about how I can explain my role as a homemaker, without kids, with an out of town husband and no "real job" to do at home?

Let me start by stating I am proudly working class. I love my work and I think work makes us the people we are. However, I don't believe that paid work is more valuable than other types of work - house work, voluntary work, education and study, being a parent or a carer, or any other type of work. Paid work is necessary for most of us, but the work that really contributes to our well being and mental health is the work done at home, by men and women, to make a comfortable and welcoming home, keep costs down and to increase self-reliance. That is hands-on work where you see a result for your efforts every day. Paid work is necessary to buy or rent a home to live in, to buy food and clothing but apart from the minority of people who love their jobs and couldn't think of doing anything else, most people work because they have to.

There is a large group of us who have recognised that paid work is not the reason for being; it is what enables us to live how we choose. When we have worked enough to acquire what we need, we can cut back on the amount of paid work we do and just live - doing those things that make us happy. There is no point in working just to accumulate money. When you have what you need - a roof over your head, clothing, food, and the things you enjoy around you, what is the point of working more. Our society seems to celebrate young entrepreneurs who make a lot of money and retire early to enjoy life. They ignore people who work in a way that allows them to do that without making a lot of money. Why is that? If you don't want to buy into the conspicuous consumption model we have lived with in the past 30 years, why wouldn't you recognise your own level of "enough" and then stop paid work to enjoy what you've worked for?

I have no doubt there will be people who read this post today and know they will never have the opportunity to leave work - they're providing for small children, disabled or sick relatives or have been left with debt. There will be others who don't want to leave paid work. That is their interest. It engages and satisfies them and they enjoy meeting their colleagues every working day.

And we have many people like Mary.

Mary, it sounds to me like you've reached your level of "enough". Your husband is bringing in a wage and that is sufficient for both of you to enjoy what you have and to be confident that your savings and investments will see you through. It's irrelevant that you have no children, if you decide to be a homemaker, if you have enough work to keep you active both mentally and physically (and most of us do), if you enjoy time spend on domestic and creative activities, then you're in the right place and you're doing what enriches you.

I think your job as a homemaker should be whatever you choose to include in your life. Even though you're much younger than I am, your role could be very similar to mine, which is to care for the home, to shop mindfully, to cook healthy food, to clean clothes and linens, to tend the garden, to mend, recycle and repair. To me, that's work; enjoyable work. You'll have your own routine and you'll be baking most days, cooking from scratch, making green cleaners, soap, laundry products, knitting dishcloths, mending clothes, storing food and you'll be doing it all in your own time. You're totally in charge of how you spend your hours and when you look back at the end of the day, you'll feel satisfied that you've done what you needed to do and you'll look forward to doing similar tasks tomorrow.

I don't know when we moved from working because we had to, to working because we're expected to, but it happened along the way. If you don't do your work at home, who does it? You pay others to cook for you in the form of convenience food, frozen and packaged foods and takeaways, you buy products are are inferior to those you can make yourself, you buy new clothes because you can't make minor repairs, your home suffers if it's not maintained. I think it makes more sense, if there is enough money coming in, for someone to be at home, whether they're looking after children or not. I don't understand the mentality that says we all have to work so we have enough money to buy everything we need and then have no personal input into our own lives at all. It makes more sense to me to have someone at home who can customise the home to suit those living there. And that is not menial work - it is blessing to everyone who lives there, including the person who does the work.

Mary, I love your explanation: because I want to and I like it. That should be all you need say. You're living the life you want to live. You don't have to conform to anyone else's standards or ideals, and you don't have to be having babies and looking after children to justify your home work. But I understand you want to explain to those you love so why don't you start by saying: "I don't have to work because we have enough. I stay at home because I want to and I like it." And then go on to tell them what it is you do at home, how you save money in a variety of ways, how you have the time to create and tend a vegetable garden and how you're enriched by what you do. Maybe those who are questioning you really have forgotten that this is how we all used to live before paid work became such a dominant force.