The patchwork kitchen curtain. I saw this idea originally in Pinterest - it's on my page there.

I love how Rose talks about a rhythm developing when you carry out these challenges. That rhythm often comes in when you repeat these kinds of tasks and it's that rhythm that helps you get through the work. If you've been struggling with your house or yard work, I recommend this challenge to you. They are easy and quick tasks that can be slotted into most days and will keep you on target in your simple life.

If you're doing your washing with that product, or any of the others that are similar, you're sleeping on sheets and then wearing clothes that have been washed in all those chemicals. The laundry liquid I use has got four ingredients: water, soap, washing soda and borax. It works as well, if not better than the commercial brands and it's much much cheaper. Here is my laundry liquid recipe and soap recipe. Laundry liquid will take you about 15 mintues to make up and will last a couple of months. Soap will take about 45 minutes of work, spread out over a few hours - it's a weekend job. My recipe for sun infused calendula salve is here.

Ingredient	Function
Sodium palmate	Surfactant Emulsifier
Sodium palm kernelate	Surfactant
Aqua	Solvent
Parfum	Fragrance
Sodium chloride
Glycerin	Solvent Moisturizer
Palm kernel acid	Emollient
Tetrasodium EDTA
Tetrasodium etidronate
Benzyl Benzoate	Solvent Fragrance
Eugenol	Fragrance
Coumarin	Fragrance
Linalool	Fragrance
Citronellol	Fragrance
Alpha-isomethyl ionone	Fragrance
Geraniol	Fragrance
CI 77220	Pigment
CI 11680	Pigment
CI 71105	Pigment
CI 74260	Pigment
CI 77891	Pigment Sunscreen

In canned and packaged food, there are almost 100 different varieties of tuna (why?), there is canned chicken! canned beef! canned frankfurts! canned soup! something called finishing sauces (whatever that is) long life custard, jelly, cones, waffles, pavlova mix and creamed rice in a tin (oh no!) and get this - one cup of wild hibiscus flowers in syrup for $10.39 - they are rosellas! One cup of rosellas and sugar for $10.39. If anyone here buys them I will personally track you down and show you that if you made this at home it would cost you less than a dollar. Be warned.

Some of the ingredients I use to make soap, laundry liquid and cleaners - borax, washing soda, bees wax and soap flakes.

All these convenience foods cost much more than what you make at home from scratch. Your home made goodies taste better too, there are no preservatives in them and you know exactly what's in the foods you eat. I can clearly see how dependent we are on supermarkets because I wasn't brought up with them, I have seen a different way of shopping. We can all choose to do our shopping in a way that doesn't make us dependent on brands and shopping centres. If you can find a good green grocer or fresh food market, a local butcher, a bulk food store for all your dry goods like flour, sugar, rice etc, if you make your own cleaning products, bread and snacks, then you won't have this reliance on supermarkets. You'll have more money in your purse/wallet too. Women do about 85 percent of the shopping for families. If we all thought more about the power of those shopping dollars I think we'd have a better system.

I have no doubt that like us, you'll still do some shopping in your local supermarket. It's crazy not to stock up on items at a good price when you see them,. There are also things that only a supermarket will stock - like Lux Flakes, butter, Vegemite and the like. But doing all your shopping in a supermarket will cost you more. There is usually a balance in these things which you'll only find if you look carefully at what you're doing and then do some research in your neighbourhood.

If you've already started moving in the direction of local shopping, I applaud you and encourage you to continue. You're not only doing something fine for yourself, you're helping your local business community and you're cutting down on your carbon foot print. If you're still at square one, I hope you'll think about this and deconstruct your shopping. Work out what you buy, list them in categories such as dried goods, cleaners, dairy, meat, fruit and veg etc., then look around your local community and see what the shopping alternatives are. There might not be any, but if there are, I hope you'll try them out and see the difference it makes. And don't feel guilty if you still shop for some of your products at your local supermarket, or even all of them. The main thing is to be mindful of your shopping and change it for the better if you can.

♥:::♥:::♥

I get a lot of emails from readers about various topics and also a lot from people who thank me for motivating them towards the changes they've made. In with all those emails are  quite a few that are full of uncertainty and indecision, so today I'd like to talk about confidence and trust. Let's be clear right up front - if you're living like we are, you're living outside the mainstream. What we do is seen as unusual and sometimes, odd.

The light rye I baked a few days ago.

There is nothing wrong with anything unusual or odd but when people who live in a more conventional way start to criticise or question the way you live, you have to be strong enough to ignore them or to stand up for your choices. Confidence often comes when you do something often enough for it to be easy, but when you're new to this lifestyle and you're trying to convince your family and friends, and maybe yourself, that what you're doing is good for you, sometimes that confidence takes a back seat. Of course, you don't have to explain anything to anyone if you don't want to but if it's going to be easier for you, explain it in a way most people will understand. They probably won't understand the need to pull back from spending but they will understand paying off debt, so tell them that - you're not doing the things you used to do so you can pay off your debt. If you want to add anything to it, say you're trying to get healthy and cutting back on the chemicals in your food and your home. Most people understand success when they see it, so if you've got a great vegetable garden, or you're making soap or bread or knitting, show what you're doing.

My new girls learning to eat real food - watermelon and grapes.

Poor old Hanno has really bad gout in both ankles, one being worse than the other. For the past five days, he's hobbled out of bed using a walking stick and then has to sit down all day. I moved him from the loungeroom to the front verandah to give him a bit of variety but it's tough walking around with swollen, painful ankles. Yesterday started at 4am as usual, but I was book writing not blog writing. At six, I went out, fed the cat and let the chickens out. I checked their food and water, then picked up Lucy, our blind old girl, and brought her out to the back verandah where she spends her days with our old cat Hettie and very young wild magpie that seems to have adopted Hanno. Someone cruelly cut the end off the magpie's beak so we're feeding it. I doubt it could kill and pick up grubs and other insects. It turns up everyday and Hanno has been spoiling it with roast pork and topside mince. I went back inside to make up food for Lucy and the magpie and when all of the outside creatures were fed, I had my breakfast, and when Hanno was awake, I made his.