March, week 1 in The Simple Home

One busy period of our lives ended yesterday with Kerry, Sunny and Jamie moving out and into their own new home.  We wish them the very best and we're grateful to have had those four months together, growing closer.  

We're preparing for another year of healthy chooks and the eggs they'll produce as well as an abundance of home grown vegetables and fruit.  

Now we're getting ready for another busy time - we're collecting six new chickens to add to our flock next week and we're planning our vegetables garden. We should start planting mid-March.  Like all good gardens, there'll be a period of soil preparation and systems checking before we start. All gardens need that because gardening is always more than putting a plant or seed in the ground and standing back.  We're both looking forward to being more active in the garden after a long hot summer.  I'll make sure I take plenty of photos so you can follow our progress.

I'm looking forward to Skyping with my blogging group tomorrow.  Ten people from all around the world, all chatting and sharing. I'm still amazed that we can do that face to face while we're so far from each other.  What are you doing?

20 office and craft room organization tips

DIY hanging rain gutter garden
With your own healthy choices, this makes packing school and work lunches easier
Non-sandwich school lunch ideas
A beginner's guide to whittling
Pegs/clothespins and hangers up-cycled and repurposed - I particularly like the peg animals
11 years living off-grid

Ginger mint tea

February, week 4 in The Simple Home

This is the last week of our money month. I hope you've sorted out what needs to be done, organised a budget and thought about where you're headed, financially. Most of the activities we've addressed this month are simple exercises that will put you on track towards a healthier financial future.  The one thing that will make these things make sense and appear to be easy to set up and maintain over a long period of time is changing your attitude towards money. Many of us grow up thinking we deserve good things and that we should keep up with our brothers and sisters and the next door neighbours.  There is sometimes a feeling now that if you don't look like you have as much as everyone else you're not as good, or a failure. That's rubbish. Although we like to think that things are fair and equal, they aren't and I doubt they never will be. So get rid of those negative thoughts if you have them and just focus on what you need and what you have, everything else is irrelevant.

Why some chickens lay brown eggs and some lay blue

February, week 3 in The Simple Home

The Gender Pay Gap

Throughout the developed world, there is a significant difference between what men and women earn. In Australia the gap is currently around 17 per cent. All through their working lives, women usually earn less than men even when doing the same type of work; they move in and out of employment during the years they have babies and often work part-time when they do return to work. As such, a woman’s overall lifetime income is much lower than a man’s. As well as being unfair, this means that women’s superannuation is much lower than their male counterparts, putting them in a precarious situation as they age. I wish I had a solution to this problem. I wish we had politicians who were strong enough to stand up and work towards a solution. I don’t have the answers, but I do have some suggestions. 

The list below is mainly targeted at women who have chosen to be at home to raise children or those who leave the workforce when a baby is born.  It could also cover men who choose the same path.  The main point of this list is to protect people who are working within a relationship for the mutual benefit of the couple and their children, who do not get paid.

After 50 years of wearing glasses, soon they'll be off, for good.

This is the first post I've written since my eye surgery and I have to tell you, I'm feeling great.  There is a new, sharply-focused world out there that I've been rediscovering but so far my discoveries have only been inside the house.  I still have a problem with glare so my outdoor adventures will have to wait a few more days. In another day or two, I'll take my glasses off for good and will only need reading glasses. I'll have the other eye done next month and I'm looking forward to having two good eyes again.  I'm so glad I had it done.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write comments on The Simple Home posts, although I'm a bit disappointed there are so few. The comments feature your ideas and opinions, often different to mine, and they are a big help to those who are struggling with change or not sure about what to do or how to do it.  If you have the time, please add to the discussions, what you write may be just the thing to help fellow readers.

I hope you have a lovely weekend. I've been sent a book to review so I'll be starting that and trying to keep the plants alive in the hot weather.  See you next week. xx

Four easy winter lunch recipes for busy people

While I knew from a young age that I would work when I was older, it didn’t occur to me until much later how vital work is. Work builds character, families, neighbourhoods and nations. I can say without a doubt that I am the person I am because of the work I’ve done – both in the work force and at home. The daily effort of earning a living and keeping a home operating builds layer upon layer of experience, skill, confidence, trust, character, responsibility, understanding and common sense.

There are several distinct stages we go through in life, each has it's own rewards and challenges and going through one stage often helps prepare you for the next.  I've written about this in The Simple Home but I'll highlight how each stage is slightly different and the financial aspects that can make a real difference as you grow older.

I meant to show you Sunny's sesame plants the other day when I did the herb post. We started growing them in the bush house when a friend gave her three small bushes. I potted them up and they're growing fast.  Although they're known in Korea as sesame, they're not the true sesame plant.  These are correctly known as perilla and if you click on the link you'll see why we're growing it.  Sunny, and many Korean people, use the leaves to wrap around small portions of food.  Apparently the plant also produces a beneficial oil if it's crushed but these haven't produced seeds yet. As you can see in the photo, they've got a lot of flower head so the seeds are probably close.

I'm having my first eye op next week so I'm not sure of what I'll be doing here apart from The Simple Home post on Monday. Next week will be hot so I guess I'll be inside most of the time.  I hope this is the last of the really hot weather.  I'd love to experience some cold nights again.

Thanks for your visits this week. I hope you have a peaceful and relaxing weekend.  See you soon. xx

One of the many ways to cut costs in your kitchen garden is to take herb cuttings. I do it at this time of year but you should do a bit of research and see if it's viable in your area now. My common sense tells me, but I don't know for sure, that if you provide a protected light position, out of the sun and wind, cuttings taken now, in most warm climates, would grow. Out northern hemisphere friends would need to wait till later in the year. I take cuttings now because they're starting to look a bit ragged after summer, they need cutting back and the weather is still warm - it's hot but not as firece as it was a few weeks ago.

These are oregano cuttings. Even the ones on the left side, with very few roots, will probably grow well. I got about 12 cuttings from these clumps.

If you have herbs growing and you don't want to take cuttings, now is a good time to cut them back and give them a drink of whatever delicious organic fertiliser you have on hand.  Comfrey, seaweed or any of the liquid commercial feeds are good for this.  If you buy a commercial fertiliser, try to get a good organic one - it's better for the soil, the plant and you.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.  
Winston Churchill

Hanno and I made the transition from a frenzied working life to a more simple and beautiful one almost 20 years ago. Now we save what we can, care for what we own and we mend, recycle, reuse and repurpose. Using these principles, we've gone from being thoughtless spenders who bought everything we wanted, to mindful, self-reliant people living on a fraction of what we once did. We are also much happier.

I'm making a lamp skirt to cover a very drab beige lamp shade in our lounge room. The fringe will be at the bottom and the green cotton is to crochet around the top.  I'll show you when it's finished but don't hold your breath- we are back in busy mode here. 

We're settling nicely into the year with the very hot temperature easing off a bit and two days of rain just passed.  I love rain and the cool weather that sometimes comes with it. The tanks are full again,  and frequent showers are filling the soil with much needed liquid.  It's a good sign for our vegetable garden which will be planted up in March.

Hello everyone.  Last year I developed an online blogging course and had great success with it.  It's a course for beginners, or bloggers who've started a blog but haven't developed it. It is open to anyone no matter where you are in the world. The cost is US$100.

Creating a blog is a fairly easy thing to do but to present the best blog you're capable of, well, that's more difficult. As you know, I've been blogging since 2007 and was fairly successful in the first few months. As the years went by, Penguin offered me the opportunity to publish my work with them, I became a monthly columnist for the Women's Weekly and Burke's Backyard and I won a lot of awards.  I started off as a novice, knowing nothing about blogging, but I was a fast learner and I'd like to share the secrets of that success with you. I always use Blogger. It's free, easy to use and customise, it's the biggest blogging platform in the world and as it's owned by Google, it's usually trouble-free.

This is the final post for January, so let's recap what we've done so far.  This month has been all about planning and organising the year ahead as much as we can.  Hopefully you've been able to set up a home admin area - it might be a dedicated office or it could be the kitchen table with box of your admin things that can be used on the table then put away. Much of your home organisation can be done in your home admin area where you have what you need at hand. If you need to write something down or look something up, it's right there. Your calendars should be set now with all the known 2018 appointments and events, your food planning should be done and, if you're doing them, menu plans created. It will help a lot if you have a list of 2018 gifts organised and you've written a list of home maintenance that can be carried out during the year. These lists, menus, calendars and plans can be stored in your home folder and left in the admin area so all your bits and pieces, the things you need to run your home, are in one place. I hope you've had time to organise a drop zone, charging station and your work spaces to better suit how you work because that will be very useful as you progress through the year.  Some of those places might have to be modified in the coming weeks, so don't be afraid to adjust as you go.

ROUTINES

Now it's time to think about how you do your housework, what works and what doesn't, and when is the best time to do your work. A routine is a sequence of actions that are performed in the same way and at the same time. Routines will help you develop the habits of a working home and will make life easier. There are many ways of establishing your routines. For example, my morning routine is to have everything - breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, getting the lunch ready, making beds, laundry and watering the garden finished by 9am. Then I go on to do other things like craft work or writing until lunchtime - our main meal.  I try to get the active tasks done in the morning because I get tired in the afternoon.  If you go out to work or work at home, you could make up a list of tasks you want to complete before you leave for work or start work at home. These might include breakfast, packing the dishwasher or washing up, getting the children off to school and workers off to work - with lunches packed the night before, and having something either in the slow cooker or defrosting for dinner that night. And while everyone else in the house is getting ready for the day ahead, they should be doing their routines too.  Children should make their bed, dress for school, put PJs away, have breakfast, pack their lunch and homework in their school bag and clean their teeth.

Part of the routine is that everyone knows what they have to do and you don't have to prompt them to do what they have to do.

I think this is the most significant group of reads I've collected and presented to you so far.  One site here has been life changing for me, I won't tell you which, I hope you discover it in your own way. As usual, the links are listed in the order I find them in, not in order of their importance or readability. I'm interested in hearing what you think of this group so if you have time, drop me a line or two in the comments.

It's been hot and humid here so we've been trying to get our work done early and then we turn on the air-conditioner mid-morning and stay indoors until late afternoon. That works well for us but I'm always mindful of our sons working in hot conditions and the many working people who make their living outdoors or in hot environments. 

I've been taking herb cuttings and potting them up but I'll write a post about that next week. It's an important skill and a good way of increasing the plants you have in your garden and to give away or barter with. Indoors, I made more lemon cordial a few days ago. It's such an easy thing to do and a good drink to have on hand on these hot summer days.

I know many of you will already be doing this, or at least know about it, but cooking in a saucepan with a steamer on top is a frugal and nutritious way to prepare your daily vegetables.  

I bought this set of three saucepans plus steamer about ten years ago and I use the steamer a few times every week. I put the hard vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, turnips etc., in water in the saucepan to boil, and softer vegetables: spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower etc., in the steamer on top of the saucepan.  The lid from the largest saucepan in the set fits the steamer.