I have noticed something about myself since I started reading blogs and again when I started the forum. I wonder if some of you feel it too. It is that when I see productive work in others, it motivates me towards similar work here in my home. I see many photos of beautiful sewing and knitting and it inspires me to pick up my needles and knit, or start cutting out a project to sew. When I read about women (and sometimes men) canning or making jam, I want to do it too. The most mundane and simple tasks, when shared, make me want to join in and do my fair share of the work. Of course, my work is being done here, yours is done in your home, but blogging and writing about it on the forums moves me away from the computer and towards the broom.

I wonder why that is.


Yesterday when we shared what our collective days would hold, it motivated me to bottle my ginger beer, test wash up with my newly made liquid soap (more about that next week) and rearrange recycled jars and bottles in the cupboard. I had planned on spending some time posting on the forum but those words compelled me to scrub and bottle those drinks and organise my spaces better. Why?

I wonder if others feel it too.


I've been thinking about this overnight and I wonder if seeing the work of others or reading about productive work being carried out in homes stirs something deep inside that has been buried so long that it struggles to see the light of day. Maybe this motivation I feel is a remnant of those times when we - women and men - worked together in fields, or when women joined together for sewing and quilting bees, maybe it's something akin to the Amish and their barn raising. Is it the knowledge that when many hands work for the same cause, the work is done faster and the work itself is lighter? Do we have an inclination to work in groups?


Or is it more simple than that? Is it that seeing others work reminds us to get our own house in order. Maybe it's similar to the nesting instinct that many woman experience in the last stages of their pregnancy when they start rearranging, planning and fluffing the nest ready for a new baby.


I doubt I'm the only one who feels this motivation because I often have emails from some of you saying you love to know what I'm doing because it inspires productivity. This is not a one way street, I feel it too! So do you feel this pull towards work when you see or read of others working? And if you do, tell me, why is it so?

After two busy days at work, I'm at home, alone, today. Nice. Hanno is taking our friend to the doctor in Brisbane and I will be left to my own devices here behind the closed gate. I intend to have a quiet and gentle day with a mixture of things I like doing, mingled with a few chores I'd rather not do.

It's almost 5 am now, soon I'll feed Alice and Hettie and let the chooks out. Breakfast with Hanno will follow and then he will head off to have a haircut and pick up Bernadette. I'll clean up the kitchen, make bread, sweep the floor and make the bed. The main bathroom needs a clean today and I have to do a spot of ironing, so I'll do that before I go out into the garden to see what happened in the two days I worked. I want to see Quentin and Quince with the older chooks and if I'm lucky, I'll bring in some eggs. I'm not sure what we'll have for dinner tonight so while I'm in the garden I'll see what needs to be picked and that will determine what we eat.

I think it will be time for tea then, so I'll have that on the front verandah and do a little knitting. The weather is comfortably warm at the the moment and it will be something to look forward to. Later in the day I'll will make up a batch of ginger beer (recipe here) from the plant I started last week, I'll write and catalogue some photos. I have been taking photos here every day for a few years now. I need photos for various writing assignments and I'm wasting a lot of time going through the un-named folders. It's a tedious job, but one that must be done, so I'm doing a little each day.

I'll be dropping by the forum too as time allows today. I wanted to write much more than I have in there but the setting up has taken time. Hopefully I'll do that today. I want to get acquainted with you all and get inspired by what you're doing. There are so many interesting threads of conversation in there it's surprised me how quickly it's taken off. I just checked - exactly 300 members. Amazing.

Hanno will come home late in the afternoon, probably as I'm preparing our evening meal and we'll go through the routine again of feeding the animals, collecting late eggs and closing the door on the chooks when they put themselves to bed. It's going to be a fairly slow day but I'm happy to be working at home, pottering around at my own pace, and feeling useful and content in my home. What will you be doing today/tomorrow?

I've just about given up on TV. I enjoy watching the cricket during summer, I'm still faithful to Time Team and there is the occasional fine program that gives me hope but overall I think TV programmers are asleep at the wheel. However, I did watch a good program on SBS last week called Family Feasts which featured a large Italian family who gathered for the annual cooking and bottling of tomato sauce. I enjoy seeing these traditions being passed on and as I record most of the TV I watch, so I never have to see any advertising, the side benefit is that I can replay certain parts and study what they do.

Another program recorded last week was Compass. I think I've passed on links to Compass before when they featured the Amish. Compass is a program about ethics, belief, faith and values and how various people live true to what they believe. At the moment there is a series of three programs called The Good Life where three prominent Australians talk about their beliefs and why they live as they do. The first was about Ian Gawler, a man who is a long term cancer survivor, next week's is about philosopher Peter Singer, and last week's featured Gay Bilson, well know for cooking at a couple of famous Sydney restaurants. I expected interest from the Gay episode, I got much more than I expected.

Gay lives alone in South Australia now. She celebrates her solitude, takes pleasure in cooking and baking, she grows food in her garden, and reads. There are several delightful parts of the program where she reads from her wonderful book, Plenty. I have to tell you I love this program. I've watched it three times so far - I become a tad obsessed with certain odd things at times - I asked Hanno to watch it with me and he said "... she is just like you.".

We do have a lot in common, I adored seeing her kneading bread in her wonderful kitchen and yes, I have slowed the vision down so I could study every nook and cranny therein. I love to be alone and Gay brings that aspect of her life into almost everything she talks about, but if my truth is told, I am too frightened to imagine myself being alone now because of the dire circumstance that would bring that solitude to me. Nevertheless, on an intellectual level, if not a physical one, I do understand that need for solitude.

I love what she says about generosity, her daily domestic tasks and how home cooking and restaurant food differ. But there are so many parts of this wonderful program for me to recommend to you, let me stand back and just give you the gift of it. For Australian readers it will be replayed on ABC 2 this Friday at 6pm. For my friends further afield, there is a link to the program here. It runs for 30 minutes so get yourself a cuppa, sit back and enjoy this treasure.

ADDITION: Pebbledash has alerted me to the fact that this cannot be viewed by anyone outslde Australia. Thanks Diana. Sorry everyone. Maybe you could satisfy your curiosity by reading Gay's award winning book - Plenty.

ANOTHER ADDITION: International viewers need to "download" to view this. :- )

We bought two new chickens on the weekend. A buff Sussex named Quince and a Light Sussex named Quentin. My Australian friends will know who she is named for. ; - ) They have been hand reared on a rare breed chicken farm so they love being carried around and are very tame. They've settled in very well with the other girls and Martha, our buff Orphington, is looking after them. Martha is a big golden puff of a chook; she looks motherly and is gentle and slow. I'm sure they'll enjoying living here.

We love our chooks. They are a constant source of entertainment for us. They help make our backyard the productive place we want it to be and they give us healthy eggs with golden yolks that taste much better than any egg you can buy in a supermarket. Even the expensive organic omega 3 eggs don't come close to a backyard egg. The difference is freshness. Domestic eggs are always superior because they don't go through the cycle of being collected, graded, transported and unpacked, to sit on a shelf for a period of time.


We live in the sub tropics, so we have a very short Spring and a long Summer. In the next week or so we'll start preparing the backyard for Summer. We want our chickens to be as comfortable as they can be during the hot months so there are a few things we can do now to provide that comfort.

The most important place in a hen's life is her coop. It needs to be protective from predators and the weather and safe enough for her to lay her eggs there. Hanno cleans out the coop on a regular basis but in the next week he'll check that everything is in order, he'll get rid of cobwebs and do a thorough clean out of the coop and the nesting boxes. We have 14 chickens and four nests. They always have a favourite nest but all four of the nests are being used now so that tells me they feel comfortable in all of them. Our coop has doors that can be closed. Sometimes when there is a severe storm forecast we will herd the chooks into the coop and close the door. Chooks have been known to die of fright during a thunderstorm, so we make sure they're confined to a place they know and feel safe in.


Out in the yard, there are plenty of shady places but we also put up little metal sheets that they can shelter under and stay dry when it rains. If you live in a hot climate, it's best to let the chooks find their own cool places. They will generally be where they can scratch into the dirt and make little hollows. They sit in these when it's hot and the soil cools them. When it's hot and you see the chooks have make these hollows, get the hose and wet the hollows, it helps the chooks cool down more. Our chooks have chosen the area under a clump of short palm trees as their favourite place on a hot day. There are plenty of those little scratched hollows there and we make sure to keep the area hosed down on hot days.


Another thing we'll do closer to the hot weather is to get some shallow water containers that the chooks can stand in. They will cool down by standing in the water. Make sure the water is in the shade and stays cool. If you have a really hot day, you could herd the chickens into the coop and put the sprinkler on the roof for a short time. Overall though, letting the chooks find their own cool spot and leaving them there all day will probably serve you best. Make sure you check on them during the hottest part of the day.

Make sure there are ALWAYS several containers of cool fresh water. All of them should be in the shade.

If the chooks suffer from heat stress they'll stop laying and if it's severe enough they won't lay for weeks, sometimes months. Heat stress is a big problem with chickens, it's best to avoid it rather than treat it. If you do have a heat stressed chook, dunk it under some cool water to cool it down. If she's been sitting in a dirt hollow, wet the area with a hose to cool things down a bit. If you have electricity in the hen house,and you can't let the chooks free range, put an electric fan out there on the worst hot days.

Chooks ask so little of us, just a bit of food, water and safety, and they return so much. Don't leave your preparations too late. When the hot weather sets in, you'll be better off sitting on the verandah with a cold ginger beer rather than rushing about trying to keep the chooks cool.

The link is here. Please sign up for your account with Yuku first, the link is at the top of the page. Most of the forum will be viewed by members only. I'm setting that up now. If you go in now you'll see the whole board.

After you sign up, please introduce yourself and start posting. I'll be along later today.

I had a wonderfully restful day yesterday and feel better for it today. Thank you for all the good wishes you sent.

I've had some emails recently from younger women thanking me for being their role model. I love getting those emails because one of the things I hope to achieve writing on my blog is to show, by example, how we can work towards a better future simply by living according to our values and putting in the hard work when it's necessary. I am quite confident in this role because I grew up in a time when mothers, aunts, grandmothers, teachers and older women in general supported other women, especially the younger ones new to married life and raising children. I grew up knowing that when it was my turn, I would pass on what I know and would encourage other women in their various roles, both as homemakers and working women.

I didn't know then that our culture would change so much and that instead of looking to the women around them, it would be celebrities who would be seen as role models. I didn't know that women would become so competitive and try to outshine each other. I didn't know that overseas holidays and flash houses would replace the hope of a good life as the prize everyone worked towards. How times have changed.


At the risk of sounding like my mother and grandmother, in my day we women supported and encouraged our friends, work mates and neighbours. We didn't envy each other; if one of us had something outstanding, it was a joy to everyone that one of us had such a prize. That doesn't happen much now. Now, in general, we are all trying to keep up with the Joneses. And I don't know why. Mr and Mrs Jones are probably up to their eyeballs in debt.

I hope that part of your return to a simpler life will allow you to show support to others. I hope you'll share what you know so that others might benefit through your knowledge. Selfishness and resentment belittle us all. Having more than someone else doesn't make you better than them, it just means you have more. I hope we're all able to open our hearts up to those around us and be a role model. If they are mean spirited, show, by example, how life should be lived, don't descend to their level.


If we are to change this sad trend towards selfish and mean lives, we will do it by living our lives with generosity and kindness and by modelling that behaviour. We all need to be proud of how we are living and what we're striving for and be open enough to talk about what we want in life. If we start doing that, and let others see we are living well, it will make a difference. Like everything it will be slow but that shouldn't stop us from starting. Live your life with confidence, show respect to those around you, give more and expect less. And when your friends ask you why you changed and if you're happy, tell them (without preaching), be their role model, and support and encourage them to follow your lead.

ADDITION: I've been thinking for a long time that I'll add a forum to my blog. You'd be able to ask questions, support each other and generally be part of an open community. Would you like this? Would you visit? It will be free. If so, I'll need a couple of people, with experience, to help me as moderators. Is anyone interested? The forum is almost ready to launch but I need your input to progress further.

I need to rest today. I feel it in my bones. I had a meeting Monday night, then two days working, yesterday I worked alone. What needed doing has been done, I took time on Tuesday afternoon to visit my sick friend after work, I returned many phone calls, interviewed a new volunteer, bought groceries for our food bank and fund-raising, wrote the newsletter and a lot of emails, organised a few things and dealt with the clients who wandered in. Today I return to my home, and today I'm looking after myself.