down to earth

I'm having a short break but I noticed there are a lot of readers visiting this morning. I've decided to occasionally feature popular posts from the archives so you have something to read when you visit.

JUST DO IT

Anna S by Carl Larsson from here.

I really enjoyed reading a comment from Elizabeth yesterday. She said, in part, “I have been reading your blog for some time but until last week I just read and wished but did not action in anyway. That is, until this last weekend when I thought 'just do it!' So, I have started knitting a cardigan, knitted three squares for a throw for this winter, and made a chicken soup using up a chicken carcass for the very first time!" It is obvious to me that Elizabeth has been thinking about how she wants to change her life for some time, and now she's just dived right in. Living deliberately, there is nothing like it.

When Thoreau wrote his book, Walden, he had left his job and set up in a small cabin to live alone in the woods. He wrote: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience ..." I think that is one of the most profound pieces of writing I've ever read and since I discovered Walden, many years ago, I have tried to live to the spirit of what Thoreau wrote in that one passage.

So what exactly is living deliberately? I guess there may be several different interpretations but to me it means taking control of my life, thinking about what it is I want my life to be, knowing what I want to do every day, or what I have to do to achieve my goals, and then living that life. Very few people have their life planned out for them and handed over on a silver platter. But what many people do is to just react to life. They have no real plans, they live each day doing what is expected of them, then, when something out of the ordinary happens, they react to it. There is no real plan, no map to follow, just reactions to what life throws.

Deliberate living is deciding what you want your life to become, working out the steps you need to take to make that happen, then, as Elizabeth said, just do it. You will still get life throwing the unexpected at you, but when it happens, you work to solve the problem, then you get back on track.

Those three little words, just do it, are the best advice for anyone hovering on the edge of a simple life. You might be hovering because you don’t know what to do first, because you feel you can’t do it all so why bother with a little bit, or you’re waiting for just the right time – until you move, you get that pay rise, you retire, the kids move out – whatever the right time will be for you, let me tell you there will be no right time. The only right time is now.

The other thing Elizabeth said was that she feels renewed now when she wakes up. I feel that way too. Every day you continue along the path you’ve chosen, you feel you have purpose and you feel renewed.

I think the economic crisis will bring a lot more people to this way of living but living simply is much more than a financial strategy, it's more than your location, it's more than how you manage your home or plant your vegetables. It's about you, how you think about your life and how you express your values day by day. Anyone can learn to make yoghurt, budget, knit dishcloths and grow tomatoes, the real trick is for your actions to reflect how you think and how you want to live. What good is it to list the hundred things you've accomplished if you're not made happy by what you do, if you aren't renewed by it, and if you don't do it with grace, humility and generosity.

When you deliberately choose this way of life, you will be doing things that bypass the conveniences of your old life, there will be many things you'll do differently, but if you do it well, if you really throw yourself into your life, if you live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, not only will you be living deliberately, you will be changed by it. Just do it.

NUT SLICE RECIPE

Combine the following dry ingredients in a bowl:
1 cup self raising flour OR one cup plain (all purpose) flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup walnuts
½ cup brown sugar

Melt 125 grams butter (1 stick/4 ozs)
Add 1 lightly beaten egg

Mix the dry ingredients with the wet and press the dough into a slice tin. Firm it down before baking on 180C (350F) for about 2o minutes. Don't leave it in too long or the outer sides will be very hard. When cooked, cut into slices. You could substitute the walnuts for a cup of sultanas (golden raisins) or choc chips or any nuts you have on hand.

We had a beautiful Christmas morning. It wasn't too hot, there were clouds blocking the sun and when we left home at 6.15am, there was the promise of a wonderful day ahead. Hanno and I drove to the Centre where, along with a few others, we packed our cars with tables, chairs, equipment and food, and headed off to the local park.

Hanno and some of the volunteer chefs cooking up a feast for everyone.

The Centre where I work as a volunteer invites the town to share breakfast every Christmas morning. For the past few weeks I've been organising this and I wanted it to be the best yet. Santa had contacted me to let me know he'd be there, we had a lot of volunteers to help set up, cook and tidy up, all we needed was a crowd of people.

Well, they didn't let me down, I think we served about 700 breakfasts. The toughest part of organising such an event is that you never know how many people will come along. We ran out of bacon late in the morning, but had sausages and eggs left over. We also served cooked tomatoes and mushrooms, bread and butter, fresh tropical fruit, organic muesli and yoghurt, cereals with local dairy milk, fruit juice, spring water, tea and coffee. I've already bagged up the leftover sausages, they and the eggs and bread will be given out to people needing food assistance over the holidays.

It was a lovely morning. Homeless people mixed with business leaders, children came along with new toys, people who might nod in the street during the year, sat down and ate breakfast together. I feel blessed being part of it. As usual, my faithful sidekick, Hanno, was with me to help. He loves cooking the sausages so that is where he was for the first few hours, then he had a break and sat chatting with a paramedic under a tree, sipping coffee.

There were a couple of short downpours of rain but no one cared. It's all part of living in the subtropics at Christmas time. Many people came over to me to thank the Centre for hosting such an amazing event, we received lots of donations and Hanno and I came home happy people. It really is the best part of Christmas for me.

I am taking a break for a short while to rest and get ready for a busy new year. I have a few ideas for the blog in the coming months and I'm eager to share them with you. Thank you for your visits here during the year. It never fails to astound me that people keep coming! Thank you for the warm friendships many of you have extended to me and for the many wise and wonderful comments. A special thanks to Sharon who helps me here, the forum and at the simple, green, frugal co-op blog. Warm hugs, Sharon, I appreciate you very much.

I hope you're squeezing every bit of joy out of the festivites and that your new year opens with optimism, hope and desire for continued change. I know mine will and I want as many people as possible to be walking along this chosen road with me.

Take care, friends. I'll see you soon.

ADDITION: There is an online sale at American Yarns - 20% off everything in the store. Starts 26 December and runs for five days. Use the code 'bdaysale09' at the checkout to get your 20% saving. Click here to go to the store.

Today we have the last kitchen sink photo for the year. We'll continue the series next year and soon I'll be calling for more photos, so get your cameras out, ladies and gentlemen. I'd love to see a man's kitchen and kitchens from Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Singapore, Japan and every other cosy corner of the world this blog is read.

Our photos today come from Deb at Homespun Living. I'm sure many of my readers know Deb. Her waffle weave dishcloth is my favourite and I've linked to it a number of times. There is a lovely green dishcloth in one of these photos. I also copied Deb's beautiful idea to hand stitch my kitchen curtains. Mine are similar to Deb's but I have tea cups, not tea pots.

Deb writes:

" This end of the kitchen is where we eat every day. The round wooden table and the chairs were found at tag sales and refurbished – I painted the chairs, recovered the seats, and refinished the table. I think everything you see in the picture {except the light fixture} was found secondhand, previously loved by someone, and now put to new use in our home. The wall cabinet holds vintage bowls – most used day to day, and some used to hold wine corks, cookie cutters, etc. The long side table is another tag sale find and holds wire baskets with table linens, a black metal box where we stow snacks, an old bread box I painted, a plate rack, and a little curio cabinet my father-in-law built. The goal is to achieve a simple, functional space that is also warm and cozy.

Two years ago we gave the kitchen a facelift on a tight budget. The farmhouse sink and faucet were both deals I found on Ebay, the new oak countertop was actually gymnasium flooring that was given to us, and we transformed our wood cabinets with cream-colored paint. The dishdrainer is from Ikea, and the dishcloth I hand knit. The curtains are vintage linen tea towels that I embroidered with tea pots and hung from clips. And, with each changing season, there is a wonderful view from the window over my farmhouse sink."

Please don't forget to comment. A comment is like payment for the time taken to post, and in this case in sending in the photos. Many of us were enthusiastic about this series, so make sure all the photos get a good number of comments. I don't want any of the ladies sending in photos to regret joining in. Thank you friends.

I'll do one more post tomorrow before I take my break. I'll see you then.

I think today's kitchen comes from America. Montanasmama doesn't say where she is from, but from the name and the measurement in inches, I'm guessing the USA. Montanasmama, if you drop by today, please let us know what state you're in.

She writes:

"I know my sink looks huge in this little kitchen but it has the same foot print of a double bowl sink. I have found it SO much more user friendly then the double bowl in my old house. If you look you will see two water taps on the sink. One is for the city water, which is new to me and lovely to have when things get dry but I don't want to drink,cook, or ruin my tea with it. The other tap is for my gravity fed spring water system. I just re-routed the spring water from my old house to the new. If something happens to the city water I can switch the whole house over to the spring system. I chose the high curved taps to make it easy to fill and clean big pots.

The door by the fridge is a pocket door leading into the walk in pantry. Having a hinged door here would have been very unhandy. Because the kitchen is small the "off the rack" kitchen islands were all too big for the space. To make my little island I took two 18" wide cabinets and attached them end to end giving me a small work area and 8 more drawers. I bought a slightly defective piece of corian counter top for it. I was going to use some kind of stone but just happened upon the corian stuff, it was the perfect size and cheap! How often will that happen? The other counters are laminate and I didn't fell comfortable with putting really hot stuff down on them so the little island takes care of where to put that right out of the oven or off the burner stuff."

The last two kitchens this year will appear this weekend - Pam's kitchen from Life on a Southern Farm will feature on Saturday and Deb's kitchen from Homespun Living will be our last kitchen for the year on Sunday.

Girl in the pink dress asked for a post on making wholewheat/wholemeal bread. I made some yesterday so here are my thoughts. The most important element in wheat bread is gluten, it gives bread its shape and fluffiness. There are 30 different proteins in wheat, glutenin and gliadin are the two that form gluten. Gluten develops in the dough when moisture is added and the mixture is stirred and kneaded. Bread must be kneaded for at least eight minutes, preferably 10 minutes, to develop the gluten so it's strong enough to hold the shape of the bread and all the air that gives us the lightness we want. No one wants dense gluggy bread.

When you make white bread and knead the dough well, you'll get a light loaf. When you make wholemeal bread, the added bran and fibre in the flour, makes it very important for you to knead the dough properly. If you don't, the gluten won't be developed enough to hold the pockets of air and you'll get a small dense loaf.

Let me make this clear - it doesn't matter how you knead your bread dough. If you want to use a bread maker that's fine! If you want to knead by hand, that's fine! The point of the exercise is to knead it sufficiently to make a decent loaf of bread. Every loaf of bread you make at home will be better for you and cheaper than anything you buy. If you want to produce most of your own bread and you need a breadmaker to do that, there is nothing wrong with that, despite what others might tell you. You are your own boss, do what you know is right for you and your family. If you love the feeling of hand making bread, do it. If you don't have the time for kneading, can't seem to get it right or find it too difficult, use a breadmaker. I have a breadmaker here and I often use it to knead my dough. I never cook in the machine because I prefer bread baked in the oven. But you do what is best for you and what is easiest.

I opened a new pack of yeast yesterday so I made sure I proved it. To prove yeast, half fill a cup with warm water. Don't have it too hot because hot water will kill the yeast. Add the amount of yeast you need and a teaspoon of sugar and stir it until it's mixed properly with the water. Leave it for five to ten minutes.

With the water and sugar to feed on, the yeast will activate and start frothing. You can see this in the photo above.

When you're sure the yeast is alive and active you can add everything to your bowl or bread machine bucket. My recipe for yesterday's bread was:

3½ cups flour - I used half white and half stoneground wholemeal. Using some white flour will give a lighter loaf, using all wholemeal will give a heavier loaf. You'll need 3½ cups, you decide how much white or wholemeal, if any, you'll use. Buy bread flour, baker's flour, strong flour or high protein flour for your bread.
1½ teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
about 2 cups of water You'll use more water with wholemeal flour but all flours are different. Add almost all of the two cups, mix the dough and look to see if it needs more.

This is the dough in my breadmaker after I added two cups of water. You can see in the photo that the dough is too dry, so I added another ¼ cup, then another ¼ cup. Don't add the extra water all at once because it might be too much. You need to look at it and judge if you have enough water or not. This really does change from flour to flour and also on how humid it is. You'll need less water in humid weather because there will be more water (from the air) already in the flour.

Now the water is in and I see that the dough is moist but not wet and sloppy. I can still see a bit of dry flour at the bottom so I know it's fine now to walk away and do something else while the machine kneads the dough.

When I hear the machine's alarm, I go back to remove the dough. Lightly flour your clean bench. If you don't want to use your bench and prefer a board, put a moist tea towel/kitchen towel under the baord so it doens't slip around.

Knead the dough by hand for a minute so it's nice and round and all the uneven bits are underneath.

At this stage you can either just shape it and put it in greased a bread loaf tin or chop it into pieces to make bread rolls. I did both and used my small loaf tin.

Wet the tops of the dough and sprinkle on anything your heart desires. I used polenta yesterday but I often use rolled oats, sesame or poppy seeds or a mixture of all of them.

Leave the dough in a warm spot to rise. My kitchen was warm yestrday (28C) so I left the dough, uncovered, on the bench. Half an hour later it was ready to bake. Make sure you don't let the dough rise too much because it will puff right up then collapse. Also, handle the dough gently after it has risen because if you drop it or tap the side of the tin hard, it will lose all the air that's just caused it to rise. If you do that, you'll have to let it rise again.

There are two kinds of rise when making bread. One is the rise caused by the yeast and the gluten trapping the air given off by the yeast. The other rise is oven lift and it happens when dough is placed in a hot oven. A hot oven will make the dough puff up and then cook. Make sure your oven is hot before you put the dough in.

About half an hour later you'll have a house smelling of hot bread and your lunch sitting on the bench cooling slightly before you cut into it.

Bread making is not just following a recipe. It involves looking, touching and judgement. Get in there and touch the dough, learn how a good dough feels, learn how to spot problems and how to fix them. If you can bake a good loaf of bread and are the chief provider of bread for your family, you're doing your job of homemaker well. Bread is a staple and it's well worth your time and effort to get it right. You'll save money and provide your family with healthy food with no preservatives, and that is a fine thing. Happy baking everyone!

I see living simply as a series of adjustments. Much of what I'm doing now, I did before but in a different way, or with a different attitude. Shopping, housework, cooking, baking, gardening, knitting, and keeping chickens were all in my life before I started living more deliberately but now they're carried out with a more generous and caring heart and not just because I have to. Now my days have a rhythm of their own, I have no watch, I rarely look at the wall clock, the day and the season tell me whatever time I want to know about. I've adjusted to a gentler way where mostly, time doesn't mean much.

But every so often, like today, the summer solstice in Australia, I stop and actively think about time; the time I have, how I'll use it today and in the coming year. This year coming will be a busy. I have many things planned and the challenge for me is not to come up with fresh ideas and to change what I'm doing, but to balance work with recreation, and to slow myself enough to enjoy every hour of every day. If I don't do that, what's the point?

I have found I need to be much more organised living as I do. If we haven't thought to buy all the supplies we need, we have to rush out to get them at inconvenient times and those extra trips use more time and fuel. If we're not organised when sowing our seeds, there will be no fresh salads, no potatoes, no good juicy tomatoes, we'll have to buy what we need, and I see that as a step backwards. So today I'll take the time to organise my new diary. I'll write up all those things that will make the coming year easier for me because I'm organised and prepared. I'll write in dates I need to remember, important days when I should be at particular places, sowing days and sewing days, reminders to slow down, days out with Hanno and all my work enagements and deadlines. There is a lot to put into that diary.

One of the things I can tell you about now is that will be taking next week off. We have our Christmas morning breakfast and then the start of the Boxing Day test cricket match when I'll be sitting with my knitting and watching the entire day's play. The following day is the last You, me and the kitchen sink for the year and then we'll have a few days rest here when I won't post but give all my attention to Hanno and my home. When I come back I'm starting a simple living series when, for about a month, I'll write about the elements of a simple life as I see them, both practical and intellectual. Many of these topics have already been written about but there are so many new readers now I thought I'd write a brand new condensed series, day after day, and with fresh eyes. I hope new and older readers alike will find something in it. I expect it will serve me well to freshen my attitudes to what I do, to rethink how I work here, and to think about what is important and what isn't.

I hope you enjoy this solstice day. Do you use this as a planning day? If not, how do you mark the solstice?

All graphics are Carl Larsson paintings.