down to earth

I am going through a very busy time here right now. I worked again yesterday but apart from a meeting with the high school principal and teachers to work out an agreement between us and the Flexischool, my day involved not doing the work of the Centre but showing various visitors around. I was actually very pleased to be able to show the Centre to one of the two politicians who raised the money for us to build it. Carolyn Male is the sitting Member for Pine Rivers but used to be our local member of parliament. When she was in that position, she lobbied endlessly on our behalf. Anna Bligh (our Premier) was our other helper and I hope to thank her personally if she does the official opening. And today a Senator will be there for morning tea and we always take advantage when we have the ear of a politician. There are so many things we can make them aware of, so many people who need help and so few funds with which to do it. So today I'm back at work to do a bit of lobbying of my own, but I hope to be home again just after lunch.

My son Kerry came up to look through the Centre yesterday, but with all the other visitors, I didn't have time to talk to him. Hanno showed him around and off they went to lunch. I was really thankful to find him still here when I came home and we had dinner together before he drove the two hour trip home.

I was contacted by the ABC yesterday asking if I would do a spot on radio every fortnight talking about frugal living. How could I say no to that. It's a good way to spread the word. That first interview is this morning.

Monday is going to be another busy day with a 12 hour work day - it's my normal work with two meetings tacked onto the end of it. But after that, my friends, everything should start to settle down again and I can concentrate on being here at home, get back to making and doing and being mindful of why I live this way. I don't like to be so hurried, I doubt it's good for my health and it feels like I'm not concentrating enough to do a good job.

I have no doubt many of you have similar busy days and I really have little to complain about. I am missing my at home days and look forward to spending more time here and being able to write about slow and mindful living again. So bear with me as I go through the busy period.

Thank you for your visits this week and for the wonderful and helpful comments left. It really makes writing this blog seem worthwhile when I know that others are wanting to live more simply and connecting here from all over the world. I hope you have a lovely weekend.

I slept in this morning. I was exhausted last night and still feel tired. I don't have time to write now because I have a deadline today for a writing assignment. I'll be back tomorrow with another reader's kitchen photos. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy re-reading, or reading for the first time, this post from January 2008. Is about the important skills of mending and repairing.

There is mending to be done today. When I stripped the bed yesterday, I noticed a tiny rip just under Hanno's pillow. The cotton sheet is thinning, but it's still worthy of repair. Mending will give that sheet at least another summer with us before it goes on to other duties like polishing clothes, tomato stake ties or wipes for Airedale beards.

I have to tell you I love mending. It is one of those cherished homemaker duties that really connects me to this life we are living. It is a firm reminder that Hanno and I don't want to live in a throw-away world, that we care for what we own and we reduce, reuse, repair, recycle, renovate and revive. We are renegades and rebels, we don't throw much out. We want to resuscitate the planet, we are into renewal, we want to make reparation. Okay, enough of the "re" words. LOL

I am ashamed to tell you that back in my free-spending years I would throw away a perfectly good shirt or pants rather than repair them. That included throwing away clothes that just needed a button sewn on. : - ( I wish I could take back all those wasteful times but the best I can do now is to make sure I remain a good steward. Whatever needs to be repaired here now, is, and not wasted in the ever growing piles of "landfill" rubbish dumps.

Sometimes I come across a small rip or missing button in the course of my day but I usually find mending jobs when I'm washing or ironing. I make sure now that I look carefully at the fabrics and fasteners and put aside any that need repair. I have a spot in my sewing room where broken clothes and household goods sit until I have enough for a mending session. In the past couple of weeks, I've sewn on a number of buttons, reinforced handles on cloth shopping bags, and patched an old business shirt of Hanno's so he can wear it in the garden. Today I have the sheet to repair and I will also strengthen the top of a zipper on a pair of shorts and hand stitch the hem.

If you're new to mending and repairing, there is a nice little guide here that might help you. Get into the habit of collecting any buttons you find in your home. Have a small (recycled) jar handy to collect them so that when you find the shirt or dress with the button missing, you'll know exactly where to go to the find the matching button. When you're ironing, check hems and collars so you can repair them before they get out of hand. I remember my mother removing collars to turn them over on my dad's shirts. I have no doubt this almost doubled the life of his shirts. I haven't had to turn any collars yet, but it's something I will do in the future.

Here are other guides on how to sew darn a sock or a jumper/sweater, how to sew on a button and how to mend a tear (video). This is a lovely article about mending and the art of living.

I'm off to tidy my sewing room and start my mending. I hope you're having a good week and that you enjoy your time reading here. I send warm hugs to all of you.

If you're about to start a new season garden, your time will be best served by enriching your soil. This will do more for the health of your garden and the abundance of your crops than any fertiliser you apply later in the season. If you plant your seeds and seedlings into fertile, living soil, you give them the best chance of success.

Our garden in full production with the compost heap and bin sitting quietly at the back. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

Yesterday we talked about enriching the soil and there is no better way to do that than by adding compost. Compost is a gentle fertiliser that adds organic matter to the soil. Organic matter will bring the worms in, and they will bring in all manner of microbes that will help creature the soil you need for good crops. Another great thing about compost is that it will help you manage your kitchen and garden waste, you end up throwing less in the rubbish bin and recycle bin, and you will make, at home, the best fertiliser possible for your garden.

Once you start making compost, you'll look at your household waste in a different way. Many things that were once alive, like paper, cardboard, cotton and linen fabric, hair, tea leaves etc, can be used to make compost. Instead of being waste, they'll now be a resource to make the best fertiliser around. So start your search today. If you're decluttering, bingo! You can use all those old papers, magazines and worn out skirts in your compost heap. Set up a little compost collection bucket in your kitchen for the kitchen waste you want to put into the compost. It's best if this has a lid if you want to empty it once a day.

Our compost heap this morning. Hanno has moved the brown compost to the left side so he can start another heap with the new grass clippings.

There are two categories of materials you need for making compost, and for the sake of simplicity, we'll call them greens (which supply nitrogen) and browns (which supply carbon). Greens are the wet nitrogen filled materials like grass clippings, kitchen waste and fresh manures. Browns are dry things like paper, cardboard and straw. You will need 30 browns (carbon) to one green (nitrogen). Now that might sound complicated but all it means is that you need much more dry material like paper and straw than you need greens. Everything you add to the heap should be small. Chop up the scraps, cardboard etc with your garden spade before adding. The smaller it is, the faster it will decompose. BTW, if you don't have enough kitchen scraps to make a compost heap, chop up your kitchen waste and bury it in the garden. It will decompose and add to the fertility of the soil.

BROWNS - carbon

shredded newspaper and magazines - but nothing glossy and coloured
shredded computer paper
cardboard - cut up in small pieces
crushed egg shells
ash
straw and hay
hair
the contents of your vacuum cleaner - check to make sure there's no plastic
wool and cotton clothing

GREENS - nitrogen

grass clippings
leaves
green garden waste - but nothing that is diseased and no woody branches, they take too long to break down
anything high in nitrogen like cow, goat, sheep, chicken and horse manures, chicken manure pellets
fruit and vegetable peelings - not onion or citrus, which are best in a separate pile because they take a long time to decompose
kitchen waste - but not meat or dairy products
seaweed

DON'T ADD ...

meat
dairy products
diseased plants
anything plastic or acrylic
dog or cat poo

This is our compost in mid winter. This time the compost in use is on the right (with potatoes growing out the top) and the newer material is on the left.

WHERE TO PUT THE COMPOST HEAP

Build your compost heap on bare ground, not on bricks or pavers. You want the worms and microbes to find and colonise the compost, so it needs to be on the soil. Site the heap close to the garden where it will be used and if you have dogs or chickens, it will need to be fenced off or else they will eat what you put in there. If you live in an extreme climate, it might be best if you shelter the heap up against a wall. This will also provide a solid border to one side of the heap.

HOW TO START

Start on bare earth by placing a thick layer of shredded newspaper or straw as your base.
Add whatever other ingredients you have, alternating browns and greens if you can (sometimes you can't).
Always remember the 30 brown to one green ratio. If your compost is too dry with browns ,it won't decompose, if it is too wet with greens, it will smell. When the heap has been going for a while, if it is too dry, add greens, if it's too wet, add browns.
On the first day, if you've built a reasonable heap, get the hose and moisten it. Don't wet it, just a slight spray to moisten things and to start the heap off.
If you have heavy rain or snow, or if you're in a cold climate, you will need to protect the heap with a heavy tarpaulin. If you can, tie a brick to each corner with cord to keep it in place over the heap.
If you don't have any animal or poultry manure, see if you can buy or barter a bag, or, alternatively, buy a bag of chicken manure pellets from the produce store and lightly scatter them through the layers as you add to the heap. Animal manure should also be added every so often to the heap. The manure will heat up the compost and activate the compost a great deal. Comfrey leaves will also help speed up decomposition.

Comfrey will help activate and speed up the composting process.

Making compost is not rocket science but you do need to watch your green to brown ratio. The truth is, if you threw all the above into a heap in your backyard, it would eventually rot down, no matter what you did and you'd have compost. But we are actively working to increase the fertility of our gardens, so we want compost and we want it NOW. What ever you can do to speed up the process, do it. Turning the compost helps speed it up, so turn it over with a fork about once a week.

If you build your heap well, you'll feel it heat up and sometimes you'll see steam coming off it. If the heap doesn't heat up, add more manure and mix it in. But even if it doesn't heat up, if you're in a warm climate and you turn it regularly, you'll have compost in about eight weeks. It will take longer in cold climates. But use your gardener's common sense and help it along however you can. Protection up against a brick wall, covering the heap and adding manure will help heat up the heap even in cold climates. If you have any tips on cold climate compost, please add your comment. We'd all love to learn more about this interesting subject.

Eventually, all the pieces of paper, hair, manure and kitchen waste will evolve into beautiful dark brown, sweet smelling compost. Planting your seeds and seedlings into soil enriched with compost will give them the best chance of survival, but compost making is an ongoing garden task. If you can make a lot of it in summer, and you live in a snowy climate, store it in your shed over winter for the coming season. If you're in a milder climate, it's fine to just having it sitting in the garden waiting to be used. Making compost might seem like a chore in the beginning, but it will become second nature to you, and when that happens, you'll reduce the amount of household waste you give to other people to dispose of for you and you'll have a continuous supply of the best soil conditioner and fertiliser.

There is one thing you can do that will improve your harvests and the quality of your produce more than any other - enrich your soil before you start planting. There is an old gardeners saying that is as true today as it was when it was first said: Feed the soil, not the plant. Garden soil is not just rock particles, organic matter, water and air; good soil also contains microbes, fungus, worms, nematodes and a range of other "life" that hasn't yet been identified. Good soil is alive.

The garden yesterday afternoon after Hanno had been working there for a few days. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

If you're starting off with mediocre soil that has been struggling to produce food in previous years, or has never been productive, the one thing I urge you to do it to work on your soil before you even think about planting. That one thing will make more difference than anything else you do. When we started vegetable and fruit gardening in our backyard 13 years ago, the soil here was undisturbed heavy clay. We started by enriching the soil and making compost. Then we planted various plants directly into bucket size pockets in the soil that we filled with compost. We had small yields during those first years, but eventually, with continued additions of compost and whatever other organic matter we could find, such as lawn clippings and manure, we eventually turned our almost sterile soil into a fertile oasis.

Quentin has recently started laying.

We are not no-dig people. We dig our garden. We believe you get the best crops and the full measure of your soils - with all the nutrients and minerals they can provide, if you plant directly into the top soil. If you can keep your topsoil alive by adding worm castings, worm juice, manures and well made compost, you'll be giving whatever you plant the best chance of producing maximum crops.

After the beds were dug over and weeded, Hanno moved the perennial Welsh onions to their new growing space for this year - the top garden bed near the bird bath.

So if you're thinking of starting a garden this year, you need to work on two things - making compost and enriching your soil. I will write about compost tomorrow. Even if you've been working on your soil for a while, you need to do it every year. Each year you plant, that crop of plants will use the nutrients you add to the soil. This is a continuing task to be carried out every year - add more organic matter and enrich the soil.

Some plants are still growing well. Above you can see eggplant and pumpkins, along with an orange tree and passionfruit vine that self seeded and is now growing vigorously along the picket fence.

If you've never planted anything in your garden before, you'll need to know the pH level of your soil. This is the level of acidity/alkalinity in the soil. Some plants like a more acid soil, some like it more alkaline but the vast majority of plants will grow well in the range pH 5 - 7. If your soil is too acid, add agricultural lime to help balance it out. If it is too alkaline, add compost and organic matter. Clay soil can be corrected over time with the addition of gypsum at about 500 grams (1 pound) per square metre. If you are blessed with good fertile soil you won't have to bother with all this palaver but the majority of us will have poor soils that we have to work on.

The girls on their daily gardening expedition. This picture was taken about two weeks ago before Hanno started cleaning up for this season's crops.

So if you're starting from scratch, your first step is to dig your soil over and test it for pH. Make the necessary adjustments, if needed, and water the soil. You are trying to encourage microbes and worms to live there and it must be moist and nutritious for that to happen. As soon as you start adding compost and other organic matter like manure, and if you keep the soil moist, the worms will come from no where. They will further help you break up the soil because they'll burrow through it making tunnels for water and nutrients to flow. They will eat and excrete and over time, will help develop the life in your soil.

Some plants, like comfrey, send down deep tap roots that mine the soil for minerals. Those minerals are stored in the leaves of the plant and when you use something like comfrey for fertilising or activating your compost, you'll get the benefit of the high nitrogen leaves and the minerals they contain. So it is a good idea to plant comfrey at the edges of your garden so you have a regular supply of high nitrogen and mineralised fertiliser. Comfrey will grow in poor soil but it likes moisture so pick a spot where the water collects - make sure it's not a prime vegetable growing space, and plant your first bits of comfrey. It grows well from roots. Make sure of your place because once planted, it's difficult to get rid of it.

The chooks love getting into the garden - during the normal growing season they're fenced off from the vegetables.

If you have chooks, let them into the garden while you're building up the soil. They'll scratch around, leave their droppings, eat bugs and insect eggs that you can't see and generally improve the fertility of the soil simply by being there. We let our chooks into our garden over the past two months. They've eaten the comfrey down to the roots, picked all the leaves from the capsicums (peppers), turned over the compost heap several times and eaten every caterpillar and grasshopper in the place. We don't worry about this damage, the leaves will grow back and the chooks do much more good than harm. Because of their hard work, we are starting off our gardening year with a clean slate. When you plant seedlings and have your garden in full production, you'll have to keep the chickens out of your garden. We do this by fencing off the vegetable garden from the rest of the garden the chickens usually free range in.

Just to recap:

Dig the soil over and remove the weeds
Test for pH
Make the necessary adjustments (see above)
Water the soil and keep it moist
Fence the garden off from chickens and pets
Let the chickens in to scratch and feed during this period of soil enrichment
Add compost and organic matter like cow, horse, pig, sheep manures.

Tomorrow we'll discuss compost and how to make it from what you have at home.

It's like studying for a degree all over again. All the subjects are there, we search each other's blogs for pieces of unusual and valuable information, we collect recipes to add to our armoury of healthy meals, we teach and learn from each other, we rip out old magazine articles, have catalogues sent to us, draw maps of borders and gardens, and save conversion charts for temperatures and measurement. So how do we organise it. Just how do you make this mingle-mangle of torn edges, handwritten papers and professional printed material into an easy to use and tidy resource. Enter the homemaker's almanac I used to call this my homemaker's journal, but I realised it's more than that. I review it each year and update with the coming year's calendar and information, so it's more an almanac than a journal. Whatever it's called though, it's a must have.

I realised very early on my journey to a simpler life that what I wanted to know was not in any one book and that part of what I had to do was to actively search for material that would teach me what I needed to know and motivate me towards life-long learning. It didn't take long to see that cutting out bits and pieces, downloading from the internet and handwriting notes and recipes created the kind of mess I'd already left behind.

So I got myself an old binder with plastic sleeves and started loading it up with my mad collection of information. It's not necessary for it to be fancy or new, use what you already have. I'm still using that folder to this day and it's been a resource that's saved me time and time again. Gone are the days when I'd write a unique and treasured recipe on a slip of paper, only to lose it. Now they're all tucked away in their own section of my almanac. A book such as this, with recipes for all your homemade cleaners and soaps is important for everyone but especially so for parents of your children. If you happen to have the terrible circumstance of one of your little ones swallowing something you've made, you'll have all your recipes in the one spot. Grab your folder as you go and show the recipe to the doctor. It's a much better option than having to waste valuable time looking for your recipe, or worse still, saying you don't remember what you put in the concoction.

In addition to your cleaning recipes and food recipes, you could also store your menu plans that are not currently being used and stuck on the fridge. It can hold the instructions for craft projects and patterns for dresses, skirts. nightdresses and cardigans. It can hold your lists of birthdays, important dates and school functions, your weekly or monthly planner, price lists, coupons and vouchers, your water and electricity meter readings.

If you're serious about your life change, mark it by storing all your information in one place. Add to your almanac frequently, update it every year, compost old papers and add new ones. That way you'll stay up to date, have your information in one place and the mere act of making an almanac and working with it, will indicate to you and others that you live a unique life.

.....................................................................................

Thank you for your visits this week, it's been another busy one for me, and probably for most of you too. Next week in our simple living series, we'll move outside to the garden. Spring is moving closer for many of my northern hemisphere friends, and Hanno and I are almost ready to start building our new season garden. The chooks have done a wonderful job for us weeding, eating insect eggs and grasshoppers and turning compost. Soon it will be our turn to work the garden. I'm looking froward to it, and to the cooler weather.

I'll be featuring two readers' kitchens on the weekend. I'm not accepting new photos until I have used all those already sent in. I'll let you know when I need a new batch, I think it will be the end of the month. Whatever you do this weekend, I hope you enjoy it. ♥