Slow Living Essentials - June 2013

Connecting up with Christine at Slow Living Essentials to write about our "Slow Living" for the month of June.  You can see the month of May Slow Living here.

NOURISH: Make and bake as much as possible from scratch.
We tried out a new pizza base recipe that you mix up and leave for 24 hrs and the verdict was good. The recipe can be found in "The Homemade Pantry" which I have written about in my "Baking in the Country" posts.  We used a mix of bakers flour, wholemeal flower and rye flour for our base.  My recommendation is that you make a thin base which seemed to come out better as James made a thicker base but I thought the thin one was fully cooked through and we all agreed.  Also bought some mini quiche dishes and made Quiche for dinner which we all enjoyed.

PREPARE: Stockpile and preserve
I continue to make spaghetti bolognese in the slow cooker using this recipe and freeze 3 portions for future meals.  This is our standard monthly stockpile for dinner.  We made more of Rhonda's home made biscuits and froze them so we could just take out a couple each for morning tea when we needed them and also made lemonade from fresh lemons which the kids and I love.

REDUCE:  Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
I finally put a bedspread that I no longer use on ebay to sell and whilst it didn't sell this time round I'm re-listing it to get it out of my house.  The last time I used it was 7 years ago and it's taking up precious room.  The delay was getting it out of the bag and onto the bed to photograph it.  Once I actually took the photo it took me about 5 minutes to list it.  Sometimes these small jobs never get done because we don't make time to do something that is a small time frame only those things that might take a day because you actually can set aside a day to tackle a task.  Anyway it's going back on ebay so I can clear my clutter.

GREEN:  Up our lives.  Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners.
No great change here however after the kids go back to school I want to make up an orange spray which is all over the internet.  Currently I'm still using an Aldi one so I'm in no great hurry as I don't want to waste what I already have but I know I want to try making my own.  I found some cleaning recipes over at I Heart Organizing.

GROW :  Plant/Harvest.
Harvested our first little green capsicum off the bush over the weekend.

CREATE: To fill a need or feed the soul.
Not much on the crafting front however I continue my photography of photography taking every day photos of our life and spotted some Autumn leaves which I had to get some photos of and Sienna was my willing model.

DISCOVER:  Feed the mind by reading relevant articles to current interests.
I borrowed from the Library a River Cottage DVD called "The River Cottage Treatment" which was fantastic and I watched it one night and the next day the kids and I sat down and watched it together.  Lots of positive messages about healthy food vs fast foods.

We also got a DVD out from the library called "Eco House Challenge" which was a series shown on SBS at some stage.  It was about two families who had to reduce their "hot spots" (water, electricity, transport, recycle) by 60%.  They did this over a 7 day period and each day were given the next hot spot and at the same time had to keep the hot spot from the day before going.  It was great and the kids understood a lot of it and are more conscious about leaving lights on and wasting water.  It was a great little DVD and to be honest a tough challenge for 7 days because they were told if they passed or failed each night but not if they failed because they used too little water or too much water.  I recommend it for the family to watch.  It doesn't look as if you can purchase the DVD but the Library had a couple.

Still discovering our wonderful Library transformation and borrowing lots of books and DVD's.

ENHANCE:  Community:
We had our school fete in June and I helped out on the Hot Dog Stand and purchased some beautiful handmade goods like a little apron for Sienna.  There was rock climbing, jumping castles and Sienna's purchase of the day which was her 50 cent bunny's from the second hand toy shop.  James bought some second hand books which he read in a day.

 

I made an effort to shop local when I bought my new bike so the kids and I can go on bike rides together.  Our first outing can be seen here.

ENJOY:  Life!  Embrace moments with friends and family.  Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment.  Share a moment to be remembered from the month here.

We took up a Cudo deal for $10 tickets to see Burton's Circus and thoroughly enjoyed the 2 hour show which included camels, ponies, birds, clowns, trapeze to mention a few things.  Awesome afternoon.

We had an afternoon by the river with our good friends and the kids played in the sand, rode their scooters and played cricket and footy.  We made some focaccia and lemonade to take for afternoon tea which is always a big hit with everyone.