Saturday 1 September 2012

Slow Living Diary - August 2012

I'm joining in with a community of bloggers started by Christine over at Slow Living Essentials.  Christine had this fantastic idea at the start of the year to focus on 9 elements that will help to maintain a focus on slowing down and enjoying the simple things in life.  I only found Christine's blog half way through August but thought that it blended well with what I am trying to achieve on my blog so I wanted to get started straight away.  The idea is post at the end of the month (or the start of the new month) and reflect on the 9 categories and share your achievements (or even lack of) for the past month.   I've included Christines description for each category in italics next to the title.

Nourish : Make and bake as much as possible from scratch.  Ditch overpackaged, overprocessed convenience foods and opt for 'real" food instead.  Share favourite links/recpies/tips from the month.
Cooking from scratch is pretty normal for me.  I think my best effort in the past month was my Zucchini pesto and chicken dish made with my Spirooli.   You can see the whole blog post here
 
 Prepare: Stockpile and preserve, Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce.
Having only just moved in the last month I haven't done a lot of this.  However I did shop in bulk and stock the freezer as well as making a couple of weeks worth of meals for Layla (the dog) and freezing those. 
 
Reduce: Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing.
Not sure if this counts but we did sell some unwanted furntiture on e-bay at bargain prices to help out others and cut down on the excess "stuff" in our life.
 
Green: Up our lives. Start (or continue) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies.
I discovered the wonders of Coconut oil.  Not only is it great and healthy for cooking it makes the best mosituriser.  This is all I use now and my skin seems to love it.  It has also cut down on all those little plastic bottles that used to fill the bathroom shelves.  (ahh just realised this also fits the Reduce category).
 
Grow: plant/harvest. What's growing this month?  What's being eaten from the garden.
My favourite category and on moving into our new house the first thing we did this month was plant.  We now have herbs, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and bok choy growing.  Check out my planting post
 
  
 
Create: to fill a need or feed the soul.  Create for ourselves or for others.  
My other favourite :-) I finished off some dishclothes and face washers.  I made a little crochet purse and finished off this mat just in time to go under my anniversary flowers.  
 
 
 
  
Discover: Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests. Trawl libraries, second hand shops or local book shops to find titles that fill the need. 
I enjoyed re-visiting my gardening books to learn how to grow herbs and vegetables in pots in the new house.  I've only been used to planting in garden beds, so this is new and experimental.
 
Enhance: community: possibilities support local growers and producers.  Help out in your community. Start a blog!
I started blogging again after a 3 month break while we got settled after the move.  I found the local growers market and have been supporting it every Sunday morning usually while others are sleeping. I have also really enjoyed reading other blogs and I'm just amazed at how many inspirational and talented people there are out there.
 
Enjoy: Life! Embrace moments with friends and family.
I had a couple of really nice dinners with some special friends this month.  I've also bought some beautiful framed prints. These are from a very talented photographer.   I posted a pic below but please check out Jen Waltmon's Red Bubble site  Thanks Jen I'm enjoying them immensely !
 
 
 
Thanks Christine for starting the Slow Living blog idea. I look forward to having a whole month to reflect on next time.
Jen

 
 
 
 
 



10 comments:

  1. Hi! I followed you over from Christine's blog and enjoyed reading about your month. Good luck getting settled into your new digs and I hope the tomatoes do as you want them to.

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    1. Hi Heidi and thanks for taking the time to visit my blog. I just took a look at yours and have put it in my favs to come back to as I want to take some time to read your posts. Loved the photos that I saw there. I really like seeing what's going on in households on the other side of the world. Spring is here in QLD Australia so I'm heading out to the garden.

      Jen

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  2. Hi. Also from Christine's. I love the sound of Zucchini Pesto, will be checking out that post next.

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    1. Hi Kathryn and thanks for visiting. I use the little hand spirooli machine to make noodles out of the Zucchini, it's taste better than pasta and I don't feel like a need a sleep when I've eaten it :-)

      Jen

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  3. Nice monthly summary Kathryn, I'm another that popped over from Christine's - my slow living post is currently a work in progress.

    Love the veggies in pots, it's amazing how much you can grow in such small spaces.

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    1. Hi Barbara,

      Thanks for visiting. I enjoy reading your blog. So far I'm very happy with my vegies in pots, let's hope it stays that way.
      Jen

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  4. Hi Jen, loving that spirooli! I've never seen one before. You are so right about feeling like a nap after pasta..unfortunately it's a huge fondness of mine..both the pasta and the naps ;) Great to have you along! :)

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    1. Hi Christine,

      Thanks for visting, I love reading your blog. Tonight I'm going to give carrots a go in the spirooli, I haven't tried anything other than zucchini yet.

      Jen

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  5. Hello
    I, too, have followed you over from Christine's blog.
    I never thought to use coconut oil as a moisturiser. Great tip, thank you.
    Sounds like a great month. Nothing beats a homemade dish cloth.
    I think I'll now have a bit of a wander through some of your other posts. :)

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  6. Hi Sarah,

    Thanks for visting my blog. Once you've tried Coconut Oil as a moisturiser you'll never look back. I love it.

    Have a lovely weekend.

    Jen

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