slow living update – april 2013

I’m following the example at Slow Living Essentials again this month, and using her categories to summarize my month and list some things I’d like to accomplish.

{Nourish}:

We’ve eaten a lot of large extended family meals this month. There has also been a few meals provided by friends and neighbours, for which we were very grateful. I wrote about Butter Chickpeas, since butter chicken is a quick dinner at our place and when I am out of ideas at the end of the workday, it’s an easy dinner to put together. We like to add peas or chopped spinach to ours for a little extra colour.

{Prepare}:

I’m not sure if this counts as food preparation, but the dad’s aunt and uncle gifted us the entire contents of their food cupboards and freezer because they were moving out of province and didn’t want to haul food. I guess that cut down on food needs for a while and filled the pantry (and then some!).

{Reduce/Reuse/Repurpose/Repair}:

I made a few gift bags using worn out kid’s jeans and even the sleeve from an unwanted sweater. I’ve been accumulating quite a few items of clothing that I will keep using up in similar ways. Nothing else really to report here.

{Green – cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies}:

I also inherited the entire contents of the aunt and uncle’s cleaning closet, so in the interest of using up what we have, I will make my way through all of it before I make my own again. I know some of them might not be as environmentally friendly as I might otherwise use, but it seems wrong to waste anything.

{Grow}:

The grass is growing quickly enough that the horses are being kept in the barnyard and out of the field to avoid getting colic and the dad is getting up early in the morning to pick up the lawn mower from the repair shop in order to mow the lawns before the weekend. There is a lot more lawn over here at the farm. I’m just happy that the tall hormonal kid learned to drive the lawn mower last year.

The garden isn’t planted yet, but we did place a seed order which should arrive any day. We will still have to buy a few plants for the peppers and tomatoes. There is a greenhouse here at the farm but some wildlife has been in and out of it over the last few years, so a clean-up this spring will be necessary to get it ready for use next year. In the meantime I don’t mind purchasing some plants that have already been started.

{Create}:

Nothing to write about here this month.

{Discover}:

I read a few books this month while the dad was staying overnight at the hospital with his dad. Eighteen years must be the magic number of years that it takes to get used to the snoring, because I found that I missed him when he wasn’t here.

And who knew Pierre Berton wrote a cookbook? There’s a long-winded historical explanation of each recipe, but I guess that’s to be expected.

{Enhance – community}:

The tall hormonal kid has been babysitting at the school during Parent/Teacher council meetings. It has given her a little taste of the working life (she’ll get a bit more when she finds out that she is going to be picking stones for the neighbouring farmer who leases and plants land here at the farm).

We’ve also hired a friend’s 15-year-old son to help with the clean out of the flower gardens and general lawn raking. He has been an awesome help – he has the work ethic of the dad, but the back and arm strength of a 15-year-old. He makes some extra pocket-money and we get a lot of work done that we couldn’t accomplish otherwise. Everyone wins.

I’ve also hired a local woman to clean the house twice a month (her name is Dusty – I figured it was meant to be). She does a lot of work that it would exhaust me to do and I am able to spend some of my weekends resting. Again, everyone wins.

{Enjoy}:

We had a lot of family around in April, we had mini-cousins, cousins and the dad’s aunt and uncle as house guests. We had many weekend meals together while my father-in-law was in hospital and family was down to visit. He passed away in April, but we will continue to remember him this weekend at a Tribute of Life that is being held at our local community hall.

Linked to Wildcrafting Wednesday, Frugally Sustainable

the porch is open for business

We (I mean the dad) managed to get the floor in the porch put back together, knock the cobwebs off of everything, put the covers on the cushions and arrange the furniture in the porch in time to relax and eat dinner in it last night. I’ve spent many evenings eating dinner in that porch and many mornings drinking coffee, but always before as a guest in the house. This will be our first summer living here and I think this room will be the most used room during the warm months.

On the list of things to do this summer is repainting the porch and the furniture, making a few new cushion covers and re-screening the windows. That will come later though. Right now this will do just fine.

The temperature actually got above 20°C by the end of the day on Sunday. Just by opening the door into the porch while we ate our dinner, the house warmed up by 2 degrees. I’m so looking forward to the warm weather. The cat is too.

Today

Thankyou for the condolences that were left for our family. It was really nice to read through them all. It has been a week of adjustments for us.

I haven’t been writing much lately, but would like to get back at it, so I am borrowing some prompts from A Simple Woman’s Daybook to get myself started again (though I don’t particularly like to think of myself as simple). I may use them once a week or just a couple of times a month, but it is a good way to get started with recording family life around here.

the girl’s rock collection, neatly laid out on a stump, visible from the living room window (they may have inherited some slightly OCD-ish tendencies from me)

Outside my window:

It’s sunny and around 16°C, a friend’s son is helping rake out the gardens, the tall hormonal kid is cleaning the tack room, the small kid is getting ready to ride and the dad is ripping up part of the interlocking brick floor in the porch and (hopefully) fixing it.

I am thinking:

That I should be making my way into town soon to pick up some groceries for the week.

I am thankful:

For friends and neighbours. They’ve been very kind lately.

In the kitchen:

There is a pot of soup bubbling away, made with leftover pork roast and fixings that neighbours brought to feed the entire family on Friday night. The neighbours stayed for dinner as well and we had a nice evening filled with food, wine and reminiscences of my father-in-law. There is leftover pasta for lunch – also kindly provided by friends (thanks Dr.s K&J).

I am wearing:

A t-shirt and fleece pants, but will change before I go into town. We have an agreement around here – my husband has promised to point out my lack of appropriate clothing if I should ever attempt to leave the house in sweat pants. So far, so good.

I am creating:

I’ve been knitting myself a sweater, but I haven’t picked it up in over a week.

I am going:

To finish setting up the porch furniture once the dad is finished fixing the floor. It’s a great room and we’ve been looking forward to the weather warming up enough for us to use it.

I am wondering:

If we will have the house and grounds looking ok for all of the company that will be arriving next weekend for my father-in-law’s wake/Celebration of Life.

I am reading:

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews.

I am hoping:

That there might be time for a nap this afternoon.

I am looking forward to:

Feeling like I know what I am doing in my new job. I’m not there yet.

I am learning:

A new job. I think I will really enjoy it.

Around the house:

I’ve ironed some linens in anticipation of company, changed beds, washed the cushions for the furniture in the porch and am making my way up Mount Laundrymore.

I am pondering:

Why nobody in the family will close doors/cupboard doors/drawers (or the garage door). I think they are trying to drive me insane.

A favorite quote for today:

Dust is just a country accent.  ~Author Unknown

One of my favorite things:

Some rose linen spray that my husband’s aunt gave me – it smells so pretty.

A few plans for the rest of the week:

Finish the laundry, plant the apple tree that friends gave us to plant in our father-in-law’s memory, get ready for a mid-week overnight guests and more again on the weekend. It will be another busy week, but after that life should settle down again into a spring and summer routine.