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

Slow Living Update – February 2013

One more month of winter finished, as of yesterday. I am not yet sick of winter this year. I’ve liked the snow and the cold and have been more than happy to hibernate a little bit. Now that it’s March I know it will start to melt and warm up, so I guess hibernation is over.

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. I haven’t done much of anything this month, or at least I think I haven’t. By the time I have finished these posts, I generally discover that I’ve done more than I thought.

{Nourish}:

I spent most of the month wishing that we had someone to cook for us – I find this time of year tiring, especially after working all day. And although the dad is a much better cook than I am, he comes home later. In an effort to be fed before 8pm during the long dark winter, I do my best. We did ok, though occasionally I resort to eggs and bacon or grilled cheese and soup when inspiration fails.

I wrote about Bacon and Cheddar Muffins and Baked Rigatoni and tried out a couple of new recipes that seemed to go over well and will be tried again.

This last week will be remembered as the week of “the roast that wouldn’t quit”. Last weekend we invited the immediate grandparents over for Sunday dinner and the dad purchased a roast on his way home from hockey (never let the dad do the shopping – he believes bigger is always better).  It was spectacular, I will admit (he is a very good cook). However, that roast fed 8 hungry people, gave us lunch for a week, made Shepherd’s Pie, hot roast beef sandwiches, and beef and barley soup. It also blew most of my grocery budget for the month. And either I am suffering from something my brother-in-law calls “meat sweats” or I am entering into a new phase of life. I’m going with the former.

{Prepare}:

We are in reverse preparation mode right now. We have been eating out of the freezers, trying to empty one of them out in order to fill them back up this summer.

{Reduce/Reuse/Repurpose/Repair}:

I can never remember what we have done in this category because it is something that is done everyday. Our household is kept running by the dad, who seems to repair something every week. He has fixed the pump on the well, pulled another pump out of the well in the barn after it fell to the bottom, and of course, the manure piles continue to be moved and added to old piles to rot and become fertilizer.

There have been some minor clothing repairs and the dad even did an invisible repair to a leather jacket that his dad gave him after a closet clean-out.

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

I made another body scrub this month to stop the dry skin itch – nothing exotic this time, just sugar, oil and some peppermint essential oil. I’ve also started to use white vinegar as a laundry rinse. I hang as many clothes as I can and I don’t buy dryer sheets or liquid fabric softener, and the vinegar seems to make the clothes a little softer – whether they are hung to dry or put in the dryer.

{Grow}:

I refer you back to the first photo for this category. Not much is growing here this time of year (except the tall hormonal kid – I had to buy her 4 new pairs of jeans this month). We are browsing the seed catalogue and making plans for the garden.

{Create}:

I pulled out the knitting again and finished one sock. It’s comfy and slouchy and I can see these being good lounging socks, feet up in front of the fire.  I also wrote about sewing up some swaddling blankets for a baby gift.

I have plans to get the little sewing room unpacked, but for some reason that keeps getting put off. It’s something to put on my list for March. First, I would like to get some carpet down to warm up the cold floor up there. Fortunately, I know a guy (the dad owns a flooring store).

And I have to mention the stable that the kids made last weekend. I’m still impressed. They had their dad make two cuts for them, otherwise they built these themselves.

{Discover}:

My pile of books to read continues to grow faster than the pile of books that have been read. Over the past year I have gone from reading two or three books a week to one or two books a month. I open a book when I climb into bed, read three or four lines and fall asleep. It’s probably just a life stage thing or MS fatigue thing, but hopefully I get back into my reading groove soon.

{Enhance – community}:

As far as being involved in the community, the dad is still coaching hockey and we’ve attended a community church lady ham supper. We live outside a small town where there is only two or three degrees of separation (four, maybe, if you are from away) and if you also live nearby, my father-in-law probably knows you, your parents and their grandparents. It would be hard not to be a part of the community here. We buy locally, I work locally and we own two businesses locally. The dad was also recently talked into acting as MC for another local fundraising dinner – he apparently is known in the community for his ability to talk. A lot.

{Enjoy}:

We’ve entertained a few times in the new house already. Because it was already a home that held a lot of memories for us, the settling in has been pretty seamless. It feels like home and this space works well for our family.

We spent a fun weekend in Toronto visiting the ROM and staying overnight with friends. It was nice to get away – nice enough that the dad and I are making plans to go away soon and spend a weekend by ourselves. It’s been a couple of years since we went away for a weekend on our own.

Linked to Wildcrafting Wednesday, White Wolf Summit Farmgirl

today

While surfing and reading recently, I came across a blog where a woman had summarized her day and thought I could do something similar. I can’t now remember the headings that she used or what the blog was called, but this is what I came up with.

Outside my window: It’s snowing. The dog and the kids have been outside and there are tracks of varying sizes winding around the house and down to the barn. It’s also a little warmer today and the snow is good and sticky, as you can see by the snowman. At some point tonight I will have to go out and retrieve my scarf. The cat sits intently at the window (when he isn’t napping) hoping to catch another glimpse of the bunny that likes to take shelter at the side of the house.

In the kitchen: There is a chocolate chip cake baking in the oven and a roast to go in the oven later for dinner tonight. The grandparents are all coming for dinner and to see how we are settling into the house.

We are working on: I have unpacked my knitting again and am working on another pair of socks, using this super simple sock pattern, but I have added my own little design to the top. The girls have been in the workshop and have built some horse stalls for the small squeaky kid’s toy horses. The dad has fixed my footstool. The cat is napping.

I am reading: Eva Luna by Isabel Allende. I’ve had it sitting at work for a while and just started reading it again during lunch breaks. I had forgotten how much I enjoy her writing. I am also waiting my turn to read the new Harlan Coban book that the dad is working on right now and I keep looking at the William Dam seed catalogue that I have been waiting for a chance to read through.

Around the house: I am working my way up to vacuuming the main floor, I’ve done some laundry, cleaned the kitchen and am working on convincing the dad that he needs to clean the litter box. I’m having minimal success with the last item.

Quote for today: “Start off slowly and taper off.” I used to think a friend from highschool came up with that one until I saw an embroidered pillow with that same quote. I had that pillow sitting on my chesterfield for years.

One of my favorite things: Right now, the fuzzy fake fur blanket that my in-laws gave me for Christmas; it’s currently wrapped around my legs.

Plans for the week: Hockey practice, a new recipe to try, library books to return, piano practising to supervise, friends coming for dinner next weekend, horses to care for and at some point I should unpack and organize the sewing room, but I still haven’t been inspired to do anything but keep the door to the room firmly shut. And of course there is work. I’m trying to convince the dad that I should quit work and be a homemaker. Since I am the only one with a pension and benefits that pipe dream will likely never happen. But feel free to leave him a comment about how nice it would be to have one parent at home..