slow living – June

Now that June is finished, I’m following the example at Slow Living Essentials again this month, and using her categories to summarize my month.

June was slow for many reasons this month – one of them being an MS flare-up that kept me home from work and doing very little other than recuperating. I’m happy to be starting back to work this week because I’m more than a little tired of sitting around the house. Much as I’d like to be able to stay at home, I’d prefer to be at home with the energy and ability to accomplish something around the place. The fact that the girls were done school last week has had nothing to do with my wish to return to work. I swear.

{Nourish}:

Barbeque season is well under way here, so we’ve been cooking a lot of meals outside (except when the dad runs out of propane). The first few herbs and greens to come up in the garden have been making their way into our dinners, with our favourite being a baked rigatoni using swiss chard, onions, chives and basil from the garden. The girls have been helping out more in the kitchen too, and enjoyed making some bannock to go along with dinner.

{Prepare}:

It’s too early in the season to have anything to freeze or use for jam. I did have big plans to raid my old rhubarb patch, but it just didn’t happen. I am looking forward to getting some strawberries picked and making double the amount of jam that we made last year.

{Reduce/Reuse/Repurpose/Repair}:

The dad continues to keep the household in good running order. Not much out of the ordinary has happened in this category this month and there is a list of old equipment and assorted stuff that I would like to sell or pass off to someone else on Kijiji (internet classifieds). There is also a growing list of projects to accomplish – cleaning out and repairing the greenhouse is somewhere on the list. I look forward to getting that mess cleaned up.

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

I made a furniture cleaner/polish using oil and vinegar that worked great on an old dried out looking church pew that we have on our front porch.

{Grow}:

The garden is all planted, including some berry canes that we bought locally, plus some others that a family friend dug out of her own patch. Because of all of the rain and the general scarcity of heat for most of June, the garden is slow taking off. It’ll get there, though. The dad is out playing in it with the rototiller right now. The weeds are trying to take over the world, so he is trying to give the rest of the vegetables a fighting chance. The kids are off at the local Canada Day celebration today, luckily escaping the hands and knees weeding that we would have tried to talk them into.

{Create}:

I have nothing to report here. There was a general lack of productivity around here again this month.

{Discover}:

I’ve read close to a dozen books this month – some of them pictured above. All of them were purely for pleasure – I wasn’t in a learning frame of mind. I ordered and enjoyed a few books from a few favourite authors to help pass some time.

We’re also well into the third season of Breaking Bad on DVD, having become hooked. You have to keep watching to find out of the characters manage to remain lucky despite the constant stupidity of their actions.

{Enhance – community}:

I’m not sure that there is anything to write here, other than the farm is still a place that neighbours drop in on for a visit — just like it was when my in-laws were living here. This time of year there is usually someone sitting in the porch on the weekend, having a coffee or a beer and a bit of a gossip (farmers love to gossip).

{Enjoy}:

We had a milestone birthday this month – the small squeaky kid turned 10. There have been a few dinners with friends and neighbours and now that the weather is warming up again, we have been spending a bit more time in the porch. I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and back to normal in July, hopefully with more accomplished and more to write about.