My Simple Living Progress

Well, here I go again with my visual diary for August to document my "Simple living" progress for this month........and boy, what a busy month it has been.

I baked and made a great meal of...... Chicken with Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce.  This was an amazingly easy and very tasty dish that allowed me to use some of the many dried tomatoes I have in the fridge.   Here is a link to the recipe over at "Damn Delicious"

I preserved..........hundreds and hundreds of cherry tomatoes.  I froze lots, oven dried more, made homemade tomato sauce and bolognaise sauce, froze more and ate copious amounts fresh in salads.  I am actually pleased that the bushes have finished fruiting now so I can direct my preserving efforts elsewhere.

I handmade.........some lacy crochet jug covers that are a great gift for simple living friends. Not only do they come in handy for covering the milk jug but are great on top of jars of sourdough starters, kefir cultures and other fermenting treasures that can be found in a busy kitchen.

I repurposed/recycled...........some old T-shirts into garden ties.   The stretchknit fabric is great in the garden as its softness and flexibility doesn't damage the stems of plants that have been tied up.

I saved money by.............planting some lavender cuttings.  The beginning of Spring is a great time to do this.  My lavender bush, as usual, will die off shortly when the wet season starts.  A Queensland Summer is definitely not the best situation for lavender, but my little cuttings will grow healthy during this time in their little pots ready to be planted out again next Autumn.

I planted seeds/seedlings of..............quite a number of compact, flowering shrubs and ground covers during the revamp of the garden outside my front door.  Hutchy and I get together each week and "stitch" in this area so I wanted to give the area a flowery cottage feel.

I harvested...........the last of the Winter crops.  I am now in the process of turning over the garden beds, fertilising, mulching and preparing for the Spring planting.

I tried something new.............each year at this time I have swallows that like to try and nest on my verandah.  Not only are they extremely noisy but they also leave huge amounts of bird droppings at the back door.  This year I purchased a fake, resin "bird of prey" look-a-like from Bunnings and have swung it from the rafters........................it is working well.

I read and was inspired by..................The Readers Digest "Complete Book of Herbs" that I borrowed from my local library.  This is a great book for the herb enthusiast and contains not only loads of info of herb growing but an awesome selection of recipes, preserving techniques and loads of craft ideas too.

I finally tackled................the pruning of the grape vine.  For those who have done it before you will know that this is not an easy or pleasant job and certainly one that keeps getting put to the bottom of the list.

I really enjoyed............Getting back out in the garden now that the weather has warmed up.   I find it very soothing to have some dirt under my fingernails again.

On that note I will sign off with a lovely quote from David Hobson.

My Simple Living Progress

One of my favourite threads over on the Down to Earth Forum is 'My Simple Living Progress".  I find it very inspiring to read about all the interesting, fun things that others are doing.  And,  it gives me some great ideas for my own journey as well.   I thought some pictures to go with my achievements, each month, would make a great visual diary for me to look back upon.

My journey from July looks a bit like this :

I made a great meal of................cauliflower soup
Huge cauliflowers are only 99c each here at present (at my local green grocer).  So Cream of Cauliflower soup has been on the menu regularly in my house for the past month.


  
 
I preserved......................beetroot
I planted 36 beetroot seedlings in the vege patch in late April.  They all grew tremendously and I now have 6 full jars, 'pickled', in the fridge.



I stockpiled..................loo paper, toothpaste, rice and olive oil
All were on special at various times this month but boy! - what a boring pic (you don't want to see that)

I started to handmake.............a new quilt
"The Garden Scenes" quilt by Lynette Anderson.   These are the first few stitchery blocks I have completed so far




I recycled.....................some old planter pots
Lots of treasures can be found at the recycle centre.  I soaked and cleaned a set of four concrete planters getting ready for a bit of a Spring revamp I am having in the front garden


I saved money by.......................walking
Instead of a quick trip to town, in the car,  to buy some necessities I have regularly been walking the 4 kilometres there and 4 kilometres back again.
 

I planted..........................4 new fruit trees
We lost some of the trees in the orchard during the May flood so mid Winter was an opportune time to replace them.  2 new lime trees and 2 tropical peach

I harvested........................calendula flowers
I needed to replenish my stocks.  I use the dried petals, infused in olive oil, as a base for my homemade skin creams




 
I tried something new...................EPP (English Paper Piecing)
I have always wanted to have a go and I find the hand basting and stitching of the shapes very easy to do in the evenings when hanging out with 'hubby' in the lounge room.



I read and was inspired by......................'Earth Garden' Magazine
The frugal me stopped buying the mag a while ago but I succumbed to temptation this month.  It really is worth the money though.  Great articles from some very knowledgeable people.  I learned lots.




I finally tackled.....................the weeding and pruning in the Orchard
With 25 trees now in the Orchard this is a big job.





 
I really enjoyed........................Making a swap item
I made an applique hand towel, 4 dishcloths and a crochet jar lid cover for my swap buddy, Meg (Bunnylady) from the DTE forum

  

It will be interesting for me to compare this with next months accomplishments