My little hippy chick

I was sorting out the kids toy-boxes the other day and Danielle rediscovered her dolls clothes and carriers. So we all (Nathan included - no stereotyping here, he has his own doll too and likes to "carry" his toys as well) dressed bubba up - since it was a grotty cold day - in woollen longies and cardy and she wanted to wear her in the ABC (Asian Baby Carrier) I had done a rush job of sewing at the end of last year. She snuggled and kissed her and wore her for ages.

Now we've got.....Red Tomatoes!

Remember these?

Well, 2wks later, don't they look great!? I put the bowl on my bedroom windowsill - it's like an all day hothouse in there, so they ripened up really quickly. Unfortunately they were a little damaged. But, fortunately I had two butternut squash that I wanted to use up, so decided a pumpkin soup would do the trick - the recipe I chose had tomatoes, so couldn't have been more perfect.

The kids loved it - I think they could eat soup everyday. There is something really satisfying about my family devouring vegetarian soup and toast...

Scrumptious Seasonal Soup!

(Ok, so is that good or bad attempt at alliteration hehe).

I love the fact that the kids really like soup. It's not something I would have thought would be appealing for them.

I had a heap of beetroot piling up in my fridge from our weekly vege box deliveries - rather than compost them as I have been known to do when they go quite soft, I decided to be more proactive and actually use them!

So, I was given the suggestion of making Borscht. I was a little skeptical that the kids would be into this concoction, but thought they could at least have Cheese on Toast if all else failed. It was also meant to be our Vegetarian night, and even better, this is Vegan.

Nathan actually asked for 3 helpings and ate his with Corn Thin crackers, Danielle ate one serving, but upended her bowl to get the remains out. I think it was a success!

Here is the recipe I used, not sure how traditional it is, but it was pretty tasty. I omitted a few of the veges (celery/tomato/rutabaga) as I didn't have the - but apparently cabbage is essential.

4 large beets
1/2 green cabbage
2 carrots
1 onion
1 Stick Of celery
1 large tomato
1 large rutabaga (Swedish turnip)
2 tablespoons of dill
2 tablespoons of parsley
2 large cloves of garlic, minced or grated
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
10 cups of veggie stock or water
salt and pepper, to taste

1) Chop up all the veggies.
2) In a large pot, saute onion, celery, dill, parsley, and garlic in vinegar on high heat.
3) Slowly add stock/water and bring to a boil. Add beets, rutabaga, cabbage, carrots, and tomato.
4) Cover and let simmer until root vegetables become tender (about 20 minutes).
5) Enjoy! Add salt and pepper if you wish.

I actually stuck my stick-blender into the wok to give a smooth texture.

This made heaps! I have frozen a portion for another meal and there was more left over for lunch tomorrow for myself and the kids. Next time I will also make a loaf of bread to go with it.

Updates #1

For those wondering...

- The good life will continue right here in my little piece of suburbia for now (boohoo, but yay for getting closer to debt free!)

- I've now had two car-free Tuesdays - Woohoo! So far, so good and easy too. Just gearing up to figure out the bus system (hehe, I only live in a smallish town, so hardly hard).

- I've lapsed on taking my ACV daily - oops!

Lurkers, come out and chat with me! I've enabled anonymous comments (if you're nice to me hehe, otherwise I'll delete ya). I see on my Clustermap I've got a few overseas regulars, feel free to introduce yourselves.

Seasonal changes...

...and time to review the kids drawers (and wardrobes).

The weather has cooled down enough where I have finally conceded that there is no point having all the summer clothes clogging up the drawers any longer. So today, away went the summer PJ's, shorts and summer dresses. I did need to keep all of Nathan's shorts and T-shirts out though - this kid seems to run hot and doesn't like warm layers (well, with the energy he has, he rarely has a chance to get cold) until it's mid-winter.

It was quite exciting going through Danielle's bags of clothes in her wardrobe that have all been given to us and sorting through them all. She has masses of clothes and I don't need to fear things not drying on wet winter days (especially if my lovely fire is roaring to help dry them!). Fortunately we are all set without any additions required.

We don't own a dryer (never have), so in winter my house does invariably look like a laundry room with things draped over the fireguard and the drying racks - ah well, if visitors come over I just plonk them out on my covered over porch and hope the wind direction doesn't change and force the rain in under the verandah.

Other simple living ideas as we move into winter...I have been inspired to source an old fashioned kettle to keep on my fire stovetop to keep some water boiling (minus a whistle me thinks!) - I love hot cups of tea! I also plan on trying out casserole type meals on the firetop if I get myself a decent dish that is efficient on retaining heat. With an aim of not whipping down to the local shops to pick these things up brand new, I will have a regular scour of the op shops or auction sites to see how I go.

I love winter.

It's all coming together

The other day I was woken with Danielle calling out at 5.30am - after a quick retuck, I went back to bed - but being that time of morning, I find it difficult to go back to sleep. So it became thinking time.

It's weird, so many random thoughts were going through my head, but also, everything just felt so clear and trouble free.

I just felt really at peace with where my life is at. I have always seen myself as a positive person who sees the bright side of things, I don't often feel dragged down by issues in life, I'm not a worrier when I can't do anything to change that at the time (if I have a worry, I immediately like to work to eliminate it by taking whatever action I can). So, what made life feel so good on that particular morning?

It's really been building over the past few weeks, mostly through my interactions on several message boards and my growing confidence in myself and perhaps a slightly reckless sense of not worrying about what others think of me when I disclose a bit more of myself or my true thoughts - even blogging here has been quite liberating for me, for someone who is very guarded about exposing the real me to all. I think, until the past 3-4mths, not one person (bar Simon) knew the me that I am *now*.

BUT, there have been changes!

I have had so many meaningful conversations with friends and family in the past week it's been amazing and feels...so good! Wow, to actually be myself and not feel afraid, or hesitant, or weird, or whatever. It's not even about *not caring* what others think, but just having a knowing that I am OK as I am.

Then, a few days back, Rach (Hi!) blogged about community and it *really* spoke to me and provided the piece in the puzzle that has been missing for me. For me to be feel authentic and close to someone there needs to be a transparent humility. Wow, such a simple concept, but so so true going on the few conversations I've been leaping into without defensiveness or hiding parts of myself or my thoughts. (I witnessed and understood humility for the first time about 15yrs ago between two women friends and was struck with the honesty and oneness that that brought them),

So why does my life feel like it's all of a sudden come together? Well, I've actually made the decision to homeschool the children as blogged a week or so back, I've realised my role of SAHM is perfect for me (no nagging question of "what will I do when the kids are older"), that the simple life really *is* the way forward for our family and I feel on the right path.

Beat your feet!

Walking that is!

With the growing awareness of needing to reduce carbon emissions because of the impact on climate change - and that personal car use rates right up there as one of the bigger contributors to the crisis - being able to reduce our usage is something that those of us who own and run a car can all do.

I have been actively reducing my car usage over the past 2-3mths and it has not been as difficult as I expected - once I put my mind to it and stick with it!

However, until now I have been randomly just deciding to stay home for the day/morning/afternoon or walking to a nearby vicinity. I will now be declaring Tuesdays "car free day" for myself and the kids on top of our other random times of not using the car - this will be increased as the change become a normal part of our daily life - after all, with the oil crisis, it *has* to be changed in the not so far future, so why not start now?

By having car free days, they will likely involve walking much longer distances and going prepared to be out for hours rather than just a short jaunt down to the local playground or beach - I actually look forward to it as an adventure where we will all be spending slow, quality, meaningful time together while doing our walking.

Not to mention the exercise we will all be getting!

Interested in more reading about climate change and why things need to change?

Green tomatoes...

I think I missed the boat (maybe there is a more fitting analogy in relation to gardening??) with my tomatoes this year. The plants got knocked over about a month ago in a storm and I just left my tomatoes on the vines until I noticed that the plants had pretty much died, so I decided to harvest them and see if they will ripen on their own. I did attempt one batch of "fried green tomatoes" shortly after they got blown over, but wasn't too fussed on them (of course I haven't tried them before, so had nothing to compare my version of fried tomatoes with).

They're not the most attractive tomatoes with a bit of damage to the skins, but I still want them to ripen!

Purple fingers??

So, it was my birthday yesterday, and I guess now I'm *officially* in my mid-30's (which BTW, I'm loving).

It seems that family know my keenness (weird word, needed to dictionary.com that one) to get into gardening. And consequently I received a variety of "green" presents this year.

- Gardening gloves (purple!)
- Over-boots (well hey, you know, I might be wearing my high heels and who needs to change them when I can put my over-boots over the top (!) - or maybe I'll still be wearing my slippers!) - perfect
- Seeds (including red and purple carrots - apparently the original variety, did you know that they never used to be orange?)
- Brocolli and spinach seedlings
- A garden shop gift voucher from my MIL to go wild on whatever else I might need - woohoo!

Natural learning...

I've been drawn towards wanting to unschool for over a year now, and it's a topic that has been on the burner and off again as far as my commitment to it. Why is it so hard for me to say once and for all "Yes, this is what we are doing!"?

In my heart and mind I am sold, but something is holding me back that I can't quite tap into.

I belong to a few yahoo groups, I have read many websites dedicated to unschooling, a few parenting books that I really relate to are written by unschoolers (and I have a list of books I want to purchase) - I think when it comes down to it, I don't actually *know* any home/unschoolers. I feel I need some real life role models to observe and get support from, someone to pick their brains on all those little things that niggle away at me, people that I am comfortable with and can relate to.

So, it's time to get off my bum and get in touch with the local homeschooling group again and get past my fear of the unknown!

Our natural First Aid Kit

As a follow on from my previous natural health post, I thought I'd just go through what remedies and other things make up my first aid kit. I have so far successfully managed to stay away from antibiotics for myself and the kids using a variety of these (we have a doctor who is very much into natural healthcare and will give a prescription with the advice to try natural for a few days before reassessing). My first aid kit comprises of a good daily diet, healthy environment as well as topical and internal treatments - it really is a holistic approach.

Homoepathic first aid kit - This comprises of 24 remedies that are useful for treating things such as: ear infections, fevers, teething, vomiting, chicken pox, injuries, bruises. This gets used as a first port of call.

Lavender oil - I used this in the kids bathwater when they had chicken pox to help keep their skin clean and healthy because of it's antibacterial properties and directly on mozzie bites that Nathan seems to get real flare-ups with.

Tea Tree Oil - This is also an antibacterial and antifungal that I occasionally use in bathwater or direct on cuts or rashes that may be fungal in nature. It is useful for women who suffer from thrush and I have found it successful in the past (1 litre of warm water, 4 drops of tea tree oil, 2 tablespoons of vinegar - apply as a wash/dousch to affected area).

Other things I keep on hand: hydrogen peroxide (disinfectant and specifically a good anti-tetanus disinfectant due to it working aerobically), ACV (as discussed in a previous post), vitamin C (specifically sodium ascorbate, for fighting infections), probiotic yoghurt taken as a daily digestive aid and great for keeping the immune system working well, garlic capsules (good for immune system, and good for mixing with olive oil and using for ear infections), hypercal cream (good for applying to skin infections or rashes, is cooling and soothing), fresh oranges (one each is squeezed daily for the kids and when I am using vitamin C powder it is added to the juice which contains bioflavonoids which increase effectiveness), cod liver oil/flax seed oil (both alternated day about and provide good sources of essential fatty acids (CLO is also high source of Vitamin D which can be harder to get during winter with less sun for the body to manufacture it)).

I successfully dealt to a sinus infection that I was getting seriously worried about (took me a while to realise what it was since it was a first for me - darn decluttering stirred up all the dust!). I poured boiling water into a bowl, added a large splash of ACV, few drops of tea tree oil and inhaled and repeated several times a day - the antibacterial/antifungal properties dealt to it very quicky!

Organising and sorting kids toys

Well I felt inspired this afternoon to get out all the puzzles and games that have been dumped into several drawers in the lounge. So out came the roll of sellotape as well to mend any boxes and refix the tab things on some of the puzzles (silly soft cardboard ones). A bit of decluttering also went on!

The activity table with the felt pens/crayons/pencils and paper also had an overhaul and were given their own little trays to keep things easily retrievable. I find the kids seem to play so much better with their toys if they are sorted into sets and are more likely to then pull out several things to play with together rather than coming across heaps of random items that don't inspire them to play with them.

Now I'm thinking of making some cool bags like these that Rach did for the games etc in her home - not many of our puzzles and games seem to have their boxes anymore, so I need some sort of storage system for them.

Get that Apple Cider Vinegar into ya!

I have read and known of the many benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) for a while. One evening I chanced across a book on a NZ auction website and was able to purchase it for a good price. It was an eye-opener and exciting read (if not also a little wacky hehe).

Easy to implement - but not so easy to stick with!

So, my first attempt lasted maybe a week or so. Nathan was even into it and called it "juice". He'd have his daily glass of a tablespoon of ACV mixed into warm water.

After hearing some recent success stories of using ACV I thought I'd jump back on the wagon and give it another go. I think first time around I failed because I wasn't doing it for any particular reason, so wasn't able to monitor any changes. This time, I have realised my skin is quite prone to being pimply, mainly hormonal reasons, but I thought it would be a good trial to see if this can help.

Here are some of the many claimed benefits of taking a daily dose of ACV:

Rich miracle enzymes and potassium
Natural antibiotic and germ fighter
Helps control and normalise weight
Improves digestion and assimilation
Helps relieve arthritis and stiffness
Relieves dry and sore throats
Helps remove body toxins
Helps promote a youthful body
Helps maintain healthy skin
Sooths sunburn, shingles and bites
Helps prevent dandruff, baldness and itching scalp
Soothes tight, aching muscles and joints

There are many websites full of information surrounding ACV (as with anything) - the majority of it promoting ACV and some disputing some of the claimed benefits out there. To me, there is nothing to lose by giving it a go, ACV is natural and safe and is the only vinegar I stock in my pantry now regardless taking a daily medicinal dose.

Hey, if you like it, and have excess apples, maybe you could brew some of your own??

Dreaming of the good life...

I soooo was not thinking about moving from this house to realise our dream of living a sustainable lifestyle. I was talking with my mum over the weekend and she floated the idea of buying a 10 acre plot of land and putting two houses on it for us all (I didn't know this was my mums dream as well!?).

So why did hubby need to be sitting in one of his customer's smoko rooms this morning having coffee and talking about our dreams when someone overheard him and said that he had the exact property for sale! It would fit within our existing budget and expenses if we went 50/50 with my parents, and it's within 10mins of where we live now and only a few minutes from a township.

For 12yrs the property has been growing fruit and vegetables organically, has multiple worm farms (and the worm pee has been used to fertilise the land), has a blackberry border which the guy makes wine from (a winery to go with it), renovated 100 yr old house, a stream, chook house, paddocks that he leases out for grazing stock, rears beef and sheep for their own use (no dairy though)....ahhhhh....maybe we'll do a drive-by over the weekend. Then I might speak to my mum again....then I might just dream some more....arghhhhhh.....

Right! Back to reading Permaculture Home Garden in the meantime and plan out my own little slice of the good life.

Natural healthcare

This is a broad topic and means something different to everybody as there are so many different aspects or types of natural healthcare available, but I thought I'd share what we use to help keep our family healthy when illness strikes.

I've been interested in various types of alternative healthcare for probably 10yrs. It's been a gradual process, but is something that just feels right to us.

I've personally had great success with acupuncture in the past. It's not something I rely on, but I used it as a last result for an old back injury (why oh why does alternative healthcare gets used as a last resort?) that once and truely dealt with it.

Homeopathy was the next thing I was introduced to in 2001. I met a friend who was studying towards becoming a practitioner, so she recommended to me a local homeopath. This has been the best things that we have introduced to our family in way of everyday healthcare. I initially use a Classical Homeopath to get what is called a constitutional remedy which is a match for each individual person - it takes into account personality traits, likes/dislikes, emotions/feelings, injuries, past injuries, family history etc. This is used to balance the person. Then, if a person is feeling out of sorts or comes down ill with an acute condition, a remedy can be prescribed taking into account all the symptoms - two different people suffering from the same illness may well end up with a different remedy based on their own personality differences or how their body reacts to the illness. I also have a Home First Aid Kit that I use in conjunction with a good book for helping determine what remedy is needed for things mostly for the kids such as being unsettled, teething, ear infections, fevers etc.

Osteopathy was something I was recommended by my homeopath to help treat general body aches and pains. I have found this gentle hands on approach beneficial through both pregnancies, shortly after birth to get the body realigned from being pregnant and the birth and both kids were seen while a newborn (Nathan had specific issues that were treated, and Danielle had a checkup just to see that her spine/neck/digestive system etc were all in good balance after the birth).

Between homeopathy and osteopathy we have so far coped with all illnesses that have come our way. I like to visit our doctor for a diagnosis and our doctor is very homeopath friendly in that she recommends a natural approach first up and then provides a antibiotic prescription (if needed) as a backup plan. We've never needed the backup plan yet!

We have daily things that we do to keep the body in top health, that will be another post.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl...

Yes, my lovely little April Fools baby has turned 2!

It took me putting on some music and dancing with her to get a smile out of her, but she loved her skirt I made (unfortunately, looks like the wings are upside down hehe).

(Note, under her skirt she's wearing a lovely pale green pocket nappy - this afternoon's combo when we go to my parents for dinner will be a lovely rose coloured nappy with the green skirt.)

Right, off to make the star cake!