down---to---earth

Alice

2009-11-20T04:11:00.005+10:00

I guess every pet owner dreads the day when they can see the death of their pet in the not too distant future. Hanno and I have reached that point with Alice. It's been a very sad couple of days for us. Hanno had Alice outside with him a couple of days ago looking for a bush turkey that he'd seen wandering in. He called Alice and they went outside our fenced area and down to the creek. All

Making butter the easy way

2009-11-18T04:24:00.005+10:00

I was asked to do a post on making butter. It's not something that is generally part of my household tasks but I do make butter when I have spare cream or at this time of year. You get the best cream and milk in Spring. Making butter over Spring will give you the finest butter.Like most other things in this simple life, the best ingredients will give you the best end result. I use cream from

Growing sweet potatoes

2009-11-17T04:27:00.004+10:00

We've recently planted three sweet potato plants. We have the golden one but there are also white and purple types. Sweet potatoes are a very good crop to grow if you're in a warm climate. They won't grow in the cold. You can easily grow sweet potato from a store bought tuber. You should buy an organic tuber not only because often the others have been sprayed to prevent them from sprouting,

Organic cotton tea cosy

2009-11-16T04:16:00.006+10:00

It getting towards that time of year when things start getting very busy. I spent some time on the weekend working on my Christmas gifts but I'm not sure my ambitious plans will result in me finishing everything on time. Despite the extra work, I love this time of year, especially now that my boys are happily settled with their girls and our expanding family gives us more reasons to

Introducing ...

2009-11-13T04:47:00.003+10:00

I see things differently now. Gone are the days when I wanted to live to be 110 and I thought illness was a weakness – not in others but in myself. All my life I’ve been lucky enough to be healthy, optimistic and forward thinking and now, while still retaining those characteristics, I see times when age has caught up with me and bending over the wrong way or carrying something too heavy for me

Big changes at the kitchen sink

2009-11-11T05:13:00.006+10:00

I've come full circle. I started off my dish cleaning duties as a young girl when my sister and I had to dry when mum washed up. I grew up doing that and now I recall it fondly as a time of family conversations, pushing my sister (she reads my blog and she'll probably add more to that) and sometimes, only sometimes, pretending to be sick to get out of wiping up. It's a nice memory to have. So

Making Liquid Soap

2009-11-10T04:43:00.007+10:00

Well ladies and gentlemen, I've made my own liquid soap, tested it for a few weeks, and now I'm happy to recommend it to you. I've tried several versions of homemade grated soap, I added glycerin to it, boiled it, and tried every which way but it was always horrible to use. Slimy, ugh. What I was after was a liquid soap that could be easily poured from a bottle, that I could use for washing up

Finding time for crafts

2009-11-09T04:32:00.005+10:00

There is a lot of satisfaction to be gained working on ordinary tasks in the home. Gone are the days when homemakers were at the bottom of the pile. Now we have taken control of our homes, we see one of our jobs as managing the home budget and saving as much money as we can, we have stepped up to recycling and repairing, we are living frugally and green and we are enriched by that. Our lives

Sunday reading

2009-11-08T06:47:00.003+10:00

Steel Kitten is having a wonderful giveaway to celebrate her 300th post. But that is not the only reason to visit her. Her blog is full of interesting posts and great photos and you have to see the fingerless gloves she knitted! Click here to visit.Also, we are having a competition at the Down to Earth Forum. To be eligible to win, simply write a post and tell us about your simple life - what

It's a jungle out there

2009-11-06T04:27:00.011+10:00

Two girls fighting over one baby, an enemy is identified and killed on sight, a mutant lurking in the shadows! Am I on the set of a Hollywood movie? No, it's more exciting than that - it's my backyard where life and death meet on a daily basis and all the strangeness is real. Come with me, I'll show you ...Click on each photo to enlarge.I've been spending some time in the garden in the early

Homemaker speaks, the nation listens

2009-11-04T04:44:00.011+10:00

After two hectic days of work at the Centre, I'm working at home today. Gone are the days when I would have looked forward to relaxing, shopping and going out to visit friends. Now, settling back into the routine of washing up, sweeping, making beds and baking brings me back to myself and reminds me that my home is the place where I am put right again.I work in the welfare sector and it's a very

Ridged Ribbon Dishcloth and Biscuit Recipe

2009-11-03T04:23:00.001+10:00

I'm sure you all know by now that I love knitting - dishcloths being a favourite subject of my affection. Well, I was reading a knitting book last week and came across a new (to me) pattern that I thought would make up a very nice dishcloth. I worked it over the weekend and have just taken a photo for you.It has got a fair bit of texture so it will scrub well but the holes make it lighter than

Cheap and easy biscuits

2009-11-02T04:28:00.002+10:00

I love finding a recipe that I know I'll use in the years to come. I found such a recipe a couple of weeks ago and was delighted with the results. It came from the Down to Earth forum, submitted by Paula Hewitt and she calls them Easy and Cheap Biscuits (cookies).The great thing abut this recipe is that it uses only four ingredients. Paula says the recipe makes 70 - 80 biscuits. I made up one

Not every day will be perfect

2009-10-30T04:50:00.005+10:00

I'm happy to report that it all went very well with Hanno's surgery yesterday. He went in at 1pm, I popped down to Spotlight to check out a sale then spent a couple of hours in the waiting room, knitting, and he hobbled out at 5.30pm. We got home around 6pm. He had no pain, didn't need crutches and he slept fairly well last night. Today and tomorrow will be the test, the doctor said he must

A less than perfect day

2009-10-29T05:02:00.004+10:00

It doesn't take much, just one good night's sleep and I'm ready to take on the world again. Thank you for your good wishes and prayers for Hanno, we both appreciate them. We'll go in later this morning and be home late this afternoon; no doubt there will be news to write about tomorrow.A recent shared lunch at the Centre I work at.But today I want to talk about perfection. I don't talk about

Worn out and recovering

2009-10-28T05:19:00.004+10:00

After a busy day at work yesterday, I'm worn out. I over-slept this morning and as I have to do a few things before going to work soon, this will be a short post. There are times in my past when I worked much harder and longer than I did yesterday but now it does me in. I have another work day today and tomorrow Hanno goes in for his knee operation and I want to be in top form for that. I'm

Wool, cotton and sticks

2009-10-27T04:56:00.004+10:00

I love knitting. I'm not particularly good at it, but I get by. There is something about winding a long piece of wool or cotton around sticks that is very appealing. I relax when I knit and I feel connected to all my grandmas who would have sat by a fire knitting clothes for the family. Knitting is a gift I give myself. As well as the relaxation, it exercises my brain, makes me feel

The Q sisters

2009-10-26T04:27:00.008+10:00

Chickens are creatures of habit, they are practical and they like climbing, so it should not have been a great surprise when I looked out the window from where I am sitting right now to find this looking back.Quentin wanted to be close to someone and she wanted to rest while watching her friend, the half blind Quince. I think she'll make this one of her permanent perching places unless we move

Just hanging out

2009-10-23T04:36:00.003+10:00

There are certain areas in every home where clusters of chemicals sit. The laundry is one such place and is a great place to start walking the green path. There are many recipes for laundry powder and liquid on the net. I have my own here, but it doesn't matter which you use, just start using one of them, it's a very good way to start simplifying. You can also throw out that softener. Get used

Yoghurt Q & A

2009-10-22T04:39:00.004+10:00

There have been quite a few questions over the past two dairy days so I'll use this post to answer them. I hope you try making these dairy products. They are very tasty, they're cheaper than the store bought products and you'll help keep old skills alive, particularly if you pass on what you know.Sueellen wrote: Will have a go at the yoghurt but am curious to know if you have posted a recipie

Milk to yoghurt to cheese

2009-10-21T04:26:00.006+10:00

Yesterday we had a 500gram/16oz tub of yoghurt that cost $3.50 and turned it into two litres/quarts of yoghurt that cost about $4. One litre/quart of that was eaten as yoghurt - with one cup reserved to make the next batch, the other litre/quart was made into quark cheese. Quark is a simple fresh cheese that doesn't require any special equipment and will be ready for eating as soon a you finish

Homemade yoghurt

2009-10-20T03:51:00.005+10:00

There are many little cost cutting measures you can take in a frugal home. Most of them, when you see them as an isolated unit, look too insignificant to bother about, but add them all up and you'll make good savings. Saving grocery money is an important goal for most homemakers; it means paying off more debt and all the good things that come from that. So being able to make two cups of

A weekend roundup

2009-10-19T04:13:00.005+10:00

We had a peaceful weekend, didn't do much but potter around the house, I worked on the forum quite a bit, tweaking and reading the manual, while Hanno did some gardening and tidying up outside. There are always tasks waiting to be done in a simplified home and here it's no different.Hanno pulled out the last of the winter kale and planted up dwarf bean seedlings in their place. They're nicely

A special thank you

2009-10-17T16:00:00.003+10:00

I want to say a special thank you to Leigh at Blog Chicks who helped me set up the new forum last week. She basically did the whole installation and advised me what to do along the way. It was a complicated process and without her help I would either have had to pay someone to do it or struggled with it for a long time.I have never met Leigh. I came across her site when I was added to the top

The soap making question

2009-10-16T05:19:00.006+10:00

I had a question from a reader the other day regarding cleaning soap making utensils and equipment. She wanted to know if it was okay to wash the soap making equipment and use it for other kitchen tasks that involve food. If you thoroughly wash all your utensils and equipment it is fine to use it all for other food making tasks. However, if you use a wooden spoon for soap making, you should