down to earth

The blog is closing

2026-02-20T14:04:00.005+10:00

I shouldn’t have reopened my blog. I should have gone with my instincts and just disappeared. There have been so many new visitors since I reopened but very few of them are commenting, saying hello or connecting in any way.

I thought I might be able to take advantage of the increased numbers by offering new workshops. Despite having well over 165,000 visitors so far this month, when I advertised the workshops I got only seven emails wanting more info or a booking. All were from people I recognised, nothing from any new readers. That was surprising and very disappointing. I explained why I was doing the workshops. I said I needed to build up my savings because since Hanno died I’d paid for funeral and legal costs, house repairs, new solar panels (the old ones were a fire hazard), much higher insurance costs and the increased cost of living. I know many others are in the same boat so I reduced the cost of the workshops to $50, half what I usually charge, but it made no difference. In a few weeks I’ll be 78 years old so there aren’t a lot of jobs I can do.

It was a mistake to come back. I’ve decided to cancel the workshops and soon I’ll be closing the blog permanently.

When I reopened the blog, I used to smile when readers said ‘welcome back to the blog’ because I hadn’t been anywhere. While it was closed, I saw it every day as it is in my computer. Now I plan to go through every post because I lost thousands of photos a few years ago when I stored them on an external hard drive. They’re all still on the blog and I plan on rescuing them so I have all my family photos and memories together. Who knows, I might even turn it into a book and give a copy to everyone in my family. After all, they are their family memories too.

I have a lot of things I’m working on here. Generally my days are full, rewarding and enjoyable. I have two new projects I’m working on and excited about so that’s my future now.

Thanks to the readers who have supported me over the 19 years I’ve been here and those who have bought my books. I have very fond memories of a large group of people I got to know here. What started out as a very small writing project turned into a hugely popular enterprise that unfolded in ways I never thought possible and for that I’m very grateful.

Look at my linen cupboard 😎 + workshop info

2026-02-18T09:55:00.009+10:00

My daughter-in-law Sarndra and grandkids Alex and Eve visited recently and Sarndra replaced and adjusted the hinges in my kitchen. She also cleaned and organised my linen cupboard. You can see the result above. 😌 Good eh!

I wish I could still do everything I used to do in the past but like most of us oldies, we slow down and there are common tasks we can no longer do. Mine is anything that requires bending over and standing up again and that is due to the non-malignant brain tumour I have. Apart from that, I’m in good health and continue to do everything I can. Housework, cooking, baking, cleaning and gardening fill my days, give me a home I love living in and make me sleep well at night.

I’m trying to organise the workshops which will start next week on Sunday, March 1. The deadline for booking and payment for Workshop 1 is this Friday, February 20. Deadline for booking and payment for Workshop 2 is Friday February 27. The workshops cost $50 each.

Email: rhondasworkshops@gmail.com

Following is a list of eight workshops. I was going to have 10 workshops but I've run out of ideas. If you want a workshop that's not covered, please let me in know and that might be Workshop 9. I'd also like to have an open talk about whatever you'd like to talk about - family, kids, ambition, self-doubt, happiness, generosity, kindness, debt, simple living or whatever. I think getting feedback from others is valuable and helpful so if you're doubting yourself or the direction you're heading in, if you want to talk about difficult decisions , housework, families or life in general, let me know your thoughts and that can be Workshop 10. OR, we can end at Workshop 8.

Of course, I might be completely off here and there may be no interest in any of this. In that case, if there are no bookings on Friday, I'll have to rethink my direction. 🙂

Email: rhondasworkshops@gmail.com

WORKSHOPS

Workshop 1

Cutting costs and paying off debt.
Workshop 2

Ageing and living alone.

Workshop 3
Baking - cakes, biscuits, bread, sausage rolls and scones.
Workshop 4
Cooking from Scratch, Batch Cooking, Cook Once, Eat Twice, Organised Pantry, Grocery Shopping and Budget.
Workshop 5
Gardening - growing food, herbs, fruit and nuts. Compost, mulching and watering.

Workshop 6

Backyard chickens - selecting the breed, housing and fencing, free ranging, nest boxes, feed, fresh feed and water.

Workshop 7

Sewing, knitting, mending, household linens, rags and dishcloths.

Workshop 8

Cleaning your home, making simple and effective cleaners.

First workshops, book by Friday

2026-02-16T10:55:00.009+10:00

If you would like to take part in the first workshops, you’ll need to book soon. So far I have only two bookings, one for reducing costs, one for ageing and living alone. I need ten people in each workshop and they cost $50 each, payable when booking.

Sausage Rolls

Rye Bread

Vegetable Slice

Beef Casserole and Herb Dumplings

Two new workshops will be on 7 March at 10am for Baking and the Cooking workshop is 7 March at 2pm.

Workshop 3 - Baking: cakes, biscuits, bread, sausage rolls and scones.

Workshop 4 - Cooking from Scratch - wholesome and nutritious meals, Batch Cooking, Cook Once Eat Twice, Organised Pantry, Grocery Shopping and Budget.

Please send your questions or make a booking at rhondasworkshops@gmail.com

Workshops starting 1 March

2026-02-13T11:29:00.003+10:00

This photo was taken yesterday, a 36C/97F degree day here. I got out into the garden at 5.45am to water everything well and put up the extra sun umbrella. I'm pleased to report, we all survived.

I've decided to dive into the first two workshops because I've just come back home after doing my grocery shopping and I'm stunned at the elevated prices at Woolworths. I'm guessing they're the same at Coles, Aldi and IGA. Prices aren't as high at Aldi but I think they're still higher than they were this time last year. Another player in the higher prices game are interest rates. Last week, the Reserve bank in Australia increased interest rates due to higher than expected inflation.

There are quite a few things you can do to reduce costs, most of them are small things, but when you look at those reductions over the course of 6 - 12 months, the effect can be significant.

The first workshop is on reducing costs and paying off debt because this effects most of us, from kids just leaving school to those in their 20s, 30s, and 40s who have families, mortgages and credit card debt. People in their 50s, 60s and 70s are hoping to pay off all their debt before they retire. I hope you're able to do that because life with a mortgage when you've retired would be difficult and stressful. Everyone will have a chance to talk briefly about their own circumstances to open up the possibility of feedback from people who are in the same situation and have made already made successful changes.

The second workshop will be on ageing and living alone. This is not just for older folk, we'll be discussing what you can do from your 20s, and in each decade, to prepare for older age. We'll talk about safety, food, staying active, community connections and family involvement, as well as activities such as gardening, crafts and daily routines. Everyone will have a chance to talk briefly about their own circumstances to open up the possibility of feedback from people who are in the same situation and have made already made successful changes.

I'm accepting 10 people in each workshop and they'll all be on Zoom. You don't need to download Zoom, I have the necessary applications and you join the workshop simply by clicking on the link I'll send you just before the workshop starts. Each workshop will be $50 which you'll pay when you book your place. I know that's cheap for an online workshop but I want everyone who wants to participate to be able to, and I'm happy with that amount. This is the only way I can make money at my age and I know that if I do a series of workshops over the coming months, I'll have enough money to build up my nest egg again and have the money I need to maintain my home and lifestyle.

FIRST WORKSHOP

Reducing costs and paying off debt

Sunday 1 March, 2026 at 10am Queensland AEDT time. The workshop lasts 1½ hours.

Cost $50 to be paid when booking.

Those states on daylight saving time - NSW, VIC, SA, TAS, ACT as well as WA and NT who, like QLD don't have daylight saving, need to work out their own local time when it's 10am in Queensland.

SECOND WORKSHOP

Ageing and living alone

Sunday 1 March, 2026 at 2pm Queensland time. The workshop lasts 1½ hours.

Cost $50 to be paid when booking.

Those states on daylight saving time - NSW, VIC, SA, TAS, ACT as well as WA and NT who, like QLD don't have daylight saving, need to work out their own local time when it's 10am in Queensland.

Please send your questions or make a booking at rhondasworkshops@gmail.com

Planting vegetable seeds and new workshops

2026-02-06T11:56:00.004+10:00

Hello everyone. I'm so pleased, and a bit surprised, that so many people have flooded back in here. I've had over 47,000 visitors since Sunday. It's lovely to be here with you again.

This is where I sit to think about life and plan changes in the garden.

Like most of you, I'm suffering with the higher cost of living now. Hanno and I had a good nest egg to fall back on if we needed anything out of the ordinary, however, that has shrunk a lot in the past year. At my age it's very difficult to earn money but I want to do a set of online Zoom workshops to help get me back on track. They will cost $50 each (I want to keep them as cheap as I can) and we'll have 10 people in each 90 minute session. There'll be plenty of time to ask questions and discuss your own circumstances. If you would like to take one of the workshops, I'd like you to comment on what topic/s you'd like to talk about and what days and times you're available. Please note, I can't do workshops in the evening because I'm too tired and you wouldn't get your money's worth. I can do weekends though. So let me know as soon as you can. If no one comments, I'll start with Gardening for beginners and Cutting costs in the home. I'd like to do other topics as well such as Pruning, Watering, Mulching and Compost, Keeping chickens, Seed saving and heirloom seeds, Living alone, Baking, Cooking from scratch, Making laundry liquid/powder and other simple cleaners, Ageing and Living well through each decade. I'm sure there'll be more topics - I have so much I'd like to share with you.

The photos above and below are gardens Hanno and I tended together.

So far this week I've been organising my garden. It hasn't been a good gardening year here because of the humidity. The monsoonal trough up north has been very active and it's cause high humidity and with that comes lots of chewing and sucking insects. I had some bugs here that were chewing through rose buds and the tops of radishes, and there has been a lot of powdery mildew. So I gave up on the weekend - normally I'd start winding down from summer and cleaning up and pruning in early March but I started a month early. I've almost finished the rose pruning and I'm topping up the pots with potting soil and straw mulch this afternoon. Going into autumn there'll be an organised wild garden just growing a few of the vegetables I always eat.

My home care plan has agreed to rebuild the roof of my bush house which I'm delighted with. I'm buying the materials. The floor, walls and shelves are all still in fine form, they were all built by Hanno. 😊 However, over the years I've had three roof repairs and replacement of shade cloth. That's where the problem lies now. The repairs were disorganised and casual and I've been lucky not to have been clonked on the head by falling timbers. When that's set up properly again, they'll be no stopping me.

In the meantime, over the weekend, I'll be planting six borage seeds, two Lebanese zucchini seeds, Long White Icicle radish, lettuce, a mix of miniature heirloom tomatoes, Lebanese cucumber and Rainbow Chard. These are the vegetables I use frequently and it cuts costs if I buy good seeds and grow them myself. I have enough seeds in most of the packs to do multiple plantings.

I try to sound very relaxed about the garden but the truth is I'm obsessed. I love gardening and it's the one task I do every day. But I see that as a good thing because I need to keep moving at my age. I'm not going to spend time on the computer or watch TV when there is fulfilling work to be done in the garden. I reckon not looking at life through a screen of some kind, being outside and getting my hands dirty, is a good way to live.

🌿 🌾 🪴

Back where we belong

2026-02-01T12:33:00.031+10:00

Surprise! I'm back ... for good this time. Instagram became an impossible place for me. They kept sending me messages asking if I'd make my page available for advertisers! Of course, I said no but that didn't stop them. It's such a change from what Instagram started as. But enough of that, the important part of this post is to explain why I returned here instead of taking my writing offline for good. For a few years Grandma Donna and I have talked online face-to-face and it's been such a pleasure for me to get to know her. We have a lot in common. We both feel a responsibility to share what we know with others. With the cost of living crisis, learning how to cook from scratch, appreciate the work we do in our homes, shop to a budget and pay off debt will help people grow stronger. The best place to do that is our blogs because we have no advertising police harassing us, the space is unlimited, we can put up tons of photos when we want to and, well, it just feels like home. I will close my Instagram account. 🎈

When I decided I'd come back I knew I had to do some work on the blog and make it welcoming and as clear as it could be. There are still some things I'm not happy with but I'm putting the blog back up today and I'll work on the problems when I have time and behind the scenes. All the big work is done and I doubt I'll have to shut the blog again.

A few years ago there was a facility in Blogger to notify my readers that there was a new post ready for reading. That was taken away and not replaced with anything that worked but now I want to recommend Feedly Classic <- Apple iPad and iPhone version to you. Clicking on the link will take you to the download page. This is the link for Android They are both free apps. I don't know why there is a new version because the older version, Feedly Classic, is better. When you download the app, all you have to do is to transfer the URL addresses of the things you want to read. I'd like you to download the app and add my URL address to Feedly so you know when a new post is waiting for you. This is my URL https://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/

This is my beautiful grandson, Jamie. He'll be 15 next month. 😳

There is so much information here that I hope you can use to help you live a simplified and comfortable life. There's a lot about gardening, baking, cooking from scratch, housework, families, storing food and saving money. If you look at the bottom of this page, some popular posts are there to help guide you. Or you can do a search in the side bar for a topic you're looking for. The search feature works best with a one or two word search enquiry.

I've been removing a small selection of posts from the blog because they're no longer relevant. I've brought back the comments section - I read through some of the comments and it was so motivating for me; I thank all those who do leave a comment. I spend most of my time offline now so I won't be writing frequently like in the old days when I had so much to share, but there'll be a couple of new posts up every month. My topics will be the same but different. 😉 I'll write more about how I live and what I do to make it work. If you can't find what you're interested in, and you've tried what I suggested above, put it in the comments. That will take longer because there will be days when I don't come online and I always have my notifications turned off.

And finally, a word about my wonderful sidekick, Gracie. She's been well but she's slowing down, like me. She'll be 10 years old in August and I'll be 78 in April. She still acts like a puppy most of the time, still does her zoomies, still loves the grandchildren visiting and still loves sleeping. She's the ideal companion and I love her dearly. There's a new puppy next door with the kelpie, their old dog has gone to heaven. She watches them from the verandah but will only go over to sniff the other dogs when I go to the fence to talk with my neighbours. We'll see how that develops

So there you have it, my friends, we're back here where we started nearly 20 years ago. If it's your first time here, welcome, if you've been here before, welcome. Let's put our aprons on and get to work.

NOT the last post

2025-07-04T11:25:00.005+10:00

This will be my last post here. I've been writing my blog for 18 years and now is the time to step back. I’ve stopped writing the blog and come back a couple of times because so many people wanted it, but that won’t happen again, I won’t be back. I’ll continue on instagram to remain connected but I don’t know how frequent that will be.

I know some of you will be interested to know the blog's statistics.

Time changes everything

2025-06-24T06:00:00.004+10:00

I've been spending time in the backyard lately creating a contained herb and vegetable garden. My aim is to develop a comfortable place to spend time, relax, increase biodiversity and encourage more animals, birds and insects to live here or visit. Of course I'd prefer my old garden which was put together by Hanno with ease and German precision. Together, we created a space bursting at the seams with herbs, vegetables and fruity goodness ready to eat and share throughout the year. But time changes everything. What I'm planning on doing now, is a brilliant opportunity for an almost 80 year old with balance issues. In my new garden I'll be able to do a wide range of challenging or easy work, depending on how I feel each day. It’s a daily opportunity to push myself or sit back, watch what's happening around me and be captivated by memories or the scope of what's yet to come.

It's the old ways I love the most

2025-06-12T06:40:00.008+10:00

I'm a practical woman who lives in a 1980’s brick slab house. There are verandahs front and back so I have places to sit outside when it's hot or cold. Those verandahs tend to make the house darker than it would be but they're been a great investment over time because they made the house more liveable. My home is not a romantic cottage, nor a minimalist modern home, it's a 1980’s brick slab house. And yet when people visit me here they tell me how warm and cosy my home is and that they feel comforted by being here. I've thought about that over the years and I'm convinced now that the style of a home isn't what appeals to people. What they love is the feeling within that home and whether it's nurturing the people who live there.

Creating a home you'll love forever

2025-05-26T05:50:00.006+10:00

Living simply is the answer to just about everything. It reduces the cost of living; it keeps you focused on being careful with resources such as water and electricity; it reminds you to not waste food; it encourages you to store food so you don't waste it and doing all those things brings routine and rhythm to your daily life. Consciously connecting every day with the activities and tasks that create simple life reminds you to look for the meaning and beauty that normal daily life holds. It's all there in your home if you look for it. Seemingly mundane tasks like cleaning and cooking help you with that connection for without those tasks, the home you want to live in won't exist in the way you want it to. Creating a home you love will make you happy and satisfied.

Every morning at home

2025-04-15T04:22:00.012+10:00

Every morning when I walk into my kitchen it looks tidy and ready for a day's work. Not so on this morning (above), I saw this when I walked in. Late the previous afternoon when I was looking for something, I came across my rolled up Zwilling vacuum bags and decided they had to be washed and dried. So I did that and although I usually put them outside on the verandah to dry it was dark by then. I turned the just-washed bags inside out and left them like this on a towel. It worked well and now the bags are ready to use when I bring home root vegetables, cabbages or whatever I buy that I want to last four or five weeks.

You’ll save money by going back to basics

2025-04-04T06:29:00.009+10:00

When I was doing the workshops and solo sessions, I had a couple of people whose main focus was on creating the fastest way to set up a simple life. You can't create a simple life fast, it's the opposite of that It's not one single thing either - it's a number of smaller, simpler activities that combine to create a life that reflects your values; and that takes a long to come together. When I first started living simply I took an entire year to work out our food - buying it, storing it, cooking it, preserving, baking, freezing, and growing it in the backyard. This is change that will transform how you live and it can't be rushed.

An authentic look at daily life here — unstaged and real

2025-02-13T13:15:00.010+10:00

Most days Hanno was outside happily working in the fresh air.

It may surprise you to know that I started reading my book, Down to Earth, yesterday - the first time since I wrote it 13 years ago. I had lent it to my neighbor, and when she returned it, I started reading, expecting to find surprises. Instead, I realised the words were still familiar—as if they were etched into my memory. As I flipped through the pages, I was reminded of how important it was for me to share that knowledge with others. The principles in Down to Earth changed my life, and I truly believed they could do the same for others. After just 30 minutes of reading, I put the book down, reassured that its message still holds true: we can slow down and reshape our lives, one step at a time.

Enjoying the end of year and what's on the 2025 horizon

2024-12-20T10:26:00.006+10:00

Hello! I've come here today to wish you happiness over the Christmas season. Whatever you're doing, I hope you enjoy yourself, take time to review the year you've just had, and plan for the year ahead. Something has changed in me over the year, I'm not sure what but I've changed and I think I've come out of my period of grief. I can't remember the past two Christmases although my photos tell me I spent it with my family. This year, I'm much more settled and I have a sense of acceptance and joy as I look to the future.

A day in my life

2024-12-02T06:47:00.005+10:00

I haven't written a day in my life post for a long time so today is the perfect day for it. This was yesterday, it was a busy day because I'm doing a few extra things each day to prepare for Christmas. The worst thing about Christmas for me is the rushing to get things done but if I start early, it gets done and enjoy it too.

This all happened on Sunday ...

It's better made at home

2024-11-11T16:04:00.004+10:00

Making some basics at home can cut costs and reduce many additives in food and cleaners. I make sauce mixes, drinks, laundry liquid, spray cleaners and I dry herbs and spices to use later. I love knowing what I'm using in my home and I can change my recipes according to taste or strength when I need to.

Lemon juice ice blocks, gravy mix, and flavoured vinegars are three things I make several times a year that help me save money and steer clear of preservatives and other potentially harmful chemicals. It shows how simple, homemade solutions can lead to small but lasting savings—and they’re healthier. Commercial lemon juice in a plastic bottle for instance, often contains preservatives like sodium metabisulfite, which some people can be sensitive to. Lemon juice is a natural deterrent to bacteria and by freezing fresh lemon juice, you’re not only cutting out preservatives but also ensuring you always have a natural antibacterial option on hand.

I use my gravy/brown sauce recipe with roast meats, in casseroles and, with mushrooms added, make mushroom sauce for steak. You can customise with herbs or spices for different dishes. It’s such an easy way to avoid the lengthy ingredient lists in store-bought sauces, which can contain fillers and preservatives. I make up a jar of this and leave it with my seasonings next to the stove. It saves going to the pantry and taking the ingredients out each time and then putting them back in.

Simple Gravy/Sauce Mix

I make a very simple mix of plain flour, salt, pepper and paprika. I also make one for roast lamb to which I add dried rosemary and one for roast chicken with dried sage - the paprika helps the sauce brown. When added to pan juices, it makes an excellent gravy or sauce. I make up about a cup of the simple mix at a time and that lasts a month or so. I use one or two tablespoons stirred into pan juices with enough water to make up the sauce. It's easier healthier and cheaper than Gravox or one of those packet mixes and it tastes much better.

Simple Gravy Mix - customise this to your own taste but start off with:

1 cup plain/all purpose flour
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

You can also make a spicier mix by adding a spoon full of chilli flakes, or a curry version by adding a tablespoon of curry powder.

Chilli Flakes

Wash and dry the chillies and only use those without rot or damage. Cut the top stem off and slice the chillies in half straight down. Place them on a baking tray covered with baking paper in the oven on about 40 - 60C. Dry in the oven until they feel dry, but not burnt - it will take a few hours. You'll have to watch them because some pieces will be smaller and will dry faster. Take small amounts out if you see that they've dried enough. When they're all dry, wait till they're completely cold and then blitz them in a food processor for a few seconds, until they're small flakes. Store in a airtight jar.

You can make chilli jam using fresh chillies or chilli flakes. Here is my recipe for that. How to make Chilli Jam

Sweet lemon/lime slices

This one makes sense particularly if you grow your own lemons or limes. I always have a jar of lemons or limes in the fridge over summer. When I have a drink I can add a slice of sweetened lemon to the iced water. It's suitable for iced tap water or carbonated water from a Soda Stream but also delicious in hot tea. When you get to the end of the slices, add the syrup to your drinks too, by then it will have a wonderful sharp lemon taste. A one litre jar will take three large lemons.

All you need to do is to add sugar syrup to your lemon slices. Sugar syrup is usually equal parts water to sugar. However, I use light syrup which is 2 cups water to 1 cup white sugar. Mix together in a saucepan and heat it on the stove. As soon as the sugar dissolves, cool it then add it to the sliced lemons, seal and store in the fridge.

Flavoured vinegar

Flavoured vinegar is another great idea, especially if, like me, you don’t like oil in your salad dressings. Infusing vinegar with your choice of spices and herbs adds layers of natural flavour. Store-bought salad dressings can be pricey and contain a surprising number of ingredients, so making your own is a healthier and cost-effective alternative. The effort is minimal, and the results are rewarding.

But vinegar is a good cleaner too. This is the spray I make up regularly that does a really good job and costs a few cents, not a few dollars like the supermarket version.

Surface Spray Cleaner

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon washing up liquid

Mix all ingredients together and then add to a spray bottle. You can clean hard surface areas with this - bench tops, fridge doors, glass stove tops, cupboard doors etc. Be careful if you have stone bench tops.

Creamy Scrubber

To make a product similar to Gumption take a small container - about 500 mls/1 pint and add one cup of laundry liquid. Then add enough bicarbonate soda to make a paste. Mix with a spoon until it's mixed well. If you use a stained spoon to do that, your spoon will be sparkling when you finish.

This mix will dry out if you make too much. I make enough for about a month, then make a new batch. I use it to clean the shower, bath, ceramic and stainless steel sinks.

Don’t stop at these, there will be plenty of things you use in your home that, if you think about it, you can make up at home for a fraction of the cost of the supermarket version.

I enjoy housework because I love my home and want it to support me and help me live the life I've chosen for myself. A house is not an inconvenience, it's a home and safe haven, and possibly the largest investment you'll make in your entire life. So I believe the time we spend on house maintenance and cleaning as a good way of protecting what we worked hard for. And that, my friend, is a very good investment in the future.

Thanks for visiting me today. I hope everything is going well for you and your family. 😀

A cleaner is a cleaner

2024-10-24T08:50:00.011+10:00

Very early on in my blogging life I wrote a post detailing a lot of green cleaners. It was ridiculous really, I was doing what the supermarkets do - having a different cleaner for each individual cleaning purpose. Over the years, practicality and good sense kicked in and the variety of my own green cleaners shrank to a handful of cleaners that would clean a lot of different areas and surfaces. It saved me time because I had fewer cleaners to make and it saved money. As the internet grew with householders offering advice, instead of the choice of cleaners decreasing, many homemakers developed their own recipes and choices increased, a lot! You don't need them. Forget the supermarket models where you shop for different products for every area to be cleaned, common sense and your grandma will tell you that a cleaner is a cleaner and if it suits the area, it will probably suit similar areas and surfaces in your home.

With the current cost of living crisis, now is the time to try making some of your cleaners instead of buying the pre-made products. They’re easy to make - laundry liquid will take about 10- 15 minutes but you only make an batch every few months.

The foundation recipe of most of my cleaners is laundry liquid. Not only will it clean your clothes with three ingredients, you can add to it to make a creamy scrubber similar to Gumption, you can use it as a stain remover or on greasy kitchen areas such as your stove top, range hood and sink.

I wanted to add the ingredients list from supermarket products such as Dynamo or Cold Power here but they don't have the ingredients list on their products anymore (hmmm, I wonder why 🧐) They refer you to their websites - but they aren't on the Cold Power site and you have to fill in forms to reach the Dynamo info but no matter what I did, I never found it. It's interesting that now, when people are much more interested in using less toxic products on their clothing, bed linen and skin, the ingredients lists to help them choose their products have gone.

Here are the recipes:

Laundry Liquid

I put this first because as well as being a laundry liquid, general surface cleaner and stain remover, it's also the foundation of another handy cleaner, similar to Gumption.

You should be able to buy the ingredients for all these cleaners at your local supermarket and on Amazon au if you can’t find them locally. Please note that washing soda is different to baking soda. Sometimes there are two types of washing soda on sale - washing soda crystals and washing soda powder Buy the powder, it's easier to dissolve.

When I make up a new batch of laundry liquid, I always make it up in a 10 litre bucket with lid that I use for laundry and various cleaning tasks around the home. It’s a cleaner that is perfect for cleaning metal - including stainless steel, porcelain baths and sinks, and spot cleaning on painted walls. It does a good job on appliances - like fridges, food processors and painted cupboards.

HOMEMADE CLEANING RECIPES

LAUNDRY LIQUID
Makes 10 litres - use ¼ cup per laundry load

You may add any essential oil of your choice to these homemade cleaners. Oils like tea tree, eucalyptus, lavender or rose are useful but are not an essential ingredient and will add to the cost.

Ingredients

1 - 2 litres water
1 bar Sunlight or generic laundry soap or any similar pure laundry soap, grated on a cheese grater OR 1 cup of Lux flakes which are now called Softly flakes.
½ cup washing soda – NOT baking soda or bicarb soda
½ cup borax

Tools

Saucepan
10 litre bucket
Slotted spoon or wooden spoon for mixing

The ingredients are measured into a saucepan containing one to two litres/quarts of water. Add one cup of soap flakes, half a cup of borax and half a cup of washing soda. Turn on the heat and stir. Bring the mix to the boil, stirring as it heats, and by the time the mixture is boiling, ALL the ingredients should be dissolved.

So, you've nearly finished and it's only taken less than ten minutes so far. When you're sure the ingredients are completely dissolved, pour the mixture into your bucket then fill to the top with water from the hot tap and stir it together thoroughly. You've made laundry liquid. And it's cost you about $3 Australian. Ten litres of laundry liquid at an Australian supermarket costs about $120! When you take into account the making, pouring and storing, it's taken about 15 minutes. I make this about once every three months. If you have a large family, you might make it every two months. And it will save you about $100 every time you make it. How long would you have to work to earn $100? Saving it is much easier and much better for the environment.

Once you have the laundry liquid in your bucket, stir it around again, then start filling your containers. Be aware that the liquid will split when it's cold - see the photos below. There's nothing wrong with it, it just needs re-mixing or shaking before you use it.

Above is the laundry liquid after it's been sitting for 24 hours. It's clearly separated into layers - the top layer is gel-like, the bottom layer is watery. You need space in your container to shake and mix before you use it. Or, do what I do and get your stick blender and give it a good mix. That will emulsify it and it's more likely to stay like that.

Don't think you've done anything wrong if your mixture separates, it's fine, it just needs a re-mix. This is safe in septic tanks but not for grey water. The borax in the mix might build up as boron in the garden and that is harmful to plants. If you want to use your grey water, don't add the borax.

This laundry liquid will not make suds and that's perfectly okay. The ingredients loosen the dirt and grime in the clothes and the agitation of the washing machine will clean them.

Sometimes you don't have time to make up the liquid, so here is the powder version:

LAUNDRY POWDER

4 cups grated laundry or homemade soap or soap flakes (Lux)
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a plastic container with a lid. Use 2 tablespoons per wash. This powder will not make suds and again, it's perfectly okay.

Soaking

Soaking is a very good habit to get into with your clothes (and washing up in the sink). In the past, most people soaked their clothes before washing. If you have a top loader, just fill the machine and add the laundry liquid, let it run for a minute then turn the machine off and let everything soak for about an hour, or overnight. Then turn the machine back on and carry on as normal. If you have a front loader, you can set your washer to run for a minute, then turn it off for an hour or overnight and re-start your wash. Or you could pick out the very soiled items and soak them in a tub before washing.

Stain remover

I use laundry liquid and rub it on the stain, leave it for an hour and then add to the washing machine and wash as normal.

Surface Spray Cleaner

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon washing up liquid

Mix all ingredients together and then add to a spray bottle. You can clean all hard surface areas with this - bench tops, fridge doors, glass stove tops, cupboard doors etc. If your stove top is very dirty, use the creamy scrubber. Just spread some creamy scrubber on the stove surface, let it sit for a couple of minutes then clean off with hot water on a clean rag. Dry the surface with a dry tea towel to finish.

Creamy Scrubber

This mix will dry out if you make too much. I make enough for about a month, then make a new batch. I use it to clean the shower, bath, ceramic and stainless steel sinks.

Glass cleaner

Half bucket of water with ½ cup of vinegar added. Use newspaper or clean soft rags to clean and dry the glass.

Washing up Liquid

I've never been able to make a homemade washing up detergent that I was happy with. I use a combination of Ecostore - $4.80 and Earth Choice - $3.50

Cleaners shopping list

I thought I'd make a quick comparison here of the price of the homemade cleaners and all supermarket products. See what you think. 🤔

HOMEMADE INGREDIENTS

Washing soda - $5.00

Borax - $4.10

Soap that you grate or soap flakes that you buy. I use the soap flakes. If you make your own soap, grate it and use that. - $7.50

White vinegar - $3.00

Bicarb soda - $2.70

Vanish Napisan oxyclean bleach - This is a safe bleach which uses peroxide instead of chlorine bleach. It's much safer and easy to use. If your homemade stain remover doesn't work, this would be your next option. - $17.00 or buy it on half price special. It's on sale frequently.

TOTAL $235.80 - I estimated I would buy these six times a year (approx)

SUPERMARKEY PRODUCTS

Ajax Spray and Wipe spray cleaner - $3.50

Ajax Spray and Wipe glass cleaner - $3.50

Duck Deep Action Gel toilet cleaner - $7.00

OzKleen Shower Power Bathroom and Shower cleaner - $7.35

Earth Choice floor cleaner - $3.35

Gumption multi-purpose paste - $5.40

Elbow Grease air fryer cleaner - $5.00 (I laughed when I saw this. It didn't take long for air fryers to get their own cleaner.)

Cerapol Ceramic Glass and Induction Cooktop Cleaner - $6.45

Dynamo Laundry Liquid - $12.00

Pinoclean Disinfectant - $8.00

Vanish Napisan oxyclean bleach - This is a safe bleach which uses peroxide instead of chlorine bleach. It's much safer and easy to use.

TOTAL $615.50 - I estimated I would buy these 10 times a year (approx)

The difference is $379.70 a year. So in ten years of grocery buying, that would be a saving of $3790.00.

Who knows what the health benefits would be.

I told myself I’d never leave again. And I haven’t.

2024-10-10T08:41:00.019+10:00

I’ve spent many hours recently thinking about living here in my home. I’m reading Wendell Berry’s inspirational and powerful book, The World-Ending Fire, about living in ‘his place’ in Kentucky. Wendell - one of America’s most thought-provoking writers, never bought a computer, a mobile phone, or even an answering machine. He wrote all his books with a pencil and notebook, and with his wife, maintained fields with horse and plow, grew his own vegetables and meat, preserved food, collected water and became content and settled because of it.

This is the tastiest tomato I've ever grown. Medium in size and a flavour bomb.

I’m eight years younger than Wendell but I strongly hold on to “my place’ too. In fact, now I recognise that it’s one of the things that’s made me who I am and which has given me a solid starting point every day.

Homemade laundry liquid costs $2 - $3 to make 10 litres. It does an excellent job with three simple ingredients and none of the chemicals in the supermarket products.

These flowers are native Iris.

Gracie, doing her daily rounds.

When I was much younger, Hanno and I lived in Germany for two years. We travelled there so I could meet his family and intended staying for two months. But we ended up staying two years and towards the end of our stay, I was yearning to return to Australia. We returned married and with our first baby. When I stepped on my homeland again, I told myself I’d never leave again. And I haven’t.

One of my new linen aprons.

But as it turned out, it wasn’t the wide brown land of Australia I was yearning for. It was this specific parcel of land at the end of a dead-end, one-lane street in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast. When I walked onto this land, I knew I was home. We bought the house and land and moved here a few years later when I was 49 years old. I’ve lived here longer than I’ve ever lived anywhere else. I know every inch of this land and I am part of it. This week, when I brought in my bins from the street, I stopped to close the gate behind me and a local butcher bird, a bird I see every day, flew towards me, circled me and flew towards a baby bird already sitting in the closest tree. I hadn’t seen it until the mother bird introduced me to the baby. But, as I walked away from that wonderful encounter, I realised I’m part of the nature of this place and I have no doubt that on that day, the baby bird was introduced to many other living creatures who live on this land.

Everlasting spinach.

When I first set foot here in 1994, I didn’t understand that I had discovered my true path and I was walking towards the mother load of happiness and contentment. I recognised a feeling of excitement but I didn’t know why I was excited. The house was a drab slab house with absolutely no other features. I loved the creek and the remnant rainforest in the backyard immediately but there were no fences, gardens, tanks, or verandas. All that was still ahead of us and, as it turned out, would help shape the people we became.

I will stay here until I die and my sons will inherit my home. It will then be sold and another family will come to live here. I hope they see how special it is and how it can help them slow down and live well. Not everyone can see those things, but in the words of Wendell: “Slow down, Pay Attention, Do good work, Love your neighbours, Love your place, Stay in your place, Settle for less and enjoy it more.” We created a life like no other here - it was a new way of living, an example for us and others of what could be done with work, attention, fewer expectations and reaping the ample benefits of happiness and contentment.

I’m pleased with the familiar way every day unfolds here. I grow the same foods, I cook the same meals, I talk to the same people and I never crave for new, better or more - I want fewer choices not more of them. I want old and familiar. Especially in these unstable times it suits me to be in my place with the gate shut, picking roses for the house, staking foxgloves, reading, writing and getting to know the baby birds.

Celebrating simplicity and reclaiming control

2024-09-30T14:38:00.009+10:00

In our fast-paced, consumer-driven world, we are constantly bombarded with the idea that convenience is key. The allure of shiny, ready-made products - quickly purchased with a swipe or click - seduces us. And yet, there is a deeper, more fulfilling way to live: making things at home rather than buying them. It’s an act of defiance against waste, excess, and the relentless push of consumerism. But more than that, it's a reclaiming of control, a celebration of simplicity, and a mindful exercise in frugality and time management.

At first glance, making things at home seems daunting. "Who has the time?" some might ask. "It's so much easier to buy." These thoughts are born from a culture that equates ease with value. But what if we flipped that equation? What if, instead of measuring value by the time saved, we measure it by the skill earned, the money conserved, and the creativity sparked?

Frugality is often misunderstood as deprivation, but in truth, it’s the art of stretching resources without sacrificing quality of life. It’s not about skimping, but about finding alternatives that enrich your day-to-day existence without spending. Making things at home allows for this kind of smart economy.

The weekly grocery bill can easily spiral out of control if we rely on pre-packaged, pre-made meals. But when we return to the basics, learning to cook from scratch, we find the key to living well within a budget. A loaf of bread, fresh from your own oven, costs a fraction of what you’d pay for a plastic-wrapped loaf, and its aroma fills your kitchen with warmth that no store-bought loaf could deliver. A simple stew, simmered slowly with seasonal vegetables and leftover cuts of meat, stretches ingredients far beyond the limits of fast food.

The same can be said for cleaning products. Store shelves overflow with specialised sprays, powders, and wipes, each promising miraculous results for a price. Yet, with a few household staples like vinegar, baking soda, and essential oils, you can create a multipurpose cleaner that costs pennies, is free of harsh chemicals, and is just as effective.

This is the hemp I used to use for my dish cloths. It was great to knit with but it didn't suit dishcloths - the knives easily cut it. My go-to yarn is organic cotton. That is easy to knit, it dries quickly and it's soft to the touch.

The satisfaction I feel when I make something for my home far outstrips the feeling I used to get when I bought everything I needed. What I make suits my home better than most commercial products and as a bonus, I feel the warm embrace of self-reliance when I make them. I know it can be difficult to disconnect from the ease of buying pre-made everything but once you settle into to it, home production, moderation and self-reliance delivers long-term, constant contentment.

These are my organic cotton dishcloths.

Making things at home requires an upfront investment of time but it also encourages mindfulness and creativity. When we dedicate time to preparing a meal, mending a piece of clothing, or knitting a dishcloth, we are fully present in the moment. These acts become meditative, pulling us away from the frenzy of daily life and into a slower, more grounded rhythm.

One of the most significant benefits of making things at home is that the skills you develop compound over time. The first loaf of bread may feel like a laborious task, but by the tenth, you’ll have refined your technique and cut the time in half. You may begin by knitting simple scarves, but soon you’ll move on to sweaters, hats, and mittens. The satisfaction that comes from honing a craft and mastering a skill is unmatched by the fleeting joy of purchasing something ready-made.

There’s a profound shift that occurs when you start making things at home. When you’ve invested your time and effort into making something, it holds greater value. You care for it differently, knowing the energy that went into its creation.

In this way, making things at home is a practice in gratitude. It teaches you to honor the resources you have - time, money, and skill - and to use them wisely. It’s a path towards simplicity, sustainability, and self-reliance, where the things you surround yourself with are not just objects, but symbols of care, creativity, and intention.

In the end, making things at home is not just about frugality or time management. It’s about living with purpose, finding joy in the process and crafting a life that values quality over quantity, creativity over consumption, and mindfulness over convenience.

What do you regularly make to use in your home?

Cheaper meals, for one or more

2024-09-07T11:32:00.004+10:00

I eat my main meal at lunchtime. This is last week's lunch - corned beef with mashed potatoes, salad and homemade relish.

Although I seem to be moving further away from meat meals, I've had a craving for corned beef lately. It's a reminder of my youth because corned beef, mashed potatoes, cabbage and relish/pickles was a popular meal in Australia's suburbia in the 1950s/60/70s. My main problem with it is that the pieces of corned beef on sale at the supermarket are quite big and I don't want to waste what I buy. So when I see a small piece, I grab it, and at home, divide it in two and have a more reasonable size to cook and eat in the following days. I also use corned beef as a cold cut for sandwiches and when I make meatloaf, I divide that in two as well, eat one half for a couple of days and freeze the rest.

These meals are egg-based - above: asparagus quiche with filo pastry, below: tinned red salmon with boiled eggs and salad.

Another thing I've been thinking about recently is how the increasing cost of living is impacting people all around the world, and how we can respond to it in a common sense way. First of all let me put my hand up and acknowledge that it's been fairly easy for me to keep my food costs to a reasonable level. I don't have to consider other family members who want their steak or leg of lamb meals and don't want to think about balancing the budget. This week at my local Woolworth's supermarket a leg of lamb large enough for a family roast (1.8kg - 2.8kg) is $42. Buying a leg that size will give you leftovers for meals the following day as well as cold cuts for sandwiches in the lunchboxes. Other popular meats include T-bone steak - $30 kg, Scotch fillet steak - $41.50 kg and eye fillet - $52.00 kg. If you buy eye fillet from the butcher, it costs around $70 kg. 😳 Cheap sausages are $5.90 for 550g, Angus beef sausages are $9.00 for six sausages. If you're going to serve your steaks with a salad, one iceberg lettuce is $3.00, 500 grams tomatoes is $5.00, a cucumber is $3.50, red onions are 68 cents each, so two = $1.36. I think you probably have the makings of salad dressing at home (olive oil/vinegar) but if you have to buy the processed dressing, it will cost you $3.00. You'll get 6 bread rolls for $2.85. To buy a steak/sausages and salad for four people for ONE meal will cost around $66!

There are a few delicious meat meals made using the cheaper cuts of beef - skirt steak, gravy beef, blade steak are just some of them. If you slow cook them as a casserole, stew or soup, they'll provide a wonderful meal that your family will enjoy. They're also suitable for freezing, so store your leftovers in the freezer for backup meals in the following days.

Meatballs, cabbage and boiled potatoes.

Beef casserole, using the cheaper cuts of gravy beef or skirt steak, with herb dumplings.

Leftovers - pasta with bolognese sauce.

I wouldn't pay that because I could make something delicious that would be much cheaper and nutritious for less. Everytime someone pays those prices it tells the supermarkets that we're willing to pay those inflated prices. And if you just buy the salad it's still $12.86. Instead of salad, you could do a potato bake - that would cost you $4.50 for 2 kg potatoes, one onions is 68 cents, a small jar of cream is $3.75, pack of pre-grated Parmesan cheese - $2 and your electricity to bake it would be around 50 cents. That option would cost $9.43. Remember, theoretically, I'm cooking for a 4 person family.

Egg and bacon pie.

Making shortcrust pastry. It's easy but if you need a quicker option, buy a pack of filo pastry and use that instead.

OR you could make a quiche from scratch. That would cost $5.70 for 12 eggs (you'd have 6 leftover for breakfast), small jar of cream $3.75, garlic and onion about 85 cents, 500g bacon $6.75, and cheese $7.70. The homemade pastry would be $1.40 for 1kg of plain flour, $7.00 for 500 g butter (you'd have almost ¾ of the butter left over), the rest is just salt and water. There's a recipe for pie crust on Grandma Donna's blog here. This option would cost around $24.75 to make the quiche and you'd have eggs and butter leftover for another day and probably have quiche left over for lunches the following day. Add the salad at $12.86 and this meal would be $37.61. Both are reasonably healthy options but one meal is almost half the price of the other.

I buy frozen Australian peas and grow the greens and herbs I eat every week; they're really easy to grow, even in pots. My list includes parsley, chives, basil, cucumbers, radishes, rainbow chard, perpetual spinach, lettuce, chillies and green onions. I grow the lettuce in the shade of the bush house/verandah, the rest grow in the sun in the old sandbox. All of them are easy to grow from seed. I sprinkle seeds on the top of good potting mix in pots and grow in the shade. It requires water every second day and it will grow fast. I let the plants grow for about 4 weeks and while they're still small, I harvest a quarter of the pot with scissors and add them to my salads. The lettuce continues to grow after harvesting so I just give them a drink of Seasol to keep them healthy and they'll be ready to harvest again in 4 weeks. Setting yourself up to grow some of your own food will cost around $40, for seeds, potting mix and Seasol, but that should keep you going for a few months.

If I were to buy fresh parsley, chives, basil - all $3.20 a bunch, and rainbow chard - $4.70, spinach - $3.90, lettuce - $2.50. I woudln't buy all of them every week but most weeks herbs and green would cost me $10 if I didn't grow them myself. I think this is an excellent chore for one of the kids to take on. They'd learn to produce food and give the family the FRESHEST herbs and vegies every week. But even if you do it yourself like I do, it's well worth it.

Here is a list of some of the many vegetables, legumes and nuts that contain protein.

What I'm getting at here is that there are always options and protein doesn't have to be meat, chicken or fish. You don't have to choose the thing you've always chosen. Be wise and think of what you can do with different ingredients and when this cost of living crisis is over, and it will end, you'll be proud of how you got your family through it by changing what you eat and adjusting what you spend.

Homemade potato and curried mince pies - no pastry.

Vegetable frittata - which is just a fancy way of saying eggs with whatever vegetables are in your fridge.

The main problem moving away from meal, chicken or fish meals is that they all deliver the protein we all need. However, that doesn't mean there's no substitute for meat, fish or chicken. Egg, milk, cheese, yoghurt, legumes and pulses such as chick peas, split peas and lentils are all high in protein and they're all cheap, healthier than meat and better for the environment. If you have some tried and true meat-less, or almost meatless, meals, please share them with us. And don't forget tinned fish such as tuna and salmon. Boths are cheaper than meat and very nutritious.

Mostly meat-free egg recipes

45 reasons to have eggs for dinner

Delicious RecipeTin Eats meals

Let's think about unit prices, generic brands and being flexible with our choice of brands.

Unit prices are generally displayed under the product price on supermarket shelves. Checking the unit price gives us a more accurate understanding of the value for money of each item - even if something is "on special". So make your selections based on the unit prices, not the product price.

Generic brands can help you make ends meet in times like these. Supermarkets are retailers, not manufacturers so the generic brands are made by the same manufacturers that make the branded products you know well. There are no factories set up to make inferior generic brands - so manufacturers making flour, butter, tea, sugar etc. for the supermarkets just change the packaging and produce the generic brands you see on the shelves. And they're all cheaper than the well known brands.

Being flexible - this is good advice all through life. Flexibility helps us cope with difficult times and situations. We can all switch to generic brands when we need to but we can also substitute ingredients so we don't have to buy something we might use in just one recipe. If a recipe you want to try suggests something you don't have in your pantry, look up one of the websites below to find a substitute for it.

Allrecipes

Food Network

Food52

Baking for the grandkids - cup cakes and sausage rolls.

And finally, use your common sense and go with your instinct. Often your instinct will guide you in cooking. Back yourself in everything you do. You might have to stop and change your mind when it doesn't work but every time you do something new, it will teach you something. Open up your memory bank and store everything you learn for another time when you need it.

If you want the recipe for anything above, please use the search bar on the right hand side.

Growing citrus, berries and herbs

2024-09-03T07:39:00.001+10:00

Hello everyone! I've had a good break and although we've been going through a heatwave, that will end today and the weather will be cooler for a few weeks. It's a lovely time of year now, the spring flowers are blooming, birds are visiting from far off places and from the look of the rose leaves, the leaf-eater bees are happily munching away. It’s the ideal time for sitting on the verandah with a lemon cordial and letting the world pass by. I am happy here, I feel as much a part of this place as all the trees deeply rooted in our dry soil. We all get our strength and nourishment from being here and I can't imagine being anywhere else.

Washington navel orange. This flowers now and I harvest oranges in June and July.

This is a Grumichama or Brazilian cherry, a gift from Morag Gamble. It had a few flowers last year but this is the first year I'll get a harvest. It can be eaten fresh or used in jams and pies.

This little orange tree is a Lane's Late. It's full of flowers but I expect many of them to drop off between now and when it fruits. Most orange trees lose flowers but still give a good harvest.

Out in the garden, I've been focusing on my citrus trees. I have two Eureka lemons, a Washington navel orange and a Lane's Late orange. In this area, the lemons fruit most of the year, the Washington navel from early June to mid July and the Lane's Late oranges from July to late August. Right now, both orange trees are full of flowers and the two lemons are flowering on new growth. Of course, spring time is the best time of the year for growing most plants. It’s the time when plants naturally put on new growth and produce flowers, vegetables and nuts. If you’re able to give them some help, with good soil, manure, compost, the right growing conditions and water, the warmer weather and sunshine will do the rest. So if you’re thinking about growing food, spring is the time to get started.

Here is a post I wrote that might help beginner gardeners start spring gardens

Another post of mine about growing your own food

I have two blueberries planted a few weeks ago. It's the new Burst variety, supposedly larger and tastier than the blueberries I grew in the past. They're growing in 50cm wide grow bags.

When grown in the right climate, citrus are really tough plants. Mine were able to survive nearly two years of neglect when Hanno was sick and I had no time for gardening. I have almost no memory of those first 18 months without Hanno. I know I made food for myself and got a basic grocery delivery of milk, eggs, butter, tea, salt, flour, fruit and vegetables but I don’t think I made my bed everyday. I looked after Gracie with her food and grooming but most of the time we were two sad sacks sitting on the front verandah - me staring into the bush and her watching the front gate expecting Hanno to walk in. Grief is such a powerful force. I underestimated its emotional intensity and the power is has to change us. It took me a long time to work out the best way to keeping living true to my values and not become someone I didn’t recognise.

The flowers are growing very well and have brought a huge number of various bees, mostly native bees, to the garden.

Here is the herb garden as it is now. In here I'm growing two chillies, parsley, perpetual spinach, rainbow chard, apple cucumbers, French radishes and green onions. I've left one green onion to produce seeds and when that flower blooms and develops seeds, I'll collect the seeds to grow in future years.

After a few years of no sewing, I’m delighted to be back at my machine. I’m just finishing a half apron of blue gingham linen and I have green gingham linen that I’ll use to make a full apron. I’ll also make a summer nightie but I don’t have the fabric for that yet. Of course, there’s always mending to do so I’ve adjusted a couple of skirts and fixed hems too.

One thing that always surprises me are the scraps, thread and general rubbish that is generated by sewing. It’s not a huge amount but the accumulation of all those tiny scraps and threads that spread out over the sewing table and floor. After I publish this post, I’ll be cleaning the entire room.

There have been so many new readers here and on IG. I’m not sure why these sudden streams of new readers happen, I guess it’s other writers sharing a post or something from my blog. I hope you find what you’re looking for, especially information to help you live a more sustainable life. And to all my long-term readers, thanks for staying with me over the years offering support and friendship along the way. I appreciate you being here.

I was going to write about food today, the cost of living crisis, ways of saving when buying food and the different forms of protein but this post is getting too long so it will have to wait. I hope to get that written and on your screens asap - it will be this week. Take care, everyone. ♥️

ADDITIONAL READING

‘old-school’ laundry detergents best bet for cleaner clothes, 2024 Choice test finds

Know your measurements and stick to the rules

How to remove all four of the most common summer stains

I always smile when I see my garden from the kitchen window

2024-08-10T15:15:00.007+10:00

It’s Gracie’s birthday today, she’s eight years old. I gave her a bath this afternoon so she’s not really talking to me but she’ll get over it soon because I bought BBQ chicken for her birthday lunch. She’s a wonderful companion and I’m glad we found each other.

I'll brush her soon.

I’m taking a break away from the internet. I’ve been holding on by a thin strand for the past couple of weeks and now is a good time to go. My sister, Tricia, is coming for a visit next week and we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I’ve planned family dinners, picnics, fish and chips on the beach and we’re both going to be researching our family tree. I’ve been doing it on and off since 1980, when Shane was born. It was then I realised I was part of a long chain of family members and not a solo individual. Ancestry.com makes the process very easy now - as opposed to the very slow searching of microfiche and waiting for letters of enquiry to be delivered and returned. This is important information that we both want to pass on to our grandchildren before it’s too late.

In this little flower pot I have mainly foxgloves (my favourite flower) as well as Queen Anne's Lace, snapdragons and violets. I have two big pots of foxgloves which survived two years of neglect, and in this pot I have large foxgloves, mini foxgloves and I noticed the seeds germinating as well. Rest assured, there'll not be a shortage of foxgloves.

I promised you some photos of the garden when it was finished. It’s not finished and it will be one of those gardens that never is. It will change due to the heat of summer, the requirements of shade, the botanical look and feel I want and budget constraints. As I don’t have unlimited money to buy what I want, I’ve invested in mostly long-term, hardy plants such as roses, foxgloves and salvias. I know all of them will grow well here, even during summer. I’ve also planted Buddleia (butterfly bush), Gaura, Lavender, Violets, Queen Anne’s Lace, Snapdragons, Alyssum. Most of the roses are old English heirloom roses and I have one two climbing roses and three Cecile Brunner climbing roses.

The budget constraints I mentioned above have led me to a good way to stop my spending. I am one of those gardeners who WILL buy what I love unless I make some rules for myself. So I’ve decided I can buy the plants I want but I’m not allowed to buy anymore pots. I have two plastic pots which I dislike so when the terracotta and ceramic pots are all full, that’s it …… until one becomes available if a plant dies. 😎 I think I have four terracotta pots in the bush house. But overall I’m happy with the garden. It’s not the garden I once had but it’s enough for me. This afternoon, Kerry is coming over to help me in the garden with a couple of things I can’t do and then it will be watering, weeding, cutting flowers, pruning and fertilising from then on. I’m glad I have a garden again. I always smile when I see it from the kitchen window.

I’m not sure when I’ll return but when I do I’ve have the names of the roses for you, along with photos taken in the next few weeks. Take care. xx

Let's hear it for house and yard work!!

2024-07-28T16:14:00.004+10:00

It just shows the resilience of insects and birds. The garden that Hanno used to tend, which supplied 80 percent of the vegetables we consumed, was busy with wildlife. Bees buzzed, birds came for water and nectar, kookaburras mined the compost heap for the grubs they knew were in there, and reptiles drank and sunned themselves - always out of Gracie's reach. Then nothing. There were no flowers or plants to visit, no water in the bird baths, no isolated containers collecting rainwater. I sat quietly in the garden yesterday afternoon and was so happy to see how much life there was. I didn't see any reptiles but the bees and birds were in and out, swooping and dive bombing and checking out the flowers that were there. They know there are more flowers coming and they will gracefully wait for their return. I will too!

This post will be disappointing for some of you because this is not the garden update. I still haven't finished. Everything is planted but the pots are not in the places they'll sit. Placement is the hardest thing to work out, especially as this is a flower garden and all flowers need sun. To make it more difficult, when I move the large pots - and these are holding 90 - 100kg of potting mix plus the weight of the pot, I don't want to move them again for a few years. I have to get it right. Spring will arrive in just over four weeks time so I have to place the pots where they'll sit all summer-long. Some plants, mainly the roses, can tolerate our summer sun, some can't so I'm trying to work out which plants can sit on the shaded side of larger plants. I'll get there, I just need more time to figure it out.

I got my hair cut! I think it's four years since it was cut and it was 11 inches below my shoulders. It feels so good to have it shorter again. It's much easier to wash and keep tidy and I don't get caught up in my ponytail when I'm asleep.

Last week I had a mobility assessment for my Home Care Plan. They sent a physiotherapist to assess me here at home. He did a range of tests such as having me stand and sit down as many times as I could in 30 seconds without holding on to anything. I did eight which he said was excellent! I also had to get in and out of bed, and stand in one spot and turn around in a circle. The only two I could not do were balancing on one foot and walking with one foot in front of the other - which required me to stand on one foot for a brief time. He asked me how I spend my days and I told him I'm baking, cooking, gardening, cleaning, playing with Gracie etc. just the normal stuff we all do, and he said I was well ahead of what he would expect of me at my age (76). I think the two I couldn't do are linked to my non-malignant brain tumour. It's always caused me to feel unbalanced and I think that will always be the case. So he scored me 90 percent which I'm happy with. Let's hear it for house and yard work!!

A new digital electricity meter was installed on Friday so there'll be no more people coming to read the meter. The bills keep rolling in - my Council rates notice came on Thursday so I'm making sure I keep my budget on point and always save money when I have the chance.

My sister will visit from the Blue Mountains in August and my friend Nicole Lutze will visit tomorrow for morning tea. I'm making a whole orange cake with orange cream cheese frosting. I've only got a few lemons and no oranges left on my trees so with the fruit I had in the kitchen, I just made orange and lemon cordial. It is SO delicious - MUCH better than shop-bought cordial. I also have 500ml of syrup to make lemon cordial during the week - that will be the end of the lemons. We had a lot of rain earlier in the year so the fruit was large and juicy. If you live in a warm climate, or have a warm spot in your garden, I hope you'll grow a lemon or orange tree. They're easy to look after and will give you the tastiest fruit you can imagine.

LEMON AND ORANGE CORDIAL

First, juice your fruit. If you get 2 litres of juice you'll need 2 litres of syrup.

You can use sugar syrup or weak sugar syrup, depending on your taste. I used weak syrup but if I was making lemon cordial, I'd use normal sugar syrup.

Normal sugar syrup is 1 kg sugar to 1 litre of water.
Weak sugar syrup is 500 grams sugar to 1 litre of water.

To make the syrup add the sugar to the water and boil it. When the sugar has dissolved, let it cool. Measure the amount of syrup you have and add the same amount of juice. When mixed together, bottle it and store it in the fridge. Dilute according to your taste - it will be about ¼ cordial to ¾ water.

If you end up with extra syrup, put it in a sealable jar and store it in the fridge. It will keep well and you can make your next batch of cordial with it.

You can also use honey or maple syrup but it will add that flavour to the cordial. I've never make cordial with anything but granulated sugar.

Today I'm cleaning and rearranging the back verandah. It's a real mess. It's a wonderful place to sit on a winter's afternoon and Gracie loves being out there with me. So it's a good investment of my time to make the place look and feel good. I washed the bench seat cushion covers yesterday and when they're on again, I'll finish the outdoor setting chairs, three of which still have to have their arm rests attached. Lunch will be lamb curry and rice, leftovers from the baked leg of lamb I had yesterday. I'll end my day doing my Woolworths grocery order and sending that in so they can deliver it in the morning.

I hope you have a wonderful week and enjoy the work you do for yourself and your family. xx

ADDITIONAL READING

I've been gardening but I'm not finished yet

2024-07-14T15:34:00.007+10:00

This was what my garden looked like last week, then last weekend Kerry and Jamie added the rest of the pots. I think you'll be surprised at how much is there now but you'll have to wait until next week to see it.

These are just some of the supplies I had stored in the bush house. All of them have been used now and new potting mix bought this morning.

There are two of the roses I'm growing - the pink one is called Pinky and I've forgotten the name of the other rose. I have it written down so when I present my gardening post next week, I'll have it for you along with the names of all the other roses. I have a mix of Old English roses, Floribunda bush roses and miniature roses as well as lavender, salvias, butterfly bush, gaura and pelargonium.

I thought I'd be writing about gardening in this post but I'm not ready to present the garden to you yet. It's taken me much longer than I thought it would because I've lost a lot of my strength. After I do a couple of things, I have to sit down. I'm using a walking stick when I'm walking on the grass now ☹️ and that's slowing down much of what I'm doing. I ran out of potting mix yesterday so this morning I went to the local farmers' co-op to pick up another six 30 kg bags. They were loaded into my car and after driving home, I've only managed to get two of them out. I'm using my trusty green plastic trolley that I used to declutter the house last year. I can lift a bag out of the boot and let it fall into the trolley (difficult), then wheel the trolley through the garage to the clothes line (easy), then wheel it over the grass to where all the pots are (difficult). And the icing on the cake is then I have to sit down for ten minutes to recover! grrrr. Apart from all of that, I'm enjoying the process and I only have the smaller pots to deal with now. I think it'll look lovely when it's finished.

She's watching her bedding dry.

Gracie and I are doing well. I've just brought her bedding and blankets in after washing them so she'll be wrapped up warmly tonight. The temperatures have dropped and although it's not as cold here as it is in southern Australia, it's dropping to 6 or 7 or 8 every night this week. I'm warm in my bed because I have an electric blanket and two doonas! LOL yes, two, otherwise my feet get cold.

I did my fruit and vegetable shopping at the local roadside stall this week. I love it there. They sell produce from local growers and backyards, much of it is organic or chemical-free and all of it is fresher than the fare at Woolworths.

I made a madeira cake, aka pound cake, through the week. I used my little bread loaf tin and baked a really tasty cake. Here is the recipe I used. If you haven't made one of these cakes before, it's a different texture to a normal cake or a sponge, it's heavier than both of them but it moist and full of flavour. I used a light icing made with plain icing sugar and orange juice. It would be a good cake for lunchboxes.

I've heard terrible things about the weather across the US, I hope you've not been in the areas of extreme heat, storms or floods. I hope the time you've had at home has been comforting and productive. Have you baked a cake this week? Or maybe you've been sewing or preserving. Let me know what you're up to.

❤️ 😊 ❤️

ADDITIONAL READING

A week in wildlife

‘Africa’s most resilient lion’ and his brother filmed making 1.5km swim across dangerous African river

Self sufficiency vlog

Rose syrup and garden vegies

I've been cooking and gardening - what's new!

2024-07-01T15:58:00.004+10:00

I've been enjoying winter meals over the past couple of weeks - pea and ham soup, Swedish meatballs with cabbage and potatoes, curried chicken and others winter warmers. One of the meals I still enjoy is a Sunday roast lunch. I grew up eating them, yes, EVERY week, but when I had my own family, it was more like twice a month. However, I did want to continue eating roast pork, chicken or roast lamb after Hanno died but initially I couldn't work out how to get around the large pieces of meat. I'd never eat it all even if I made a second meal of curry or a pie. But now, I buy pork belly and cut it into four pieces before I freeze it. A quarter of pork belly does me well for two meals, one roasted and one cut up in bite sized pieces, salted and served with a little leftover gravy the next day. The beef roast I do now is beef fillet. It is expensive but I like how there absolutely no waste. I carefully cut my fillet into four pieces between 2½ and 3 inches long, freeze three of them and roast the first one. Delicious! I usually have some left over for the following day which I slice thinly and have as a roast beef, mustard and lettuce sandwich.

This is what the garden looks like now.

My main task has been to get my garden growing. I've had all the old vegetable gardens removed but I just can't give up gardening so I'm creating a floral container garden. I'm mainly growing roses with a couple of foxgloves, a new double lavender recently bred in Australia, buddleia - the butterfly bush, Texmax pelargonium which I'm growing for the colour, two blueberry bushes, Johnny Jump ups (violets), alyssum and several old English roses. I have climbing roses on the lattice and fence behind the containers and I think it will look lovely when they're all growing well. Kerry and Jamie came over yesterday and helped me move pots, potting mix, mulch, pine bark and odd and ends to the garden so it would be easier for me to set everything up. I'm so lucky to have the family I have.

These are some of the old rose pots and new plants just bought.

The new outdoor setting waiting for their armrests.

I bought a small outdoor setting because the old table collapsed after 30 years on the job. It looks good but it came as a flat pack and I had to put it together. 🤨 I'd never done that before but I got through most of it and now I only have to add the arm rests to the last three chairs and it will be done. I'll enjoy sitting out there in the afternoons tending the garden and enjoying time outdoors in the fresh air.

I don’t watch a lot of TV, I prefer premium YouTube where I watch a variety of interesting programs with no advertising. Bliss! Lately I've been watching Wocomocook - a wonderful program about food and people all over the European countryside. It’s encouraging and inspiring to see people living lives connected to each other and the land. They milk cows, make ice cream with the milk and the cloudberries growing in the forests; they make bread, jam and chutney, pancakes, and cheese. I watched cakes, stews and drinks being made that I’ve never seen before. It shows a lifestyle of productivity and optimism, something similar to the way Hanno used to live. I’m continuing on with a small snippet of what I used to do but watching Wocomocook is enough to keep me interested in a productive life and moving forward.

Thank you for visiting me here today. I'll be back in a week or two with photos of the new garden. Take care of yourself and take care. xx

ADDITIONAL READING

A loan until death: what happens when your mortgage outlives your career?

Big Scioty, with clogging

Almost 2,000 children die every day from air pollution, report finds

On winter solstice the oranges on my tree reach their peak

My neurotic dog Tully doesn’t like change. This reminded me of Gracie.

The brown bears are back at Brooks Falls. Many of you know I love watching the brown bears catching salmon at Brooks Falls in Alaska. They came back this week and will continue eating until it's time to hibernate later in the year. If you haven't seen them, it's worth a click.