Slow Living Essentials - September

Linking up with Christine for Slow Living Essentials - September

"Join me as I reflect over the past month and various achievements I have made along the way as I strive to lead a more conscious, slower life.  As always, you are very welcome to join in - just leave a link to your own blog post at the bottom of this page and enjoy sharing your reflections with like minded people. Have a great October out there, everyone!"

{Nourish}
Trying to make as many of the after school snacks as I can.   I like muffins, they are so quick and easy, and it's so simple to vary the flavors.

Blueberry

{Prepare}

The temperatures have dropped here so I'm enjoying cooking up big pots of stews and soups.  My old and faithful pot has taken retirement as her one remaining handle looks set to break at any time she's full of hot liquid and I've treated myself to a lovely new cast-iron one, in red!

Moroccan Couscous

There has also been some serious jamming going on around here - red & black currant, apricot & vanilla and rhubarb & ginger...

... and of the savory kind - mint & almond pesto

{Reduce}
I've made the decision to take apart my 'shalom'!  I think I've only ever worn it twice since making it as it's just not comfortable.  I payed quite a bit for the Noro yarn so it seems a waste to have it sitting in the closet. I'm planning on making this with it.

so long shalom!!  you just don't fit right!

{Green}
Found a great borax free washing powder recipe over on My Healthy Green Family and have been using it for the past month without complaint.  Previously I had make laundry detergent with borax which I had to buy online.  The postage was the same price as the borax, making the whole enterprise more expensive than organic store bought detergent. I have also been soaking lemons rinds in white vinegar for 3 weeks then cutting the infused mix half and half with pure white vinegar and a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil, as an all purpose cleaner.
{Grow}

For the first time since we built the house ten years ago, a tree just beside the chicken coop, produced fruit.
The hens (which we got this spring) often scratch and peck (and I guess poo) around the base of it, could there be a link?  I was a bit wary as to wether the fruits were edible at first but the kids told me not to worry they'd been eating them for days!!!
Our other plum trees produced delicious fruit also

{Create}
Making good progress on Tino's Fire Truck Sweater, using for the first time, the Intarsia technique for the color work.

{Discover}
In my last Slow Living Essentials post I extolled the virtues of my new toy - Kindle, but it has also revealed a 'dark' side of myself which i didn't think existed - Impulse Buying!!! Normally I procrastinate for weeks before actually purchasing something and nine times out of ten I talk myself out of wanting it altogether.  But this instant download thing, got me hook line and sinker.  I now have 17 books on my Kindle, bought in the space of three months!
{Enhance}
Maybe this should come under {Prepare} but wood stacking seems so much more than just preparing for the winter.  I took my camera for a stroll around the village last week just to take pictures of wood piles!! I love the care and attention that people put into staking their wood, it's feels like some kind of last, ultimate reverence to this precious gift before burning it.

{Enjoy}
The little people went back to school at the beginning of the month so I've been enjoying some slightly more challenging hikes with Richard.  We did quite a few easy hikes with the boys this summer, and we were glad to see they enjoyed the activity as much as we do.  This is something we plan on doing a lot more of together in the future.

Col du Brevent

Plan de l'Aiguille

Looking forward to reading what you've been up to in September.

Yarn Along - a bit off colour

My embroidery needs a bit of practice (Richi couldn't even tell it was meant to be a smirking mouth) but other than that I'm very happy about how The Eyes Have It Beanie turned out.  Granted it's not the correct shade of yellow, but until my neice's boyfriend pointed this out, no-one had noticed!!

Tino loves it...

My christmas knitting has now become my take-along project as my ripple blanket has gotten too big.  It enjoyed it's first hike on sunday...

someone very kindly left this knitting cubby in the woods

but it had such noisy neighbors!

Tino - "is this blueberry land?"
any guesses what we've been reading this week?

On the grown up front I'm enjoying the latest edition of Taproot.  

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along

What are you knitting and reading?

Yarn Along - Puppy Love

As of last week I have twin boys in my care two days a week.  On their very first day with me I took them for a walk to discover the village.  Unnoticed by me, one of them dropped his 'blankie' en route and I only realized  when we arrived home.  We backtracked and asked everyone we met but 'doudou' had vanished!!!  Gee I felt bad!!  So to try and make amends I made them one each of these Puppy Dog Lovely Blankets.  I couldn't find the necessary tool to make the holes around the edge to crochet a border so I just left that bit out.  

Tino has now requested one, pillow case size. I think I can do that!

My christmas knitting has taken a bit of back seat of late but it's still advancing, slowly! 

Nothing new to show on Tino's fire truck sweater.  I'm hoping to start the Intarsia work tonight so I'll have something a bit more colorful to share next week.

Still reading Last Child In The Woods.  Great book so far.

Linking up with Ginny for Yarn Along

You Should See The Other Guy!!!

Just kiddin.  He hasn't been in the ring, but at the skate park, where if you peddle your bike at the right speed and hit the rubbish bin at the right angle, it flips it's lid.  However, miscalculate one of the above variables, you mess your face up!!

Yarn Along - Hitchhiker

I finished my Hitchhiker a few days ago and am rather pleased with the way it turned out.  I'm sure it's going to get lots of use this winter.

I knit it on 4 mm needles with thicker yarn than the pattern suggested and ended up with only 37 'teeth' due to running out of yarn, but it's still plenty big enough.  Great thing about a scarf is that it doesn't really have to fit, as such.  Which is more than can be said for sweaters.

I cast on Tino's  Fire Truck Sweater according to the pattern for age 6 but it came out very very wide.  So I downsized by .5 mm but it still looked too big.  So now I'm making an age 4 (he'll be 5 in October) and still using .5 mm smaller needles.  I think it will fit him just right now.  If it comes out too big he won't wear it and I figured there's no point it sitting in a draw waiting for him to grow into it, chances are his fire truck obsession will have worn off by then!

On my Kindle I'm reading Last Child In The Woods.  I'm only on chapter 1 and what an eye opener it is.  As expected  computers, television, mobile phones etc are given as  reasons why children are spending less and less time outside, but another reason, that fortunately we don't experience here, is  that children are not being 'permitted' to play out side.  It's not so much the parents who sanction kids play but it's groups such as 'home owners associations' who are increasingly regulating outside play to the extent that it no longer resembles play.  Climbing trees, spontanious ball games and other such classic forms of 'unstructued' entertainment are NO NO in a growing number of places!!  Well I didn't see that one coming.  I'm eager to find out what the rest of the reasons are.
My wee lads have also been getting creative these past few days.  My mother-in-law turned 70 on saturday and with a little help from us big people, they made her this little keep sake

Here they are hard at work.  I'm so proud of them, not only for making this but for keeping 'mum' about the surprise party we organized for her with all her brothers and sister, children and grand children.

Linking up with Ginny today for Yarn Along

Garden Goings On

photo by Rémi,  age 8 yrs.

Which ever way I turn, there's always something ripe and ready to be picked at the moment!

The spinach has bowed out gracefully and left centre stage to beans, courgette, potato, lettuce and peas.

little hands make light work!

A whole family of Butternut squash are flourishing out the back of the house while their Potimarron 'Vert Kabosha' cousins seem to have found their niche in amongst the leeks.

This little lot...

... got made into these...

while this little bunch of spinach, mint, parsley and carrot tops, thrown in for the last 5 mins of cooking time, turned a simple pan of green lentils into a tasty supper sensation!

I'm not sure if the corn will have time to ripen into anything worth eating.  No matter, I love watching it sway in the breeze, these three seem almost synchronized!
Next year I will plant more and keep it undercover until it is standing strong.

Tino's cherry tomato plant produces two or three ripe ones every couple of days.  One each for him and his chicken loves!

Ah, the simple things in life! A flourishing garden, a few pots of loveliness to greet meet each morning...

... and send me off to sleep at night.

Sweet Dreams.

Slow Living Essentials 2013 - July

A monthly review as we make our way towards living a slower, more meaningful life.

It' my first time sharing over at Slow Living Essentials, I'm very excited!  Hope I do everything right!   Here goes...
July, it's been a gloriously warm month, in fact the hottest in France for years.  We spent a wonderful first week of the month in Wales, visiting family and friends and learning new tricks.  After drinking rather more coffee that usual during our stay, on returning home, I decided to give it up.  It never occurred to me to do it progressively, cutting down a little each day.  I just stopped.  My goodness, the cold turkey was horrendous.  I would liken it to a five day flu.  I'm now fully caffeine free and have no intention of ever going back to being a coffee drinker.

{NOURISH}
As ever we strive to eat as healthy, natural and as homemade as possible.  I have my favorite stalls at the market who sell good quality seasonal produce, but at the moment have little use for them as the garden is blooming.  Is there anything more satisfying than a quick trip out to the veggi patch and chicken coop to forage for the lunch time meal?

spinach ,basil and new potato fritta (with a bit of left over salami and feta)

I just love spinach, even if a huge sink full of it shrinks into a ridiculously tiny lump when cooked. I like to think of it as concentrated goodness!  And anyway it grows back so very quickly.

Spinach and goats cheese pasties

{PREPARE}
All my jamming and canning supplies are being stock piled, just a question of time before the raw goods ripen.  I'm hoping to get started later in the coming week.  For beans I much prefer freezing to canning.  Also started drying and freezing (ice-cube method) herbs for use in the winter.

Granola and Natalie's Sandwich Spread

{REDUCE}
Richard's mother recently gifted us this desk, now third hand.  To which Richard remarked - "it totally matches the rest of our stuff, that's all second hand as well".  I like furniture with a history!

Doesn't he look handsome in his new glasses.  They are making reading so much easier for him. 

He got a blue pair too!

{GREEN}
After reading one of the many wonderful articles on Fresh Eggs Daily I have been tending my chickens with fresh herbs.  Will used the dried versions this winter.  Mint in their water to keep them cool and also the coop to keep it smelling fresh(ish), oregano as it's a natural antibiotic, parsley and nasturtium (also a natural wormer) as laying stimulants, basil and alfalfa for deeper colored yolks and cilantro for general health.   I also crush up their empty egg shells and mix it into their food, or sprinkle it around plants that seem to be particularly appetizing to slugs!

{GROW}

BASIL!!! nothing short of a miracle for me.  

I'm somewhat of a serial killer when it comes to basil.  I'm barely able to keep a plant alive the time it takes to get it home from the market.  So until this year I'd never entertained the idea of actually growing my own. Imagine my surprise when it grew!     

{CREATE}

My current creative endeavors can be seen here, but today I wanted to share with you a little something my s.i.l has made using a shopping bag and and old long sleeved t-shirt (modeled by Richi)

{DISCOVER}

Despite my original reluctance to buy a Kindle, I'm discovering lots of reason to like it.  We have only a very small english language section in the library here and can't order books.  I can read in french but it's not the same, it necessitates far more effort and doesn't feel like relaxation at the end of the day.   I do belong to a english speaking book club, which is sort of like a mini library in that everyone brings along a selection of books to present to the other members, which are then loaned out to whom ever wants them.  I always come away from a book club evening with a good selection of books, but there always seem to be a particular title I want to read that nobody has!  Amazon serves me well for this as we don't have an english language book store here, but to avoid paying 6€ postage for a single book I tend to spend over 20€ to get free postage.  With Kindle,  the book is cheaper (although not always by very much) and I can just buy one at a time.  All this said, given the choice I much prefer turning the pages of a printed book.

{ENHANCE}

For the first time in many years, I didn't help out with the monumental task of catering for the village party.  I felt a wee bit guilty but everyone seemed to get adequately feed and watered without my culinary skills.   No one is irreplaceable as they say!  I have however volunteered to work in the runners restaurant during the weekend of the Mont Blanc Ultra Trail at the end of august.  

{ENJOY}

As we live in the mountains the boys don't get to spent much time in the sea.  So when we go to Wales the kids go crazy for the water, even when it's only at 13°.  Tino, who has a nasty eczema flare up when he comes into contact with chlorine thus can't go to the swimming pool, was especially excited at being able to get  throughly wet.

At a local market I found a wonderful cream by Beelief Botanics, locally made by an australian lady.  Since using it his skin is a smooth and soft as a four year olds should be.

They had a blast learning a new sport!

The rest of our days were spent hiking and fishing...

...(and our evenings too!)

Phew! that's the longest post I've ever written. 

Looking forward to reading about everyone else's slow living in July.