Slow Living :: February

My monthly update of the little ways that I am living more slowly, simply and sustainably.
More links to Slow Living updates over at Slow Living Essentials.

FEBRUARY

{nourish} Eating loads of fresh veggies from the garden. Also stealing just a little bit of honeycomb from the lids of our beehives - mmm! I'm also making a weekly batch of toasted muesli as I've realised how much sugar is in a serve of even the healthier breakfast cereal options from the supermarket (at least 2 teaspoons generally) - not how I want my kids starting the day! 

{prepare} My tomatoes are finally ripening - there's couple of kilo's that have been accumulating on the kitchen bench over the past week so it might be time to make some tomato sauce tomorrow.

{reduce} Snapping up some op shop bargains here and there...

{green} The hot weather this summer has been causing me to develop a bit of heat rash on my neck. After trying a few different commercial products, I've discovered that plain old coconut oil is wonderful for soothing the itchiness.

{grow} In the garden we're harvesting sweetcorn, tomatoes, cucumbers (what to do with them all?), rocket, spinach, basil, kale, zucchini's and nicola potatoes. I've also planted some more brassicas plus some spring onions and leeks - and this time I've netted that section of the garden to keep the pesky satin bowerbirds from scratching them up! I also need to get some carrot seeds sown asap!

{create} A couple of sewing projects have been started (more on these soon) and lots of browsing Ravelry for knitting inspiration. Sadly, I also unravelled the garter cardigan that I started last winter, as I realised halfway through that I didn't have enough yarn. I have a new project planned for this lovely cashmerino yarn though.

{discover} A GREAT discovery this month, which has significantly improved my life! A friend referred my to the website Simpleology after I was telling her about an interesting book I'd started reading, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity by David Allen. The gist of the book is how important it is to have a system for writing down everything that is swimming around in your head, not just appointments and deadlines but every little thing you need or want to get done (eg. turn the compost, finish sewing skirt), in order to be able to feel calm and relaxed (not something I'm very good at!). After using the Simpeology site (which is free) for a couple of weeks I really feel like it's making a difference to how I feel - I can actually relax more knowing that everything is listed somewhere and I don't have to worry about remembering anything. And each morning I can simply review which tasks I want to get done that day... it all feels rather strangely efficient!

{enhance} Still working on compiling information for the North East Local Produce Guide.

{enjoy} We went to see Cirque du Soliel this month - absolutely amazing! I've been also enjoying doing a bit of sewing and ordering some lovely yarns for the knitting projects I have planned. I also did my first fun run last weekend - 5km in just under half an hour - I'm quite proud of myself!

{breathe} Reading, gardening, going to the gym. Do need to make more effort to get to bed earlier though...