Slow Living :: March

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.

MARCH

{nourish} With the arrival of some cooler days, soup is back on the menu - pumpkin, broccoli & zucchini, corn chowder... Best of all the kids love it! Plus it's great to be able to make a big batch and pop some in the freezer.

{prepare} Not so peachy in the preserving department here! I harvested several kilos of peaches from a roadside tree, however my decision to poach the peaches to remove the skins wasn't entirely successful (despite the pretty pictures). The skins slipped off only the perfectly ripe peaches, while the rest weren't at all cooperative. Then, after leaving the covered bowl of peeled peaches in the fridge for a couple of hours, I discovered that all the exposed surfaces had gone brown. Not so pretty! By the end of the day I only ended up with 3 fowlers jars of fruit. Next year I'll be trying a different approach!

{reduce} My revamp of an old daggy bookcase was a great success... in fact I was so inspired that I picked up a few more pieces of 2nd hand furniture to refurbish in the coming months.

{grow} The garden is still providing us with tomatoes, zucchinis, carrots and plenty of greens. The winter veggies are coming along nicely and I've just planted a big patch of garlic. Hubby has also been building some fences so that we'll have several small paddocks to allow us to rotationally graze our small flock of sheep.

{create} It's actually been a pretty crafty month around here!
I made a couple of cushion covers from two fat quarters of the my favourite Bird Textiles print, Vine Leaves in Red. I'm so sad that Bird Textiles have now closed their studio doors and their beautiful products are no longer available.
On my needles a Fluted Cowl is in progress. I'm in love with the Berocco Ultra Alpaca yarn that I'm using - so cozy and soft and the silvery grey colour is really lovely and should go with anything.
Best of all I finally had a go at screenprinting for the handprinted fabric swap, which was so much fun! I can't wait to do some more designing and printing!
There's also a few sewing projects I've started on... more about those soon.

{discover} I've discovered a couple of lovely magazines this month, both with a focus on simple living, sustainabilty, handmade and homemade: The Simple Things, a UK publication, and Good, from New Zealand. I do love curling up with a good magazine!

{enhance} I arranged a produce swap in our little community a couple of weeks ago. In a small community like ours it's such an easy thing to do - send around an email, pop a poster on the community noticeboard, and provide a table on the day. With the abundance of autumn some people brought along whole boxes of tomatoes, pears, and cucumbers to share. I feel very lucky to have access to so much fresh, local-grown food.

{enjoy} Weekend trips with friends (here, here and here) have been a highlight this month. Plus our little overnight trip for our wedding anniversary.

{breathe} Enjoying the early autumn sunshine and warm weather, lighting the fire on the first cool evening, walking barefoot in the garden, a slow coffee and a read at the corner cafe.