Worth the wait...

Well, we're halfway through the summer holidays now and have been busy bees, hardly having time to blog at all.

We've finally got around to doing 2 things that have been on my list since Mr J moved down to Bath....
First we visited the Roman Baths ( local residents can actually get in for free with a discovery card).
We spent the morning wandering around like tourists, but surprisingly took few photos, as we knew we could come back again whenever we felt like it!!

The other was to visit a local wood and find the Waterfall. I'd never visited Greyfield Wood before, we are lucky enough to have so many wonderful woods to walk around here, but friend had told me of the waterfall so we were intrigued.

The map gave no indication of a waterfall at all so we set off to explore.....

It was definitely worth the wait!!! We climbed the rocks to the top of the waterfall and ate our picnic.

A new blog!!!!!!

An idea hit me the other day to start a new blog, recording our changes towards the simple life! Please pop over to read it and let me know what you think!!!

I'll be posting the self sufficiency and simple living stuff there from now on and keep this one for other stuff, or maybe do both!!! ... bear with me till i decide!!

Celebrating simple traditions - Candlemas Day

Looking out at the frosts today and predicted snow its hard to think that Winter will soon be over yet in pre-Christian times, Feb 2 was a day of celebration known as the "Festival of Lights." Coming midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, it heralded the coming of spring.

Candles were lit to symbolize the return of the sun and lengthening days after the long months of winter darkness. Called Imbolc in Celtic cultures, this day marked the beginning of lambing season, and according to folkloric tradition, the initial stirrings of seeds in the earth.

The holiday is a festival of the hearth and home, and a celebration of the lengthening days and the early signs of spring. Rituals often involve hearthfires, special foods, divination or simply watching for omens (whether performed in all seriousness or as children's games), a great deal of candles, and perhaps an outdoor bonfire if the weather permits.

So tonight we will fill the house with candles and celebrate Candlemas!!!

Living without a refridgerator Challenge - one month on

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a while, the last two weeks have been awful. I've had a few personal problems and aswell as having to focus all my efforts on finding a job (unlucky so far) i've had my dream of keeping chickens here cruely snatched away from me. Breaking it to the children that we had to cancel our trip to colllect them broke my heart!

Today marks a whole month of living without a refridgerator..... have we missed it?

NOT AT ALL!!

We've been coping by keeping chilled goods in a keepcool and chilling it with iceblocks or recycled plastic bottles of frozen water that we change morning and evening.

Over the month i've learnt that

I need to keep my milk covered - smells seem to transfer easier in a confined space.
I should cut cheese into portion sizes when I buy it and then freeze them so we only defrost a couple of days worth at a time to use.


We haven't had to throw away any food from the cool box, you know exactly whats in there! I often threw spoiled food awy from the fridge as I had forgotten it was in there.
I don't put leftovers into the coolbox, i box them up and freeze them straight away.
Fresh vegetables have been kept in a vegetable rack and used within a couple of days with little or no wastage ( I started shopping at a market stall and served by the stall holder not sure if i bought damaged beg or not). I'll be monitoring this and looking for better places to keep these.

Steps I have taken this week towards more simple living:-
The children have walked to school 4 out of 5 days
I have cut back on hours at school to re balance my work / home life
I have turned off a freezer and removed it from the kitchen

How to use Soap Nuts

A while back I bought some soap nuts. I've used them in my washing machine as a laundry cleaner* but knew they were capable of so much more....

* Tie 4-6 soap nut shells in a muslin bag (provided with most soap nuts orders) and put it in the washing machine load at a desired temperature. You can use the same pouch for 4 to 6 loads of laundry. When the shells become grayish and mushy, they are ready to be replaced and added to your compost. My next step in replacing commercial products is to use them as a dishwashing liquid.

Dishwashing Liquid Recipe

To make the liquid, boil 100g of soap nuts in 12 cups of water for approximately 30 minutes. Cool the liquid, remove the shells, and your liquid soap is ready! Storing the liquid in an air tight container helps it to keep longer. Because there are no added chemicals in soap nuts liquid, it can go bad after some time, depending on the storing conditions. You can use this liquid for washing the dishes or even use 3 tbsp for a large load of laundry.
This liquid can then be used as castilles soap in other recipes such as towards sutainabilities recipe here or melissas here

The Journey to Simplicity

P at St Fagans

Last Autumn we visited the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans in Wales, It had an amazing impact on me. For those of you who haven't heard of it, they have a collection of houses throughout the ages from all over Wales rebuilt in the grounds ( taken apart brick by brick on location, numbered and reassembled there!) There is an amazing amount of interesting buildings there but what hit me most was how simply everyone lived, 1 room, fireplace, bed and vegetables growing in the garden. It was so peaceful. I ran home wanting to rid myself of all the 'junk' I had accumilated, rid myself of the 'things' I didn't need.

Pig Sty

We decluttered and freecycled. I gave away 2 of the TVs and watched alot less on the remaining 2!!! We did what I saw was what we could do ''whilst we lived here" and made plans for greater changes we would make "when we move" We are not moving imminently though, it will take us 2 - 5 years to save and find our next house, it will be simpler, possibly smaller but with more land.

Veg Garden St Fagans

I realised recently that although somethings are best saving till we move, solar panels, recycling grey water into toilets etc, other things we were just using 'the move' as an excuse. So from now we will live the life we can whilst we are here.

Big House, St Fagans

P has already quit working for others and started his own business, I have started to retrain to work in schools. Even though we will still have to 'go to work to pay the bills' our days will be more fulfilling and our hours more family freindly. My flock of chickens will have to wait but I am currently exploring the possibility of keeping 3 bantams here in the back garden. We have stopped buying shop bread and have learnt how to use the timer on our bread machine meaning I come downstairs to the beautiful smell of fresh bread in he morning!

Stop putting off living the life you want, waiting for the time to be right - start living it now!!

What dreams are you putting off that you might be able to start the journey on today?