New Beginnings

Almost two years to the day since my last blog post. I wonder where that time has gone and what we have achieved.

My vegetable gardens were pretty much disastrous - turns out I have a brown thumb and caring for a wee baby and a vege plot trying to cope with 40 degree days did not work out. I will try again though and I have planted out the back gardens again. I have several tomato plants from my dad together with two that grew themselves (and they are the healthiest looking tomato plants I have ever had). I have put in a few cucumbers, capsicum, strawberry plants, parsley, oregano and some Garlic Chives from Mum which I can't wait to try in my potato bake.

The worms in the worm farm died (or were set free by some young backyard explorers), so it has been set up again this time on the back verandah. I have started with 1200 worms. Apparently, 1000 worms per family member are required to keep up with food scraps - that is 6000 worms. Might give backyard composting a go again to try and keep up. I hate throwing food scraps in the bin when I know there are alternatives.

I have been thinking a lot over the past few months about what I want to achieve this year for myself, my family and community. I think a lot of the past two years I procrastinated or didn't do things (such as the vege patch and planting) because I really wanted to move the family to an acreage where I thought we could lead a "simpler life". Turns out we really would be better off staying put. Three of my four boys attend school and are heavily involved in sports. I myself teach scrapbooking and cardmaking classes and my hubby works fulltime in town. Most of our days would be spent driving back and forth and not living the ideal vision in my head.

Much better to stay where we are, start growing some of our food, reduce our electricity usage, reduce use of the car, buy secondhand where possible and start living my vision now instead of waiting for that mythical block in the country. There is so much we can do now that really I lose track so I am hoping writing here will help me focus and define what I really want and how to get there.

So yes, dear blog I am committing to writing here once a week (gotta be realisitic here) and working towards refining my vision of our simple life and getting busy with the many projects bubbling away in my mind.