weird food

We've long had self-sufficiency on our radar and now we've got a chance to work a little of it into our lives.  We wanted to simplify, so we got rid of half of our possessions.  It seems like we still have lots of stuff, but this isn't just minimalism, it's urban homesteading.  We had to keep a few things, like a garden hose.  We wanted to spend less time shopping and more time cultivating the food forest.

The food forest is planted, first with apples, peaches, raspberries, kale, and the like.  Now we're moving into territory I don't remember at Save-On-Foods:

Behold, the medlar.

We're diversifying our garden, and also our meals.  The medlar is known for being under-ripe until it's rotten, a process known as bletting.  One sample looks a little soft on the corner.  It's almost ready.  We haven't tasted it yet.  I'm a little scared.

My husband was digging in the food forest and he extracted another new-to-me food, a Jerusalem Artichoke, also known as a Sunchoke.

I chopped it up and roasted it.  It tastes starchy and sweet, like a nutty potato.  

We also grow things that many people can identify, yet they don't have the faintest idea how to eat them.  "What do you use those for, jack-o-lanterns?"

"No, we eat them."

Stay tuned, more wierdness to come!

alien growths

They say kids these days don't know where their food comes from.  They've never seen a farm or a garden, only commercials.
"It comes from the store!"

I thought I was pretty versed in the basics.  I knew that chicken, the meat, came from chicken, the animal, and probably from a farm.  Yesterday, I was out wandering the food forest (the backyard garden) when I saw for the first time...

Brussel sprouts growing!  I had no idea they looked like that.  Last time we planted brussel sprout seeds, cabbages came up.  I think there was a mix-up at Seedy Saturday.  

It's one of those vegetables that you either love or hate, but I enjoy them and I'm looking forward to trying them out.

lovely cabbage

She came from the cabbage patch.  I feel like this is a good environment to bring her up in.

Somehow I ended up dragging her in a lap around the mall a couple weeks ago.  I was looking for boots (for myself).  I never found what I wanted, I'm so particular.  I felt bad, that I didn't want her to spend too much of her childhood getting trained to consume, so I got her back to the garden as soon as I could.

It always seems easier to shop than say, make saurkraut, but I swear it's worth it.  Tonight, I finally pummelled that cabbage into a jar with some salt and caraway seeds.  Now it's covered in water.  Wish me luck on the ferment.

Dreaming of Griswold

The last of the Christmas lights came down today.  In the end, for safety reasons, we ripped them down.

blogger's remorse

I asked the writer if she had any advice for writing.

"You need to have something to say.  Writers are very opinionated.  If you don't have anything to say there isn't much point in writing it down... Oh, and keep a journal!"

one thing at a time

Sometimes I think I'll check the last item off my to-do list and then expire.  I've always enjoyed a good list and I like to travel with a notepad for jotting down inspired thoughts and to-do lists.  Now I'm experimenting with the zen art of doing one thing at a time.

I went to the library, took home a pile of books on simplicity, and then sifted through them.  I ended up settling on one of the quieter ones, 'The Power of Less" by Leo Babauta.  The book describes how to simplify everything, including one's goals or tasks.  This will improve productivity.

The idea is to take that to do list and pick the most important thing on it.  Do that thing, only that thing.  Maybe start a new list with that item only.  I tried it.

-prepare eulogy

I have a long standing joke that I wanted to create a eulogy for myself, some kind of interactive celebration of life complete with pyrotechnics and maybe even a surprise ("I'm not really dead!").  That is a job that comes with plenty of time to get around to, but we had a death in the family and I was tasked with writing a eulogy for someone else.

I still had to work, and look after my kid, and keep house, but when I found myself wondering what to do I just went back to my main task.  I became immersed in it.  I didn't do anything else and it went pretty good in the end.

I felt less stressed, even though there was grief around me.  Now I can find something else to focus on, having taken a short break.  I'll choose a new item from the list.

What is one thing you can focus on, and put everything else aside?

death

Life is so short.

After the purge: better stuff.

Sometimes minimalism just feels like another form of consumerism.

fewer cars

We sold the Smart.  After 9 years it only had 58,000 kms on it.  I mostly ride my bike. Now we only have one spare set of tires in the workshop.  This also created the opportunity to purge the pink breast-cancer-awareness miniature ice scraper.

the void

It's getting harder to document the big purge.  I'm getting rid of things so fast now that the stuff is gone before I remember to even photograph it.  I began as a minimalist by following the advice to 'get rid of fifty things'.  Fifty is a joke.  I am certain that I've purged hundreds, if not thousands of items.

The void left behind by removed clutter creates space full of pure potential energy.  It's inspiring!  What will I do will this space?  It's important to avoid shopping after a purge.  The compulsion to shop never fully goes away but I believe the best plan is to shop slowly.  If one must shop, just browse, don't buy anything yet.  Treat it like breathing.  Slow the breath, don't stop breathing.  There isn't much point in getting rid of all the clutter if one is only going to replace it with newer nicer clutter.

So here I am, sitting alone in an empty white room contemplating.  Also, to simplify my life I don't use electronic devices after eight pm so I'll bid you goodnight.

Carry water, chop wood.

During enlightenment, unload the dishwasher, load the dishwasher.

maximalist minimalist

Is it okay to customize a gift?  Today I altered a set of red printed harem pants.  I let out the waistband and took in the ankles.  It is so convenient to be one's own tailor.  I adjusted them to my specifications.

I remember grimacing at tapered legs in my teen years.  Now I can predict the fashion future.  Whatever it is that we wouldn't be caught dead in now is what we will be wearing in the near future.

The pants are bohemian, bordering on piratey.  I think that it is safe to say that I won't be noted as wearing the latest trend.  In my own mind, I'm always one step ahead.  In other people's minds... well, other people are probably worried about their own problems and not thinking about my red pants.  Until now!

I've been reading Jennifer L. Scott's Madam Chic books and thinking about her ten item wardrobe concept.  All of this purging of possessions has gotten me almost to the point of having a ten-item wardrobe.  I love the idea of a uniform,  maybe not the same one every day, but just a few outfits.  I don't need fifty different ways of mixing and matching.  I know what to wear; I know who I am.

If I only have ten articles of clothing and these pants constitutes one item that means I'll be wearing them often.  People are going to think...  whatever it is they usually think about.

new business

I'm not taking on any new projects. I'm finishing all of the old ones, one at a time. When I'm finished I will be purified.

Help!

I'm an heiress.

the quilt

I've been so sick since boxing day.  Some kind of laryngitis with a nagging cough.  I haven't been able to do much, but I was able to finish my quilt.  I sat on the couch and sewed the last stitch.

I made it for free.  All the fabric and thread were given to me by family and friends and I borrowed the tools that I didn't have.  Here you have it.  My first (and likely last) quilt!