Content or Malcontent???

i have just returned from a week in the Philippines, working at Rehoboth Children's Home, the orphanage our kids come from.  

every time i leave that country i leave a little part of my heart behind

for the children who deserve a home

for a land that has natural beauty beyond compare

and a people who have learned to be content

and i return to a country where

what we have is never enough

the competition to be better is always driving us

and family life is fit around our personal commitments and not what is best for our children.

i have been challenged yet again to simplify my life .... too much junk in my head, heart and life!

and it runs even deeper .... with each step we take on our path and journey that is "this life" we should be becoming better people, truer to the goals and ideals that we have.  i know my ideals are not selfishness, waste and disrespect for this amazing world .... and yet, it is easy to slip into that selfish mindset.

far too easy.

a dear filipino friend shared with me about their people, "see ... we do not have much, and yet we are a content people."  they have learned to live life each day and embrace that and not worry about tomorrow.

i am envious of that.  in all my faith and belief in our Creator God, my sinful human side knows that i do not live my life that way often enough.  that i let the selfishness of each day wrap me up in its claws ... the tentacles of wanting more and having excess shroud me heavily.  

i would love to have that stripped away.  to truly live a simple life that embraces each moment.

are you content with what you have or malcontent in wanting more than you need?

i am honest enough to admit that more often than not i am malcontent .... but, by the grace of our Creator God, i learn each day to be a bit more content .... because HE is sufficient for me.

... for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.
I know what it is to be in need,
and i know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation,

whether well fed or hungry,

whether living in plenty or in want.

I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Philippians 4:11-13

Selah.

Phase One: the physical declutter!

for those of you who read this blog as an adventure in sustainable gardening .... you will have to forgive me for what may seem a tangent at this moment in time.

it's easy to think about all the healthy stuff that you are growing and how good it is going to be for your family.  but right now, because our lives are in this in between space with the big move bush ... it is giving me the time to see that our desire to be simple is far beyond just what we eat ... because our lives are much more than that .... it is a conscious shift away from the technified, over- processed, chemical filled, media managed chaos that fills so much of our world.  it is a mindset to not over engineer .... but to do life as simply as we can.  and for us, right now ... that is about decluttering.

and  oh boy!  are we in the middle of that.  with this move one of the first things we have to do is DECLUTTER and get rid of stuff.  no small feet for two pack rat parents and three small children!  but it has started.  a good friend gave me a loving kick up the backside.  i need to walk the walk ... i can't talk about living a more fruitful simple life if my family has too much junk. so we are:

1. putting heaps of stuff out for the council pick-up this week.  if it is broken, has no potential use .... in the pile it goes.
2. not sure if it's of any use but think someone might find a use for it?  it goes in the pile for vinnies
3. haven't used it in 6 months?  still in good nick?  goes in the pile for our garage sale.
4. anything left over from the garage sale will go out in freecycle

.... and hopefully what is left over is the essentials .... those things that hold precious memories and fulfill immediate needs now.  because everything else just doesn't matter.

this move is giving us the perfect opportunity to simplify and declutter.  physically, spiritually and emotionally.  phase one is the physical ...  so that the living out of our lives reflects that which we are so wed to in our hearts.

reflecting the beauty and simplicity with which this world was created

that honours the way our Father Creator ordained things

that puts people and not things at the centre

that loves ... simply

some practical decluttering resources:

• How to Declutter by Letting Go of Your Declutter Excuses!
• How To Declutter Your Home
• 33 Ways to Declutter 

o u lovely tomato!

ok ... so it's time to start thinking about the spring planting .... and i'm determined to get it right -- especially with tomato's .... because they have so much to offer!  it was important to have a really clear idea for what i wanted to grow.  here were my criteria.

• being able to harvest fruit for as long as possible!  so i had to choose different varieties for different seasons
• fruit that was full of flavour and versatile.  need to be able to use it for salads and passatta and sauce.
• size matters as well as i  can't have all small or all staked.  so i have chosen a mixture of small and tall, bush and vine.  only a few require serious staking.... but knowing me, i'll end up staking them all anyway, just because it helps.
• and fun, colourful stuff.  so i chose one that even fruits a light pink, and another that has red and yellow stripes!  different shapes too ... from small cherry, to large flat and squishy. 

so, here is my plan of attack.

i've also ordered one that i haven't listed simply because it's too funny and i'm not quite sure where to put it .... it's called Mr Ugly ... can you believe it!  supposed to grow huge vines with huge fruit that is really tasty.

All fruit ordered through Garden World, Eden Seeds and Diggers.


Resource:
http://www.greenfingers.com.au/services/digging_deeper/tomatoes_want_to_grow/4.htm#Tomato
http://www.sgaonline.org.au/?p=73
http://www.tomato.com.au/index.html
http://www.mr-ugly.com/index.html

wow! it's really happening!

well ... i am chuffed, ecstatic and over the moon .... it's happening.  our wasted gorgeous expanse of backyard is really starting to transform .... it's not a wish, a hope or any of that .... it is really happening.

so .... back in my Contour .... it's a catching thing! post .... i referred to our great plans for the shape of things to come in our backyard .... here is a refresher on what it was gonna look like.

the whole idea here was that we had defined the flow of water across the block ... identifying this meant that we could capture and re-use that water, naturally.

so the next thing was to get all our supplies together.

1. cardboard.  and heaps of it.  sourced from grocery stores and the like, but a lot of the stuff at the grocers has a waxy finish on it and would take longer to break down .... but we found that the stack under the back entry of the local liquor store was the IDEAL source <g>.  cost .... nada!
2.  mulch.  well aren't we lucky that we've just had a council mulch day?  we have a nice big big pile in the front yard thank you!  cost ..... zilch!

3.  straw.  well, we had to buy this .... could've sourced it a tad cheaper down in the flat lands .... but would've eaten up more than that in the cost of petrol to go and get it .... so we just bought it local.  two bales for $22.  not bad!
4.  chook poo.  well.  hubby was on a mission and he went around some of the area farms and was able to get me 10 bags for $2 each.  woohoo!  potent stuff too .... needs to air out and be thinly used.

so.  time to get going!  first thing is to lay out the carboard in the pattern we want.  logs that have been cut from trees in our yard will make the borders of the beds.  this all goes well.  bed is about a meter wide, which will make for easy access on either side.

first thing to go down is straw.  honestly .... should've used mulch.  but i wanted to use these beds fairly quickly.  and i knew that using straw vs mulch would provide for quicker decomposition.  so a nice thick layer of straw goes on the beds.  this is followed by the chicken poo.

note that we have let the carboard hang out the edges of the bed excessivly.  the area's between the beds will eventuallly be filled with a pine bark mulch .... yet to come.  in the picture to the left note the tripod behind the bed.  this is a very deep area that i will be planting beans in shortly to get the nitrogen fixing stuff happening.  this area gets excellent sun during the day, so i really needed to exploit it.  the tree in the tire is a tangello.

you can see from the next photo that i actually have a rich soil down on one end of the bed.  this is because this is where the asparagus will get planted (two are being transplanted, two are new crowns i have purchased).  it needs a good deep rooting (10 cm) and would be completely overwhelmed by the chicken poo .... so i am using a rich soil from another part of our yard for this.  this will need another 4-5 wheelbarrows of soil before it is ready to take the crowns.

and finally .... another layer of straw.  this will bed the whole thing in very nicely.  the picture to the right shows it half covered so you can see where it is all going.  because of the potency of the chook poo it will need to sit for several weeks before i can consider planting.

I am thrilled to report that we have been having torrential downpours the past few days which have done a few things that are very special.

• the rain will be helping to magnificently kick start the decomposition process and means that i should be able to start planting in the next week or so.
• the contour thing has worked!  i have watched the meandering trail of water as it trickles down .... straight to our back bed!  whoohoo.

after this beds in, we will need to add a layer of good compost / soil and cover with straw.  it is in this straw that we will make little holes, fill with lovely soil and plant out my seedlings.

we have had a great addition to our backyard  .... hubbies home made bbq barrel.  it worked a treat for us when we used it this past weekend!  note the models to the right.

and the other is that the front bed continues to get more and more planted out.  the past few days i added some lovely baby spinach.  yumm!!!!  note that i have used the method that makes a whole in the straw, fills with a bit of manure and soil and then beds the plants in.

 i am so looking forward to what we will be eating from our garden kitchen come springtime!

next job .... off the the liquor store ... need more cardboard!  <g>

too much of a good thing!

i have a story to share .... about our worms and excess.  don't laugh ... the analogy holds true for life .... and practically speaking, i have learned from it!  <g>

have you heard the story of the very hungry caterpillar?  where he is hungry and goes on the hunt for food and eats his way through a week of really rich, yummy food that made him sick at the end?  when what he really wanted and needed was a good, healthy, yummy green leaf.  and he felt all better after that!  <g> and was able to do what caterpillar's need to do!  weave a cocoon and become a beautiful butterfly!

 so ... we got our worms, right?  and i thought ... way cool .... these little guys are gonna chomp through all these leftovers and make it into gorgeous castings for our garden and worm tea to fertilize with .... right?  WRONG!

i left them for a few days and when i went to have a sneaky little peak at my gorgeous critters .... what did i see?  MOULD!  EVERYWHERE!  egad!  what did i do wrong?  i tore open my little instruction book .... not much help there except to say that you shouldn't over feed them .... they DON'T need it.  gee .... should've read that sooner!  so i go straight to the computer and do a trusty search on worm mould and come up with the fact that simply speaking .... i have been over feeding my babies with all the wrong things!  oh good grief!  how silly am i?  feeding them all the rich stuff when what they need is a good diet of shredded newspaper and grass clippings!

and you know the remedy?  the icky and gross work of picking out all the mould bit by bit and piece by piece.  and the reminder that what they really need is more is the good stuff .... some grass clippings and lots of shredded newspaper.

so for the past two days i have spent a good 30 minutes each day picking through the worm farm trying to get out anything that looked remotely mouldy.  the worms aren't stupid .... they've gotten as far away from that wretched stuff as they can ....and i'll have to keep this up until i get rid of it all.  some might give in .... dump the worms and just start again.  i refuse to give in to that defeatist mentality!  we will conquer this and we will learn from this.

what an analogy for us with our lives, huh?  between what we think we need and what we actually need.  i would love a huge house .... with heaps of stuff to make my life EASY.  i want to hire a landscaper/permaculture guru to come in and do all our permaculture and backyard work for us.  it would be the EASY thing to do.  i would really like brand spankin' new things that are top of the line and make me feel like i'm top of the heap.  oohhhh ... and a new fangled TV!  wouldn't that be delightful!  but i'm so glad that my Father in Heaven knows that would be one of the dumbest things in the world to have happen to a selfish and self centered person like me -- to give me things i don't need or wouldn't truly appreciate.

i need to appreciate what i have .... NOW.  what i have today.  a dear husband and three amazing kids.  friends near and far that i would lay down my life for.  i have a roof over my head, which is more than many people can say in this world.  having just returned from the Philippines, I KNOW i have heaps more than most people ...i have seen people with so much less than i have and they are amazingly joyful and happy.  we don't need to fill the bellies of our greed with stuff .... we need to be grateful for what we have and to live in the moments that we have rather than loosing ourselves in what "might be."  may i be ever mindful of this. and i have no doubt that i will need to be reminded of this constantly!

next time i covet what someone else has may i think of the worms we have and the mould that greed and excess can cause in our lives.

as for our worms .... the table scraps will be going back to the  chooks ... who will make good use of them.  i am thinking for the worms that the yellowpages directories that still get delivered (WHY????) will make good food for the worms for a while.  shred it up nice and small and give it them a little bit at a time .... so they enjoy it and indulge themselves on the good stuff.  hey ... those stupid books are made out of trees ... what better way to use them than to return them to the good earth!

Reflecting on a bit of simplicity

i'm deviating from my norm today.  the winds are howling outside .... i've put the laundry on the line, got bread going in the breakmaker and it feels like there is a pause in activity for some time of contemplation and thot on my world and where i am at.  this seems a little self-indulgent .... so my apologies now.  but that's just how it is today .....

...working towards our permaculture roots

• Milkwood Permaculture.  i honestly can't speak highly enough of these guys.  i went to an intro to permaculture course that these guys did and it affirmed everything my heart told me about simplicity, stewardship and the way that we should be living our lives.  i encourage you to check out their courses.  from grafting to acquaponics and beyond... Nick has managed to put together a great team of like minded folks who INSPIRE.  i'm hanging out for when they get their kids program up and running .... dreaming of our family going out to their property and hubby and i doing the permaculture design certificate and the kids doing the kids program for two weeks.  making it a family thing!
• Evangelical Environmental Network.  i am so appreciative of the visibleness of this group.  it is a bunch of christians who have gone, "hey .... guess what guys .... God gave us this great gift of a beautiful planet and we're ruining it!  we've bunged up the stewardship and need to get it right."  i like them, i like everything they stand for!
• River Cottage.  what can i say about Hugh and is funky ways.  if you go back to his really early shows in England ... he started by wanting to leave the rat-race.... on a third of an acre he had veggies, chooks and pigs and completely embraced the concept of community.  way to be Hugh!  he is of course bigger than ben hur now .... but is still inspiring people with his great cooking and quirky ways! i can never get enough of his stuff

 ... taking care of me

• Music.  where do i start?  Martin Luther said that next to the Word of God, nothing soothes a mans soul like Music.  oh yeah!  i love it all .... from Barber's, Adagio for Strings through to Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles and even some ZZ Top and Red Hot Chili Peppers .... i love it all .... it challenges, confronts, soothes and lifts our spirits. 
• Scripture.  well ... it's where it all starts.  "be still and know that I am God."  when i need to get my head screwed back on straight i head straight for the Psalms .... they remind me how much i am loved no matter my circumstances (and yes, i do take issue with those people out there who think that God is all about guilt ... SORRY .... YOU HAVE IT WRONG!!!! <g>)
• Coffee.  Oh my .... getting the day started with a great smelling and tasting cup of coffee?  who can pass that up!  a vice for me i admit .... oops .... and i'm not sorry to say so either.  check out my local coffee guru .....Ministry Grounds
• Wine.  let's have an argument over the best wines!  i became a wine lover on aussie wines and remain convinced today that they are the best around.  from the light whites in Margaret River to the chocolate shiraz in the Barossa to the pinot's and merlots in Mudgee .... they are all to die for and i will take them any time they are offered.  currently revisiting my love for all things from Banrock Station.  and it doesn't hurt that they have a conservation bent either.  i am starting my trip into organic wines ... if you know of some to inspire, please let me know. 
• Cheese.  i put a question on a quiz about me once that asked which did i like better, chocolate or cheese.  most folks got it wrong and said chocolate.  don't misunderstand me .... a good chocolate goes a long way .... but it cannot even begin to compare to a great cheese ..... room temperature on a crisp cracker with a few chilled grapes .... bliss! 
• Quilting.  a secret but long held love of mine that i don't get to indulge in often enough.  i always have a project on the go and seem to overextend and expect from more from myself than i actually have time to accomplish.  currently trying to finish a table runner and then on to figuring out how to finish a quilt for my daughter. 

...cooking .... oh yum!
this one is pretty obvious.  i love great cooking and am a real sook for cooking shows.  love them all in any flavour you give them to me .... even Heston's Feast hooks me in a second.  here are a few web sights that keep me going with heaps of practical recipes.  if i can't find it on one of these web sites then it's probably not a very good recipe. 

• Cooks.com. http://www.cooks.com/
• Taste.  http://www.taste.com.au/
• All Recipes. http://www.allrecipes.com.au/

i am feeling distinctly guilty about focusing on me .... that i should've shared something about how i love to care for my family.  but there is a time and a place for reflecting on the things we love, enjoy and are grateful for in our own lives.  hey .... it's a simple way to smile <g>.  what inspires you?

Where Have You Been?????

well .... it's been over a week since my last thought posting.  and, honestly, i do have a real excuse!  i've been on holidays!  and oh what a holiday it was!

i've just returned from the country that is so near and dear to my heart .... the Philippines.  if there was ever a country that chooses to live in simplicity .... it would have to be the Philippines.  i'm sure it can be said of many developing countries .... but for me .... it is the Philippines.

would you dare to live a simple life?  no excess .... but only the essentials?  it forces you to focus on the things that are important .... PEOPLE.  every time i go to the Philippines i am overwhelmed by the kindness and easy-ness with which people are involved in their community.  no expectations .... only participation.  no need to be jealous of what your neighbor has because most of it is communal anyway. 

ironically, it is this lack of striving to be "better and bigger" that probably lends a great deal to why the Philippines will never be a global leader .... they just don't try to.  sure there are elements of that .... you find it everywhere .... but as a whole, they are not a people who NEED to be better than their neighbor.

think about it.  look out your window at your neighbors house .... could you (or maybe you already do!) live in community with them?  sharing of your life and stuff so that their lives are better? it is a concept that many of us westerners have a real problem with ... we need our privacy, we need to live apart .... JUST BECAUSE.  i am a firm believer that this approach breeds distance and jealousy. 


what are things that you could to to be more neighborly?  here are a few to try!

• put a gate in your fence between you and your neighbor
• make something yummy and take it to your neighbor .... just because
• take in their garbage bins after collection day
• if you see them struggling to get something done .... offer to help
• and here is a really simple one .... SMILE

so don't come by my house and expect me to have a gate in my back fence .... i'm still working on it.  but i can tell you that i talk to all my neighbors and have given most of them help at one point or another.  and you know what?  they have helped me in return. 

Contemplation.

i have just turned 50.  woohoo.  <g>  instead of a big party i did something for myself .... i indulged in what has until now been a fairly closet passion: a greenie love of the environment. i went to a permaculture course, had a blast -- and had my eyes opened!

surely my christian friends would laugh at me.  surely compared to the need to show God's love and grace to others this is miniscule in comparision.  so i rarely talk about it .... rarely discuss what sits heavy on my heart: God gave us this world to use, love and be wise stewards of .... and, quite frankly, we've screwed it up.  this time away taught me that i should no longer be quiet about it.

we have a mandate now more than ever to care for the Creation that God has entrusted to us.  i want my kids to enjoy fresh, non GM food and to live an abundant life .... and to know our Saviors love through that.   so for me, being a wise steward (trying ... not perfect, but trying!), and teaching my kids how to cherish God's world will only make them fall in love with the Creator more ... and want to share His amazing Love with others.

i learned a term this weekend ... Evangelical Environmentalism.  it is the new term for those believers who take seriously our stewardship of this world.  now this course was certainly not about faith or about religion!  but i saw the core principles of permaculture and said .... man!  those are straight from the bible!  they are using God's mandate to love others, care for others, live in community and be wise stewards .... all which can be scripturally supported. 

 i am forced to reflect on so much.  i have wanted to live today better than yesterday and hope for tomorrow more than i have today.  i think of two things from the weekend that have been profound for me.
-- life happens!  it is the way that God designed it.  i see this in the area that our chickens are scratching away at ... the left overs i feed them and the borlotti beans and cherry tomato's that can't help but spring up!
-- we have all been made in the image of our Grand Designer.  He has given us the ability to design and reclaim this world in the way He intended it to be.


++++++++++++++++++++++++++
reflection  ..... 5 July 2011

so ... i've been doing this blog for over 3 months now .... is my heart still passionate about our role in God's redemption of Creation?  of what he has called us too?  for me, and more importantly, for our family .... that answer is a resounding YES.

each day we are learning a little bit more about the small and big things we can do to honour our Lord by understanding how He created this planet, the systems that are the best for growing things and providing for our family.  what does that mean?  well, truthfully .... it means heaps of fun!  we are learning about cool things in our garden .... mushrooms, aquaponics ... how to grow stuff with less effort and more reward -- and regenerating and making good soil to boot!  understanding that we don't have to have things brand spankin' new .... but that recycling and reusing is actually MUCH MORE REWARDING!  and ... learning about our friends and neighbors .... living in community more.

so yes ... we are continuing to move towards a creation care mentality .... and with each step we take, we are more committed to it and this call that God has placed on our hearts.  will you join us?

This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears

All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;

His hand the wonders wrought.