A simple Sunday picnic and walk

Today we treated ourselves to one of our favourite simple days out: making a cake, and taking it to a nearby nature site to eat after a walk.

After filling the house with the scent of lemon drizzle cake baking, we cut it in half, made a flask of hot water and packed up mugs, teabags and milk. We went a few miles down the road to a nearby village which has a woodland and meadow walk, where we heard all kinds of birds in full song for Spring including a blackcap which we spotted in the hedgerow.

The village also has a beautiful churchyard which is looked after for wildlife and is full of wild flowers. Importantly, it also has excellent benches for picnics where we could rest, savour our tea and cake and admire the view.

There were lots of wild flowers not yet open, and so that is a good excuse to come back again soon – with more cake of course…

Year 2, Money Month 1…the month in review

An unexpected flower pops up by the corner of the woodshed

We were excited to start the second year of our mindful spending adventure on 22 March. Having paid off a loan last year, now our goal is simply to spend as mindfully as we can, because all of our consumption has an impact on the planet, and our own peace of mind.

Month 1 of year 2 was an average month for us, which is good! We saved 34% of our income.

What did we buy:
Aside from food & drink, transport, gifts and everyday consumables, we bought: a second hand yoga book, sweet pea seeds, hairclips, music mp3s, shoelaces, t-shirts, hair conditioner, and a hemp rucksack!

Highlights of the month:
– The hemp rucksack was a worthwhile expense as it is very small and light and is encouraging Lucy not to carry such a lot of stuff around. A rucksack is also much better for your back compared to a shoulder bag
– Watching ‘Tiny House Nation’ on More4 has given us a weekly boost of simple living inspiration
– We spent a lot on food this month, even though we were also treated by our family! But if we’re going to spend, food is a good area to spend on, as most of it is healthy and good quality.
– Brian has pollarded several of the tallest garden trees, which is a sustainable way of getting extra firewood as they will then be left to grow back for the next few years. We are making good progress on our home to-do list
– Lucy has knitted one fingerless glove and learned how to cast on in crochet
– We discovered we had two forks which neither of us ever use because we disliked the shape. So Brian spent Sunday afternoon filing them into a much nicer, curvier style – now we have two unique and bespoke forks!

The UK election build-up is also quite motivating in a weird way. Because it is all so frustratingly far away from what we would like to see, we are spending a lot of time together discussing our feelings about everything and articulating our desire for change!

There are no obvious purchases we need to make in the coming month, so we have a good chance of saving our highest percentage yet – and enjoying the challenge whatever the outcome.

Sunlight on Life

At the end of our week off work, we are feeling very fortunate to have had this time together and to be able to choose how we spent each day. It has been a very mindful week, with lots of time spent outside in the warmth of the sun. The sun can only shine on the present moment, and we can only reside in the present moment.

It has been a week of peace and productivity: walking, chatting, playing catch and card games, sowing seeds, laughing, pottering in the garden, taking photos, reading, knitting, watching birds and frogs, eating delicious food and Easter chocolate, relaxing, seeing friends and family (and being treated to a very generous family meal out), and making a composting toilet in the woods!

Here is our composting toilet project – this was taken during construction, since then more cover has been added. But from this position, the person on the ‘throne’ gets a wonderful view, while being concealed from anyone on the paths. The toilet is a mango chutney barrel with a friend’s broken toilet seat attached on a piece of wood.

The other big achievement this week was that Lucy did her furthest drive ever in our car – taking the three of us about 65 miles to the coast, which may not seem that big a deal, but having always been a very nervous driver and not having driven at all since Christmas, it was a major event! It means we are ending the week with more confidence and skills than we started it with.

Seedling protection

The garden has been coming to life and is full of very busy & noisy birds, frogs and emerging insects. All the seeds we have sown are coming up, and today these seedlings received protection from blackbirds and wood pigeons who like to pull things out of pots.

Who, me? Yes, you!

There were so many wonderful sights, sounds and treats this week, it has been a very special family time together. Peaceful, productive and sociable, we couldn’t have asked for more.

Starting the Spring staycation with cake, tiny houses and wildlife

We are now on holiday for a week, and as usual with us our relaxation has started with some edible treats! Lucy made a Victoria sponge cake, and decided it should have an Easter theme:

It was also a good fridge-clearing exercise as the filling was made from all four almost-empty jars of jam which we had!

While eating the cake we also enjoyed one of our other favourite things: watching Tiny House tours on Youtube! This time we discovered the fantastic channel Living Big in a Tiny House – there are some incredibly inspiring and uplifting interviews and tours on there.

Having lots of free time ahead of us makes it easier to get on with all sorts of fun and/or productive things, without worrying that any of them will be the only things we can fit into the time we’ve got. In just two days we’ve done some leisurely breakfasting, cleaning, de-cluttering, sowing sweet peas and garlic chives, knitting, raking out the mini-meadow, cutting kindling, planning the garden, reading the papers, reading books, working on walking sticks and lots of silly laughing and resting.

Today was spent mostly in the garden, getting some sunshine and warmth on our skin, checking out the frogspawn in the ditch and improving things for wildlife. Raking the mini-meadow is something we do once a year to remove all the dead grass – just like a grazing animal would do. It feels brutal but it creates a seed bed for the more delicate wildflowers to come through. We’ve even had orchids before – all in a very small patch:

The raked mini-meadow – ready for growth

There is a lot more we want to do this week, but having the luxury of time means that it should all feel like leisure, especially as we are doing it all together.