Back to basics- how to make your own life

From time to time I go back to the inspirational books which ground me in this Simple Life, and in re-reading them am reminded that what we are doing here is counter-cultural. We are resisting the tide of consumerism and busyness, and instead we are Making our Own Lives.That is why the Simple Life is different to each of us -we have our own likes, circumstances, and -let's face it- our own families to negotiate with. One person's artisan sour dough is another person's nightmare! One person's delightful bush camping holiday is another person's cold and drafty tent. 

The books which I have been re-reading this month were written about 50 years apart! 

First published in 1937, ORCHIDS ON YOUR BUDGET gives advice on all manner of subjects, from entertaining and creating the perfect capsule wardrobe to relinquishing the family estate. Lest you worry about how to put the advice into practice, each chapter concludes with a case study providing examples of women who heeded - and those lamentable souls who ignored - Marjorie's wise words.

I love this book because the tone is so sassy. Marjorie has no time for prolonging your misery about a lack of money by sulking. Instead she gives us plenty of ideas for being creative and having fun on whatever funds we have.

The other book was written The Art of Frugal Hedonism: A Guide to Spending Less While Enjoying Everything More was published in 2016 and written by Annie Raser-Rowland with Adam Grubb. I love this review: 
“The Art of Frugal Hedonism is like having a small firecracker in your pocket for performing guerrilla actions on everyday life that just might upend everything and put it back together in a different, cheaper, and much more interesting way. The writing is buoyant and often verges on hilarious.”
~ Kirsten Bradley, Milkwood

Making our Own Lives is a creative and absorbing past-time around here. For example, this week we took the opportunity of an errand to a place on the east of our city, to travel a short way up the scarp to a national park, again looking for the waterfalls and rivers that are quite ephemeral in our climate. It was a bit cloudy and drizzly when we were at the top of the scarp, but the sun came out as we walked, and we had a lovely time. We found some gorgeous wildflowers in bloom. We try to really be present in this moment during such times: what does it smell like, what colours are we seeing, what can we feel? We loved this little extra luxury of a walk in the hills, where we are away from our normal routine. Of course, we know that just going for a walk in the bush would not seem like a lot of fun to some people, or even very counter-cultural to others, but for us, we are trying to take every opportunity to make ordinary life special, and fun, and this was one of the ways we did it this week. 

One of the things that Annie and Adam's book (above) encourages us to do, is to follow our interests and seek inspiration -often from finding time to read and dream.  I got this book from the library "Foraged Home" by Oliver Maclennan as a new source of inspiration. I love changing things around in my home -creating little table top or shelf displays or groups of objects arranged in ways that please me. They might be composed of something I found in an op shop, or something I picked up in my walks, or just some things here at home that I have never put together before in quite that way. 

DH makes things in his shed, and is always on the look out for a new project. This writing desk was gifted to him by someone, and he is working on ideas to turn it into a dressing table by adding drawers underneath it.

I am still working on my garden themed quilt -I have just about got the straight quilting done, and it will be time this week to do some free motion quilting in the panels before the binding goes on. I love working in my garden and constantly try to improve what I grow and what we eat from it. At the moment we have gorgeous snow peas to harvest. 

We both are involved in community activities -both serving as committee members - and we find it part of our giving something back to the community. This week we also took part in a protest at a local hospital, to complain about the heartless treatment of asylum seekers and refugees. I also spoke at a public meeting about it and later will deliver some much needed food supplies to a local organisation which is feeding people who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and because they are asylum seekers.

How do you find the business of making your own life going? Do you have particular books which you find inspirational? 

In support of the Earth

On 22 April 2020 it will be the 50th anniversary of Earth Day

Earth Day is marked by more than a billion people every year as a day of action to change human behavior and create global, national and local policy changes.  Now, the fight for a clean environment continues with increasing urgency, as the ravages of climate change become more and more apparent every day.

Our current pandemic is linked to this crisis -as humanity puts pressure on wild spaces, so we live ever closer to animals we used to be distant from, and some people are suggesting the transfer from animals to humans of diseases is now more common.

The Swan River at Walyunga in the autumn -the water level is low and we all wait for the winter rains -will they come this year? 

Now, I know that the pandemic seems like it is drowning out every other concern we have at the moment, but in fact we have been at huge risk of destroying everything that makes for a viable living environment for humans, animals and the biosphere for decades now. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.  Link here 

We have an opportunity, in this time of self quarantine, to reflect on how we live and how we want to live. In all the things we are missing -and I guess you like me are missing a whole lot of people and a whole lot of social experiences (orchestral concerts, restaurant meals, parties, the library) - I wonder if we will find our true values. Just like we have discovered who is a truly essential worker -and often they are the lowest paid of our society-the cleaners, shop workers, rubbish collectors, transport workers- so we may find what else is essential and what we could let go of.

This week I was pleased to offer some of my garden produce to my neighbours. A basket of pomegranates was so well received by one person that they came back and put three chocolate frogs in my letterbox! A bucket of limes were also well received. Someone nearby had bought a box of compost worms only to find that they were nearly all dead -so I gave them some of mine and in return they gave me a banana pup, which will go to my son and daughter in law's garden.

We are continuing to support our daughter in law and the family as they set up their own garden of produce from scratch. It is such fun to see them getting excited by sowing seeds.

Meanwhile we are eating home grown pumpkins, mandarins and pink grapefruit as well as the mizuna, herbs and capsicums.

I have started a new quilt -celebrating all things gardening! I continue to work for a few hours each day in the garden -I am striving to get better at saving seeds, growing from seed and making compost.

I saved the seed from the pumpkin, which was just as well as DGS1 thinks a garden without a pumpkin patch hardly counts.

Inspiration 
Blog
https://www.shoestringcottage.com/20-things-i-dont-buy-to-save-money-and-waste/

Permaculture podcast!
https://pdcastsusworldradio.libsyn.com/

This episode is a good one https://pdcastsusworldradio.libsyn.com/a-diversity-of-solutions

And this one! http://www.futuresteading.com.au/

RACES - One day at a time

Yesterday was my birthday (31 December) and I had a lovely time.  I got spoiled with lots of presents, and we went to see the movie "Cats' for a bit of escapism and it was great. Dora (my cat) would have approved! 

On the other side of the continent, however, people were sheltering on a beach whilst waiting for a bush fire to sweep over them all-did you see pictures of this where you live? On our West Australian south coast a very fragile national park is in flames, and I fear the damage which is being done to flora and fauna.

This is a very strange and confronting time to be an Australian. Our successive governments have done very little to acknowledge or even plan for climate change emergencies, and now we are at the beginning of a long hot summer with no relief in sight. For most of Australia it will be months before they have any chance of rain.

We have lost -at this moment- seven confirmed dead- and somewhere around a thousand homes lost. We have many native species at the brink of extinction. This is a terrible thought, and many people find themselves shocked and grieving. For me however, I have been aware and active in this movement to change our world for many years and I have done at least some grieving already. Some years ago, reading one of Tim Flannery's books, I couldn't sleep, and had this urge to get up and go and take pictures of our unique trees down south, before they are all dead! They are not dead yet, but who knows how long they will survive? 

For a longer discussion of this topic I suggest you read this from Meanjin and if you have time here is a  

TED talk you really should take the time to watch  

I am firmly convinced of the power of hope, and that it is not too late to turn this thing around -I will not be giving up. 

I have decided that I have five words which will characterise my year -Radical Action, Community Empathy and Simplicity: RACES for short. 

Radical Action will be required from all of us -to challenge the current way of doing things, and especially challenge the assumptions behind them.  We have to go beyond fossil fuel based economies -and do it quickly. This will require us each to change our own lives-drive and fly less, for example. That won't be enough unless our goverments, our corporations, decide to rapidly decarbonise too. We have to make them want to do it! 

Community is going to be needed because this emergency will test all of us and our ability to be a community will be the key to our survival. We need to look out for the vulnerable and bring them with us.

See how community can work here 

Empathy is the powerhouse which will keep us going -for example, even if the fires are not here right now, we can feel for those who are dealing with it, and that feeling will spur us to action. 

Simplicity is the compass point for everything I do. We all need a lot less 'stuff' than we think we do, and a lot of life can be enjoyed when you know what is important and what is not. 

Some of you who read and comment on my blog will be just as concerned as I am. Some of you have been in fire zones and dread the return of them. For others, the problems of climate change may be different -maybe it never stops raining and you have to deal with floods, or polar winds bring icy conditions too far south. 

I wish for us all that the new year will bring us clean air, fresh water and food, someone to love and human rights. If any of those are in danger, I wish us courage which will result in action. 

Raising my voice

This is Anti Poverty Week, and so I went along to the rally in the city of Perth. I see this as part of my Simple Living practice: to engage with the community in ways to improve our lives together. If I want my life to be sustainable and simple I am sure the answer lies in assisting positive social change for all. I am not living this life in isolation. 

It is shocking that inequality is growing around the world. In Australia it is fueled by the lack of entry level jobs, wage stagnation and the fact that the Newstart allowance given to job seekers has not increased for 25 years.

There is an increasing tendency to blame the poor for their situation, instead of seeing it in structural terms. We can fix poverty by doing several basic things: raising Newstart, creating more social housing and ending the scandalous Robodebt fiasco, where welfare recipients are being forced to defend themselves from paying fake debts to Centrelink. It is estimated at least 1 in 6 is fake or needs to be corrected.  Then there is the punitive use of Cashless Welfare Cards, to stigmatise welfare recipients and take away their agency to make decisions about their use of welfare support.

Here is the St Vincent de Paul statement about the Cashless Welfare Card:  St Vincent de Paul Society does not support the cashless welfare card. There is no evidence it improves the wellbeing of individuals or communities, either by reducing substance abuse or by increasing employment outcomes. The cashless welfare card also carries a high risk of unintended and expensive consequences across government and the community, including social exclusion and stigmatisation, increased financial hardship, and the erosion of individual autonomy and dignity. Ultimately, this is a punitive and paternalistic measure that is driven by ideology rather than evidence.Find more here 

There was a major rally to call for a total ban on fracking non-conventional gas in Western Australia.  I went to that one, too! We are worried about the impact of fracking on our natural environment, particularly on our water supplies. 

The final thing I did in a fortnight of raising my voice was that I attended my local City of Joondalup council meeting, to assist with a campaign to get them to consider divesting from fossil fuels.  The group I went with comes from 350.org Perth. we are building the Divestment movement and resisting new fossil fuel projects to build a broad and effective climate movement powerful enough to create a safe climate future.

This is what I said:

I ask Councillors to support the motion that

"the CEO to prepare a report on the options for the city to change its risk appetite and investment policy to place a greater percentage of invested funds into institutions that have all (or a great majority) of their portfolio in fossil fuel free investments, providing that in so doing the City can secure a rate of return that is at least equal to the alternative offered by other institutions".

Climate change is, as you and I know, one of the challenges facing the City of Joondalup in the future. I refer you to the recently released “Coastal Survey Outcomes Report” which has been considering how our city might respond to the challenges of coastal erosion due to rising sea levels.

I also refer you to the City of Joondalup Environment Plan 2014 to 2019 which has a whole chapter on Climate Change Mitigation. If we are serious about this problem for our City, we won’t be undermining our efforts at reducing waste and supporting local environments by using the City’s assets to invest in industries which will make climate change worse! We can send a clear message to the fossil fuel industry: change your ways now and join us in tackling climate change
As the Mayors of London and New York said on 10th September this year that “We believe that ending institutional investment in companies that extract fossil fuels and contribute directly to climate change can help send a very powerful message that renewables and low-carbon options are the future. If we want to fund the scale of transformation the world needs, we must foster sustainable investment and use the power of institutional investors.”.

Do you get involved with local community actions like this?