Hello and welcome! I am Paula, (an almost) 40 year old stay at home mother of 5 living in (an almost) 100 year old house on a windy hill in the high country in southern New South Wales. I have been on a slow and steady journey of discovery into the traditional art of nourishing living for quite some time now, and often feel that I will never get anywhere close to achieving my goals. In my dream I am a wholesome figure who radiates health and vitality, I maintain an abundant vegetable garden, and tend to my chickens like a Julien Dupré subject. I walk hills and valleys with vigour, and create tasty and nourishing meals for my family in the kitchen. In my simple kitchen I will be surrounded by mason jars of sprouting grains, containers of homemade buttermilk soaked flours, sourdough starters gently growing in wide ceramic bowls near the stove, homemade breads will be baking in the oven, our garden produce will await simple preparation on the kitchen table, and a stock will be ever so gently bubbling on the stovetop. My children will play with spirit, their strong bodies taking them from play to school and to rest with ease. To be honest, a lot of these things have already happened, but never all at once – rarely have I managed more than 1 or 2 of those elements at a time. I just can’t seem to get it together. I hope this blog will help me to focus on acquiring the time honored skills of fermenting, bread baking, vegetable growing, living well…to practice these habits with dogmatic persistence until eventually they become as part of my days as waking and breathing. I hope that by the end of this year my dream is no longer in my head but a reality that I can touch, feel and see. I welcome you to join me on this journey, sharing in your successes (and perhaps lamenting the not so successes!), as we make nourishing habits a part of our everyday lives.
simple living 