Eight Acres

 Do you find this time of year stressful?  I used to, but over the last few years we have made a few changes and now Christmas is a simple and stress-free time instead.  I know that some people love Christmas and can't imagine reducing the fuss and the festivities at all, and that's fine if you really do enjoy it, but if you are feeling stressed at this time of year, maybe consider simplifying your Christmas plans to give yourself a break.  Here's a few ideas:   Reduce or stop presents Sometimes people ask me if I've done all my Christmas shopping.  I always say "yes" these days because we have stopped worrying about presents.  It was easier than you think.  We just told all family that we would not be giving presents and we didn't expect presents, so please don't stress about getting anything for us.  Now the lead up to Christmas does not involve jamming into shopping centres trying to find presents for everyone.  We are buying les...

 While mindlessly scrolling Facebook I saw a post which was an article from 2017 that had been reshared. The title of the article was " No, poor New Zealand families can’t just ‘grow their own vegetables '". I read the article, and it got me thinking. I know that people grow vegetables for lots of reasons, saving money may be a minor reason for some people. Growing your own vegetables can give you a greater variety of vegetables that you can't get in the supermarket, you know they are chemical-free, they taste better, and you get the enjoyment of some physical activity outside in nature. But that doesn't mean that its not possible use your vegetable garden to reduce your food bill. I read through a few of the comments on the Facebook post and the majority agreed that starting a vegetable garden was too expensive and time-consuming for those already struggling with the high cost of living. However, a few comments gave me hope - suggesting that enough useful veget...

Have you signed up for Plastic Free July?   The idea of Plastic Free July is to try for a month to actively avoid single-use plastic. You can sign up for the whole month, or just a week, and you can avoid all single-use plastic or just the TOP 4 challenge (plastic bags, plastic water bottles, takeaway coffee cups & plastic straws). This post contain affiliate links from Biome , as well as advice from my personal experience.  You don't need to buy a whole lot of things to reduce your plastic consumption, there are many things that you can make yourself, I just suggest a few of the items that have helped us and may help you too. Why Plastic Free July?   Plastic is designed to last forever, but when we use it for "disposable" items they do not biodegrade and end up polluting waterways or filling landfills.  Each of us can make a difference by just reducing (or aiming to eliminate) single-use plastic from our daily lives. Three reasons to avoid single use ...

 Your grandmother probably had one of these by the sink for doing the dishes. It can also be used to dissolve soap for hand-washing in the laundry or putting some bubbles in your bath. You are going to wish you still had one because they are so useful! What is a soap shaker? A soap shaker (also known as a soap saver or suds maker) is the old-fashioned way of using a bar of soap for the washing up. Its just a metal cage with a handle. You put soap in the cage and swish it around in hot water to dissolve some soap. Then you can easily dry out the soap between uses so that it lasts longer. How can I use soap to reduce my plastic consumption? Like so many things now, we are realising that our grandmothers had some good ideas in the garden and around the house. They had to be frugal and make do with what they had. Naturally that meant less waste, and particularly less plastic. Soap shakers are the perfect way to reduce plastic in the kitchen - no more bottles of dishwashing liquid...

 After I started using a shampoo soap instead of shampoo in a plastic bottle, I really wanted to make a conditioner bar as well. This was after I tried NOT using conditioner, but it became pretty obvious that conditioner was necessary for my hair. I wanted a plastic-free option, so I tried a condition bar, and then of course I wanted to make my own. I hesitated about making a conditioner bar because I struggled to find "natural" ingredients. Eight Acres is all about handmade, natural and sustainable, and it wasn't easy to find a conditioner recipe that would work. However, I eventually decided that close enough was good enough if I could also help people to reduce their plastic consumption and offer a conditioner bar to go with my shampoo soap bar. What is conditioner? Conditioner works by smoothing the hair’s cuticle, which strengthens the hair shaft, preventing breakage. Hair that has been washed without conditioner feels dry, brittle and static. The key ingredient i...

 I first bought a slow cooker after our first experience butchering a steer at home. Unfortunately, we didn't know that we should try not to stress the animal before the butcher came, we weren't horrible to him, but we did keep him in a small pen by himself overnight so we were ready for the butcher. This change in routine meant that the meat was incredibly tough and the only way to eat it was to slow cook most of it.  ( I have learnt a lot and written a lot about butchering since then, see more posts here )   That was about 10 years ago, and since then I've had the slow cooker going most weeks, for casseroles, curries, roasts and stock. Its turned out to be a very convenient way to cook, even if the meat isn't tough. And I have mostly used it to cook meat, apart from the occasional soup (and even soap !). I wrote about using my slow cooker back here. I also like to use other "low and slow" cooking methods to release the flavour - the solar oven and our...

 We have been talking about getting solar for about 10 years and last week our electrician came to set up our new system. I'll tell you all about the system that we chose, but first a bit of background. A bit of background When we first started looking at solar around 2011, our electricity bill was paid by my employer, so there was no incentive or cost saving for us at the time. I did read our electricity meter and work out the size system we would ideally need. And at the time the feed-in tariffs were high, so it was tempting, but we decided to wait. I wrote some analysis at the time here , and the calculations might still be useful if you are considering solar. We lost that electricity payment at few years later, but by then we knew we were moving to Cheslyn Rise eventually, so there still didn't seem any point investing in solar. Also the feed-in tariffs had significantly reduced by that time. We briefly considered a full solar option for Cheslyn Rise, but at the time...

 Since I have been keeping bees and selling our beeswax I have been getting questions about making beeswax wraps. Many people are buying beeswax to make beeswax wraps, and wanted to know more about it. I owned a few beeswax wraps, but I had never made them myself! It has been on my list of things to try for a while now, and over the Christmas break I finally had time to make some beeswax wraps, so now I can tell you all about it .    What are beeswax wraps? A beeswax wrap is a piece of cotton fabric infused with beeswax (usually also with gum rosin for stickiness and jojoba oil to make it flexible). Beeswax wraps can be used instead of plastic wrap/glad wrap/cling wrap or aluminium foil to keep food fresh both in the fridge and in the pantry. You can wrap individual food items in the beeswax wrap or use the wrap to seal a container. If you want to reduce the amount of rubbish , particularly plastic rubbish, that you produce, then beeswax wraps are a great place to s...

 I have been following Erin Rhoad's blog The Rogue Ginger for years, and I love her clever tips for reducing waste.  I was pretty happy to find her book Waste Not at the airport, something to read on a long flight and enjoy while on holiday. With beautiful photography showing the details (not just pretty, but informative!) and all the tips and tricks in one place, this book is a great kick start of anyone thinking about reducing waste.  After the introduction, the book is split into three sections: Tools, Tips and Tricks.      In the Tools section it was really interesting to read about how and why Erin started reducing waste in the first place Erin watched a documentary called The Clean Bin Project and then got involved in Plastic Free July.  It seems very common to have an epiphany moment where you realise that you should reduce waste (or live simply etc), and its ironic to think that reading this book could be that moment for someone else. ...

 I can't remember when I first came across the idea of using a solar cooker.  Maybe in Grass Roots magazine or a prepping blog.  I do know it has been on my list for a long time. I had seriously considered making a solar cooker at one stage , and had even researched how to use the unwanted satellite dish that came with our secondhand house , and then I started to make a box-style solar cooker with some bits and pieces from the house including the bathroom mirror!  I was never quite convinced that my design was going to work though, so I was reluctant to continue investing time and money in these efforts.  I had also researched the models available for purchase and had decided that they were "too expensive", so there I was with no solar cooker, but a definite interest in using the sun to cook and dehydrate food.       Why use a solar cooker? Our sub-tropical climate brings with it ridiculously hot summer days.  And each 30degC plus ...

Here's an old post from July 2011 that I thought you might enjoy reading again :) Since we have started producing our own veges, eggs, beef and chicken meat I have noticed that we get used to making our own and have been reluctant to buy these items when our own production levels are low.  This means we usually have either too much or not enough of some things, but its just become a way of life for us.  Sometimes if we don't have any of a particular food, we just go without, but we don't even think about it now. When we are milking our cows, we usually have too much milk at first, which is lovely, because I get to try making cheese without worrying too much if the end result is a disaster!  The other week I made feta, too much feta, which neither of us particularly like (it was just an easy cheese to try) so I started looking for recipes to use it up.  I found this lovely recipe  for chicken meatballs with feta in the middle.  This would use up ...

Lately I've been sharing with you simple ideas for getting started with simple living.  As many of us have discovered, simple living isn't simple, certainly when you're getting started, there are lots of new skills to learn and its important to find a routine that works.  I've already shared simple ideas for  growing your own food , and for  saving money on groceries .  Then I wrote about ideas for cooking from scratch .  Now I'm thinking about some basic skills that you can learn that will help reduce what you need to buy. Simple: learn to knit, crochet and sew The best way to learn to knit or crochet is to find a willing tutor.  Failing that, youtube has some wonderful tutorials to get you started ( here's my knitting and crochet posts ).  Start with something simple so you don't feel like giving up when it doesn't work out.  Knitting and crochet are the cheapest options, as you will need a sewing machine to get started on sewing,...

Wow its good to be home on the farm!  After two and a half years of part time city-living, I was nearly getting used to it, but I was missing the country.  Each weekend I would head home early Friday afternoon and it was a massive relief to turn off the motorway and get out into farmland. Smell ya later Brisbane! Access to alternative health services When I first came to Brisbane I made a commitment that I would find a yoga class.  I have done pilates classes in the past, but never yoga, and I really wanted to try it.  Unfortunately in a rural area there are not usually many options, and even though a lovely yoga studio has recently opened in Kingaroy , I'd rather not drive 30 minutes to get there!  I wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about yoga.  I attended classes in West End for a while, and then over winter I didn't like getting home from there in the dark, so I tried a few different classes in the suburbs and on youtube.  Fina...