K.I.S.S: Love it or Get Rid of it (part 3)

As I've mentioned before (here and here) I've been trying to trim down our worldly possessions bit by bit every week. I'm selling some of our stuff on ebay, having a farewell fire sale on Etsy, giving a lot to charity and throwing out the bare minimum.

It was a bit of a crap weekend here, Sparky had to work and the kids and I are still a bit under the weather, but I did manage to clean out my wardrobe and swap over my summer clothes for my winter ones. (Our wardrobes are on the small side and I keep a box of seasonal stuff, to make sure I have enough room. Annoying but necessary. Plus it forces me to go through my clothes and shoes twice a year.)

I have a fairly decent amount of clothes and shoes for Vinnies, as well as a heap of maternity clothes I'm lending to my sister-in-law. It's so nice to be able to see the bottom of my wardrobe again, and not have to shove millions of coathangers aside whenever I want to see what clothes I have.

Bonus: I was going to give this skirt to charity too, but the fabric is too pretty and I think I'm going to try and use it in some as yet undefined craft project. (I'll add it to the pile of unfinished projects now, shall I?)

Brooke x

Meat-Free Monday: Roast Veges, Couscous + Feta

Another Meat-Free Monday meal that I love. It's super easy, so deliciously tasty and helps you use up whatever veges you have left rolling around in the crisper.

I guess you could replace the couscous with brown rice or quinoa (I know both are better for you) but on a cold, rainy night like tonight, the hearty, buttery goodness of couscous rocks my socks.

You'll need:

a packet of couscous
olive oil
butter
sweet potato
pumpkin
carrot
zucchini
eggplant
(*in terms of veges, I always use sweet potato, but everything else is fluid - whatever you have on hand or whatever your favourites are. beetroot would probably be awesome too)
kalamata olives
feta cheese
rocket/mint/parsley

1. Cut up your veges into 1-2cm chunks and put onto a large baking tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and put into preheated oven (200C) for around 40 minutes. Toss after about 20 minutes.

2. Prepare your couscous as per packet instructions.

3. Pour couscous into large bowl, add the veges, olives, feta and rocket. Combine with a little lemon juice if desired.

We serve it hot, but it is really yummy as cold leftover too. This is a beautiful, comforting meal in itself, but you could add lentils or chickpeas too.

Trove's Farewell Fire Sale over on Etsy

 As you now know, I've been making a move towards a simpler life these past twelve months. This has been a move that came about initially from a massive case of burnout while running my jewellery business, Trove.

In July last year I was at the absolute end of my wits trying to juggle work plus being a full-time mum plus running the house and managing a big renovation/extension plus being pregnant. I came to a point where I realised I was not committed fully to anything, and that I needed to make a massive shift in the way I was living.

Fast forward to now and I'm a fair way along that path, still hurdling obstacles but at least I have a clear goal in mind.

I've been slowly clearing our home of extraneous objects and things that have been weighing us down, but up until now I hadn't been able to open a few of the boxes in our storeroom. They hold the last of my Trove stock (around 300 pieces) and I think I was subconciously holding on to them, as selling them off would be to finally admit defeat.

But I've made a shift lately and I know that I need to clear the decks completely so I can keep moving forward, so here's my opportunity to you and anyone you may know who loves beautiful, handmade jewellery - at a CRACKING discount no less.

Over the next few days I'll be listing the rest of my Trove stock for sale on Etsy, and there is nothing over $20AUD. My retail prices used to range from $35 - $90, so this is seriously good shopping.

Go on, tell your friends, your mum, your kids and your work friends to pop on over to the shop. It'll be worth their while!

Rings $35 $10

Earrings $55 $18

Necklaces $66 $20

Statement Necklaces $79 $20

Neckplates $79 $20

Earrings $55 $15

Studs $40 $10

Necklaces $60 $15

Pikelets and Playdough

One. Of. Those. Weeks.

Today I managed to drag myself through the morning before the kids had their sleeps using a combination of sheer will, deep breathing, pikelets and playdough. I'm here now, writing, so I can tell you I made it through.

Bonus: I had an epiphany.

Pikelets are delicious. Milo is also delicious. Bringing pikelets and Milo together = delicious squared. (Recipe below).

Ugly? Yes. Tasty? Also yes.

Isy loves cooking at the moment, and I'm using the whole measuring, pouring, mixing routine to help her learn her 1-10, colours and basic cooking ingredients. Negative: our oven is broken so it's really only pikelets on the baking menu right now. Tasty bummer.

You'll need:


1 1/4 cups SR flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
3/4 cup milk
1-2 tbsp Milo
60g melted butter, cooled
1 egg
extra melted butter for greasing

1. Combine flour and sugar in a bowl.

2. Whisk milk, butter, egg and Milo together until well combined. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.

3. Brush some melted butter onto a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place tablespoonfuls of the mixture into the pan and cook until bubbles form. Then flip and cook for another minute or so.

4. Serve with jam, cream, butter or just by themselves, warm from the pan. 

Really truly delicious.

My playdough recipe can be found here.

5 Quick Mood Boosters

Ever get the Flat Stanleys?

You know - money worries, broken oven, broken heater, head colds, tummy bugs, busy at work, too much to do at home, crummy news, bills due, groceries cost more, blah blah blah?

I can relate, believe you me. But lately, I've decided to take my feelings into my own hands and own them. Feeling shit? Accept it, get through it or change it. Take ownership of your reactions. I can't change other people and I can't (always) change circumstances, but I can change the way I choose to react to them.

Here's five green, free, or inexpensive mood boosters that can help:

1. Take ten minutes and clean out your top two kitchen drawers. 

If you're anything like me, there will be a fine layer of toast crumbs, Milo, baby cereal and something else at the bottom of your cutlery and utensils/other-unclassified-crap drawers, and giving them a quick tidy, organise and wipe out will make you feel better. You can own that one piece of organisation. Plus, achieving something, no matter how small, does help you feel better.

2. Spend 10 minutes outside doing some very simple yoga poses.

Try something like this if you're a yoga beginner. The combination of deep breaths, increased blood circulation to your noggin and simply being outdoors works wonders.

3. Try the following exercise for ten minutes in the morning.

(Or more frequently throughout the day if you can, or if you're feeling particularly anxious). It truly helps to bring your mind into full presence for the day ahead. I try most mornings to have ten minutes of just sitting with my coffee, looking out our back doors at the trees, breathing deeply and taking stock of each of my senses:
   - what can I see?
   - what can I hear? (usually Charlie and Lola if it's ten minutes I'm after)
   - what can I taste?
   - what can I touch?
   - what can I smell?
Sounds simple but it is really one of the most important parts of my day.

4. Eat a banana!

Super good for seratonin production, which = happiness hormone.

5. Scribble down two or more pages of stream-of-consciousness writing on some scrap paper, then throw it away recycle it. 

Just have a brain dump. Start with the first thing that pops into your head and do. not. stop. writing. Don't censor yourself. Just write. And if you can't think of anything, just write, "I can't think of anything," over and over until your brain throws something else out at you. And it will.

This is seriously a brilliant way to clear out the extraneous stresses and worries in your mind. And I often find it helps me to figure out what's really troubling me, and helps me do away with the things that are not important. Once they're out, they're not getting back in, and once you get rid of the piece of paper, they're gone.

6. (Because number one sounded too much like housework) Drink a cup of green tea. 

Powerful antioxidants and other large words mean that green tea is a proven mood booster.

There will be shitful things that happen and none of these measures change that, but I'm finding a combination of them throughout my days has helped my mental well-being out of sight. (Maybe more on that some other time.)

Happy days, my dears. x

Repurposing: Art by Repetition

via design*sponge

A few weeks ago, I spotted this amazing piece of art featured on design*sponge. It was made using bus or train tickets (admitedly very cool and colourful tickets from San Fransisco, but tickets nonetheless) and it got me thinking about what I could put together, using otherwise unused multiples.

I have a bajillion plastic bits and bobs in the storeroom, left over from my Trove days, and these white plastic squares were perfect and easy to put together. I just used tiny balls of Blutack to stick them to the kraft paper, so I was able to reposition them if need be.

Obviously, this one and its twin still need to be hung on the living room wall, but I was so taken with the idea of using everyday or unused items in multiples to create a piece of art or a wall hanging, that I had to share. 

Other possibilities are:

- train/ferry/bus tickets
- buttons
- ribbon
- wool/string
- drinking straws
- bottle tops
- corks
- confetti

via Sharon Whelton on Etsy

Apologies for no Meat-Free Monday yesterday. I've been struck with this tummy bug again and the last thing I wanted to consider was food. It'll be back next week though!!

Happy-Making: Family and Finders Keepers

The weekend is shaping up to be stupendous, with painting to do and a visit to Ikea in the mix, as well as a trip to the fairly incredible Finders Keepers market tomorrow. (Seriously. It's awesome. You should go.)

I'm really keen to check out some of the handmade action on hand, as the only times I've ever been to the markets was as a stallholder myself, and had no time to shop around and see the sights. It should be really nice to head in tomorrow morning, have a coffee and check it out. Hopefully I'll see you there!

In other happy-making:

- finding gem photos you had forgotten about

- booking next year's holiday to Byron

- weather warm enough for bare feet in cool grass

- dinner in the slow cooker

- rhubarb and apple crumble


I hope your weekends are wonderful! x

3 Quickie Green Cleaning Tips

Print by The Gently Unfurling Sneak on Georgie Love

I have two bathrooms to clean before the kidlets wake up, so it'll be a quick one today. Although hopefully still helpful!

1. Put down the bottle of Mr Sheen!! To do all your household dusting, just buy a microfibre cloth and dampen it with a little water. Or, as I sometimes do, a few drops of tea-tree oil. (Just steer clear of your TV screens if you use the oil option.)

2. Open your doors and windows for ten minutes. It may seem insignificant, but creating cross-ventilation can help rid your home of toxic emissions from our lounges, carpets, cleaning products, paint, etc. Plus, having stale air in your house causes intensely frizzy hair. (Or something.)

3. Potplants are amazing indoor air filters. Check out this post for a list of the top five indoor plants.

And in other news, Sparky managed to score our new across-the-road neighbours' chook shed last weekend, so it will soon be free-range, (very) local eggs in our house! Yay!

In Season: May's Fruit and Veges

image by donsutherland1

One part of the Lavender Experiment is to

live greener by: buying our fruit and veges locally and in season.

So I've decided to do a monthly list of common fruit and veges that are currently in season. This tends to help when you go grocery shopping, as in season produce should be cheaper and definitely fresher than its out-of-season friends (yes, I am looking at you, cherries in May!!) and, generally speaking, greener as you should find it to be a local product. Plus, it really should taste better too!

Ideally, you would buy your fruit and veges from local, organic producers, but really, who has the cash or the time to go on ten different trips to local farms? Not me, that's for sure. Most weekends Sparky and I do go for a drive to the Hawkesbury and visit a little farm that sells mostly local, in season produce that's free from chemical sprays, but if we don't have the time we just shop at the local IGA.

(Just a tip for any Sydney folk reading this, the Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Gate Trail is brilliant, and the website has lots of info on local producers, as well as a search by product function where you can find local prodcuers and seasons.)

Aaanyway, May = late autumn, which in my mind equals two delicious things: apples and rhubarb!! But there are a surprising number of options this time of year, with tonnes of Asian greens in season as well as your root veges which are ideal for soups and stews.

Fruits:

apples (bonza, braeburn, fuji, gala, golden delicious, granny smith, jonagold, jonathan, mutso, pink lady, red delicious, snow, sundowner)

banana

cumquat

custard apple

feijoa

grapes (purple cornichon, waltham cross)

kiwifruit

lemons

limes

mandarin (imperial)

melon (champagne)

nuts (chestnut, hazelnut, peanut, walnut)

pears (howell, josephine, packham, red sensation, williams)

persimmon

quince

rhubarb

Vegetables:

asian greens (bok choy, choy sum, gai laan, wonga bok) 

avocados (fuerte, sharwill) 

beetroot 

broccoli 

brussels sprout

cabbage

carrots

cauliflower

celeriac

celery

daikon

eggplant

fennel

leeks

lettuce, 

mushrooms (wild, field, pine, slippery jacks) 

okra

olives

onions (brown, spring) 

parsnip

peas

potato

pumpkin

shallots

silverbeet

spinach

squash

swede

sweet potato

taro

tomato

turnip

witlof

zucchini

*This list is for Australian fruit and vege seasons.

I know for me, shopping in season stretches my cooking muscles in sometimes uncomfortable ways, because it forces me to continuously revisit my go-to meals and start to look at ways of using less common (or less commonly used) veges. I think that can only be a good thing, and I'm aiming to this year start to try a few new recipes that take full advantage of all the good stuff we can grow here in Australia.

Play Time! Bubble Painting

Excuse the crummy iPhone shots!

Isy and I spent a good hour playing with this one afternoon, which is quite good considering her concentration span doesn't often stretch longer than an episode of Charlie and Lola (ie 10 minutes). It's super easy to set up, really genuinely fun to do (for both parents and kids) and messy/creative/fast/satisfying enough to entice pretty much everyone.

Just a note, you probably want this to be an outside craft session as it can get a little messy. And maybe some old clothes. Because when I say "a little messy" I mean, "the potential is there for this to get crazy messy."

You'll need:

dishwashing liquid (I just used the trusty castile soap)
liquid food colouring
plastic cups
stirrers
bubble wand
paper

Just pour a little bit of soap into each of your plastic cups and add a few drops of food colouring to each cup. It would be fun to mix the colours up and come up with some really pretty options, but we just went with the stock-standard colours that the colouring came in - red, yellow, green, blue. Mix with a stirrer and you're ready to go.

Dip your wand into the bubbles and blow towards the paper. I really loved the delicate patterns you can create, as well as the unpredictability of it. Isla on the other hand loved mixing the different coloured bubble mixtures together, Mad Professor style.

Meat-free Monday: Hearty Vegetable Soup

The weather here last week was ridiculously cold. Like middle-of-winter cold. And this easy-peasy vege soup came in great handy. Added bonus: you can replace/add extra any veges you like. It's a good way to use up leftover veges that may be rattling around in the crisper.

This quantity made enough for 2 meals for Sparky, Isy and myself, plus a little leftover for my lunch.

You'll need:


1 tbsp butter
1 carrot, chopped
1 potato, chopped
green beans, chopped
* in last week's version, I used potato, sweet potato, zucchini, squash, peas and carrot*
1 onion, finely sliced
400g can crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 cups vege stock
thyme
2 tsp sugar
300g can butter beans, rinsed and drained

1. Heat butter in large pan, add onion, stirring starting to soften. Add veges and undrained tomatoes. Cook, stirring until onion is soft.

2. Stir in blended flour and tomato paste, then add stock, thyme and sugar.

3. Stir over heat until soup boils and begins to thicken, then simmer uncovered until veges are tender. Stir through butter beans.

That's it! And another bonus, like most soups and stews, this one tasted even better the next night. (I love leftovers!)

For other Meat-Free Monday meals, click here.

Things I Have Learnt

So I was struck down with a super nasty tummy bug on Friday (hence the radio silence) and spent a fair bit of the weekend looking after Isy, who also got sick, and tackling a hefty mound of gross laundry after I recovered. Fun, you say? Of course!

Despite the yick-factor, we actually had a really nice weekend. The weather was delicious on Sunday, which meant lots of outdoors, plus getting through a heap of tiny projects we've never gotten around to since moving back in post-renovation. Things like hanging curtains in the kids' rooms, putting some bits and pieces up on the walls of the living room, fixing the laundry shelf. You know, really exciting stuff.

Things I learnt on the weekend, in no particular order:

- After rubbishing castile soap as a shampoo, I am now having to eat my words, as I've discovered it is the best shampoo going for my short short hair. It kind of makes it feel like salty beach hair and not 100% clean, which is good when my hair is short because super clean hair = boofy = hair helmet. My apologies, Dr Bronner.

- There is no such thing as an ill-timed Christmas party.

- Never underestimate how many people are searching the Google for a 160cm Salomon Snowboard. (Hi guys!)

- Even though meatballs and bolegnaise have virtually the same ingredients, meatballs win. Every time.

- Using craft leftovers for more craft is ridiculously satisfying.

- A paper crown could well make someone's day.

- Sweet peas are incredibly easy to grow (so far). Plus, I shouldn't underestimate how good gardening is for the soul.

- A liberal spray with vinegar and water will get rid of unpleasant smells.

- Pretty things on the wall make me happy. Even more so when some of them have been made by me and Isy.

Meat-Free Monday coming up shortly!

Hey There, Distraction. Thanks for kicking my arse.

I whipped into my studio/storeroom just after the kids went to sleep, with all intentions of posting a quick, easy chocolate-chip cookie recipe to help use up your extra Easter eggs (cause if you're anything like us, they're still coming out the wazoo and any pleasure gained from eating them has been replaced with a bloated self-loathing. No? Oh, it's just me then. Carry on.) But I got sucked down the internet rabbit-hole and found myself reading my old jewellery business blog, Trove.

I honestly haven't given it too much thought since we closed the business down last year (a move I in no way regret. The timing was just bad for us to have such a big, involved business.) but reading over the journey Sparky and I (and Isy for some of it) have taken did make me feel...funny. I remember so many late nights, so many books scrawled with plans and calculations and figures and collections and sketches and logos, so many big big dreams. I don't think I realised until just now just how close we were to making those dreams a reality.

But that's the only bad thing about dreams becoming reality: the reality part.

The long, long hours, the crappy pay, the time spent away from the kids and Sparky, the hundreds of hours of stress and guilt.

Life is a constant see-saw balancing act, where you need to give and take to keep the overall balance there. Sometimes you tip one way, other times you lean in the opposite direction. Sometimes you even feel stable and balanced.

For us, Trove pushed the balance too far in one direction and made it really difficult to tip back. So, when I read about the excitement and promise that was in our business, I need to remind myself that this quest for a simple(r) life means there's plenty of time for everything, just not at the same time.

*And here ends today's diary entry.

Continue on for a delicious choc-chip cookie recipe, that allows you to use up your extra Easter eggs...

You'll need: 


125g butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup SR flour
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup rolled oats (I often use muesli if I'm out of oats)
1 cup choc bits or chopped up Easter eggs
a handful of sultanas

1. Melt butter and peanut butter over medium heat. Once combined, transfer to a large bowl and cool for five minutes.

2. Add brown sugar and egg, mix well. Add flours, oats, chocolate and sultanas. Mix well to combine.

3. Roll tablespoons of mixture into balls, place on baking paper lined trays and flatten slightly with a fork.

4. Cook in preheated oven (180C) for 10-12 minutes or until golden. (By around 12 minutes they tend to go quite hard and crunchy. 10 or 11 minutes leaves them chewy.)

Delish, and calorie free when consumed for breakfast. (Not that I ate two.)

Image: AmeliaKay on Etsy

So I've been pondering a little bit. Pondering what this Experiment is all about. Trying to come up with a good response to the question that inevitably arises when people say:

"Oh, you blog? What's your blog called? ...The Lavender Experiment? And what's that all about exactly?"

If I had five minutes I could give them a rambling repsonse, but no-one wants a five minute monologue answer, so I generally say, "Oh, well, um, it's about living simpler and greener. A bit of craft, a bit of repurposing, a bit of recycling, some gardening, cooking. You know." It does the job I guess, but I think it lacks panache.

This is what it's all about:

Living simpler by: decluttering.
Living simpler by: organising my life.
Living simpler by: buying less and making more.
Living simpler by: cooking healthy, easy meals for my family.
Living simpler by: budgeting.


Living greener by: reducing waste.
Living greener by: repurposing things into beautiful decor and toys.
Living greener by: using all-natural cleaning and body products.
Living greener by: buying our groceries locally and in season.
Living greener by: producing some of our own food at home.


I want to live simpler. I want to live greener. I want to create a home for my family that is beautiful, mindful and full of good memories. I want to show people that even small changes, over time, add up to make a big difference.

 Now, to condense that into a one-sentence answer...

K.I.S.S: Love it or get rid of it (part 2)

My efforts to simplify and declutter are slowly paying off, as I've sold a few things on ebay already. It's so nice to get a bit of cash for clutter, but it's even nicer to see the back of the extra stuff we've accumulated over the years.

This week I need to get cracking though, and try and offload some more. Here's what I have lined up to go:

• ladies 160cm Salomon snowboard
• ladies Salomon bindings
• ladies Vans snowboard boots 
• ladies Dakine ski mittens
• 3 x snowboard pants
• tonnes of jewellery-making bits and bobs

There's a saying about only making space in your home for things that are either functional or beautiful, and while I think that level of extreme decluttering is a bit far-fetched for us right now, I like the idea behind it. I sometimes feel so tied down by our stuff (and we really don't have a huge amount by today's standards) and wonder how people think past generations got by without six of everything?

Personal storage facilities are a new invention - they've only been around for the past 20 years or so. Before that, we could just, you know, fit our stuff in our houses. Crazy, right?

Meat-Free Monday: Tuna Pasta

I've done it again. Fish in Meat Free Mondays. I am living on the edge, I know. Tut, tut.

Facetiousness aside, this Jamie Oliver inspired meal is one of the best, easiest, tastiest pastas going round. Trust me, it'll find its way into your repertoire in no time!

You'll need:


large tin of tuna in olive oil
onion, chopped
garlic, crushed
chilli flakes (optional)
cinnamon
basil - stems chopped and leaves torn roughly
bottle of passata (or Dolmio Classic Tomato Pasta Sauce - it's really tasty, no preservatives, additives etc)
fusilli or similar pasta
salt and pepper

1. Cook the garlic, onion and chilli for a few minutes in some olive oil. Add the basil stems and about 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Cook for another couple of minutes.

2. Roughly drain the tuna and flake it with a fork. Add to the pan, along with the passata or pasta sauce. Simmer for 20 minutes or so.

3. Cook your pasta, drain and add to the pan. Combine with the sauce, season and throw through some basil leaves.

4. Top with more basil, pepper and parmesan.

Cue mouth watering.