25 Ways to Holiday at Home

This post appears in response to this week's theme for our #52climatesolutions series on Instagram. You can pop over there for more information on how holidaying at home can be a useful skill to learn for the future. 

It may seem a little strange to be sharing this list while none of us really have much choice but to be at home. Those of us who are fortunate to have a home, that is. We’re in the midst of a stressful situation that’s shifting our priorities, bringing forward anxieties and rewiring our brains and how we see ourselves moving forward. Business is anything but usual. Giving ourselves a little space to just be where we are and appreciate our surroundings (like we do on holidays), may be just the ticket. Particularly if you’re self isolating with kids (never was there a clearer oxymoron). Shifting to learning at home full-time isn’t easy, so focusing on spending time together and strengthening relationships can be very important. Perhaps the school holidays came just at the right time. 

When this period of time is behind us, will we go back to our old ways? Will we ignore the impacts travel has on the environment and holiday like there’s no tomorrow? Perhaps we’ll take some lessons from our period of time at home and holiday at home intentionally again. Whatever you choose in the future, here are some suggestions for now. We hope they help:

• Camp out - in the backyard or your lounge room. Pitch a tent and sleep under the stars, or under twinkle lights by your tv. We can’t guarantee you a good night’s sleep but your kids (and pets) will love you all the more for it. 
• Cook with fire - if you have a wood heater or space for a little outdoor campfire, toast some marshmallows, bake some damper, enjoy the warmth and gaze into the coals. 
• Stargaze - If you have a backyard or a balcony, a little stargazing can be a wonderful way to connect with nature, and observe what’s happening around you. If you’re in the city and can’t see the stars to clearly, perhaps try an app like Sky Safari, or a sky map to help you work out where the constellations are. 
• Nature walk in your street - what seasonal changes are you noticing? What sounds and scents? Try taking some photos and draw from them when you get home. For extra fun, go after dark, with torches and spot nocturnal wildlife. 
• Start a holiday diary - perhaps a nature journal, or just daily observations of the world around you. 
• Move your furniture around - Swap bedrooms, look at your home and how you use it, in different ways. A change is as good as a holiday!
• Give your bedroom a deep clean - Change the sheets (there’s nothing better!) and put a chocolate on the pillow if you like!
• Bring the outdoors in - Plant some pots up with herbs, indoor plants or flowers that make you happy, provide food or freshen the air a little. 
• Send postcards or letters to the friends you’re missing - Tell them what you’ve been up to. There’s something special about receiving a note in the mail. 
• Send a gift - whether it's a bunch of flowers or a favourite book you’ve been reading, find a small and local business to support and have them send a gift on your behalf, if you’re not able to attend the post office in person.
• Learn a new skill - Learn to bake bread, knit, grow food, play an instrument. Emerge from your holiday at home with a skill you can share with your friends and family when you see them next. 
• Find out about a different culture - learn the history, language and perhaps try the foods of the place you’d like to learn about. 
• Visit museums, galleries and zoos, virtually - webcams and virtual tours are happening now in facilities all over the world. Go exploring and learn all the things! 
• Write to a pen pal - reach out to people in other parts of the world and look for a pen pal (perhaps through friends of friends or someone you know online?). Send them a lovely message telling them about what it’s like where you are, and ask them to describe their day-to-day. There’s solidarity and connection to be found in the written word! 
• Learn the history of where you live -  Find out about First Nations people, the geological formations, famous landmarks, favourite buildings. 
• Read all the books! There’s never been a better time to catch up on the books you’ve been meaning to read. If you don’t have an unread stack and prefer not to buy books, you might try borrowing ebooks and audio books through your local library. Some subscription services are offering freebies now too. 
• Splurge on a take-away meal - give yourself the night off and support a local hospitality business who makes great food. Many are struggling right now and have opened up take away and delivery meal options. Look for restaurants who cook using local ingredients and ask about compostable packaging! 
• Eat local food - be a locavore and experience what your local diet really tastes like, whether it’s bought, foraged or both.
• Go dancing - well, maybe just in your lounge room, but have a dance party and truly let your hair down. 
• Initiate new routines - perhaps you’ve been meaning to maintain a sourdough starter and bake regularly, do a little yoga or walk each day, or you’ve been meaning to reduce your family’s waste output? Now’s a good time to start incorporating new things into your daily rhythm so they’ll be second nature when life’s feeling more normal. 
• Get some sunshine - If you have a little sunny space to sit or stretch out, take time to rest in it and enjoy the sun's warmth and a bit of Vitamin D.
• Catch up on watching old movies - or nature documentaries you haven’t had time for. You’ll have a family of film buffs and nature lovers in no time.
• Play games - board games, card games, do the crossword.
• Take a nap - The sign of any restful holiday. Nanas of the world will agree!
• Slow down - Remember how to slow down and take each day at a time. Be gentle with yourself. These are unusual and uncertain times we're living through. Know that while you stay home, you're currently supporting front line workers and the broader community, and significantly reducing the impact your family has on our changing climate. 

And when the hardest of this is behind us… holidays at home might include visiting local museums, galleries, ecosystems, restaurants, and hotels. You might try camping not too far from home or bushwalking somewhere you’ve never been before. Support your local businesses, keep carbon emissions low, and your local community resilient.  

Pigface Jam

A couple of years ago, on the way home from the beach, I tripped over a runner of pigface stretching across the track back to the car. I picked it up and saw some tiny roots poking out, so I carried it home with me and popped it out in the backyard, beside the herb garden. I didn't expect it to grow, but grow it did, and it completely covered a large grassy patch quite quickly. It grew in heavy clay soil, in the shade and continues to cover as much of the garden as we let it. We use it for bee stings and burns, in the same way you'd use aloe vera, so it's spot near the back door is quite practical.

This year, the pig face patch grew dozens of beautiful bright magenta flowers, which the bees adored. These turned into amazing looking red fruit… and so we made jam.

We referred to this recipe, but made a few minor changes, so here's our version…

1. Collect and peel 2 cups of pig face fruit pulp. The red fleshy skin peels away from the inside ball of pulp quite easily.
2. Place it in a saucepan with 1 cup of sugar and 3 cups of water.
3. Cut a lemon in half, squeeze it a bit and throw it in, peel and all.
4. Bring to a boil while sterilising a jar or two.
5.  Simmer and test the jam until it has thickened to a suitable jammy consistency - ours became really stretchy which is quite unlike any jam I've ever seen before!
6. Strain the jam if you like (we didn't).
7. Pour or ladle it into jars.

The jam is an interesting dark colour, but the flavour is amazing! Pigface fruit taste sweet and salty, with hints of strawberry and guava. The jam is all of that but sweeter… Delicious on sourdough with a little butter.

The entire plant is useful and edible. Leaves can be used in salads and wherever you might enjoy juicy and salty hints of flavour. Our chooks seem to enjoy a nibble, too! If you happen to trip over a little pig face on your way home from the beach, I'd highly recommend plonking it in your garden somewhere and enjoying this readily available bush food. Or perhaps, while you're at the beach, indulge in a little foraging? It's well worth the effort.

~ Lauren. xx

Taking Stock :: Summer

It's been months since our last post! We've been busy as ever, doing all the things. There's much to write about. But for now, I'm ripping the bandaid off and posting a simple stocktake of where we're at now...

Making: Pigface Jam. I'm hoping it's a thing. We have lots of pigface.
Cooking: Chocolate Zucchini Cake. It's zucchini season and this cake feeds hungry owlets well!  
Drinking: Home made lemon and mint cordial. So good!
Reading: The Women in Black and Dark Emu. I read snippets when I can. Very slowly!
Wanting: So many more hours in the day and limitless energy. Yep.
Looking: Out the window to see when it's good beach weather. 
Preserving: Tomatoes! 
Considering: Sauce or canning whole toms for winter? I think whole. 
Harvesting: Tomatoes, mulberries, cucumbers, strawberries, rhubarb, apples, beans… Blueberries!
Wishing: Straws and napkins at cafes were an opt-in situation.
Enjoying: Hanging out at the beach on sunny afternoons. 
Waiting: For the rest of the tomatoes to ripen. And the corn to grow! I'm not sure it will. 
Liking: Starting our days with yoga most days. 
Wondering: Where the ducks have hidden the eggs.
Loving: Watching all the best 90's movies with Big Owlet. 
Pondering: Moving to a cheaper house, far away, with more land for growing more things. 
Foraging: Elderberries. Apparently I'm not the only one. If you see any, let me know!
Listening: To the rain pouring outside. Gotta love Tasmanian summer. 
Deciding: We're super happy living right where we are. Urban permaculture is where it's at. Remind me again in July. 
Buying: Milk in bottles again at the farmers market! Woohoo! And fetta and halloumi. Sundays are the best!
Watching: The West Wing and pretending its real life. Also Gossip Girl because it's the opposite of our life. Escapism can be fun!
Hoping: We can afford a holiday this year. 
Marvelling: At how much food three owlets can eat.
Cringing: At the news. See Watching. 
Needing: Firewood. 
Learning: As much as I can about herbs. This seems to be a sporadic, lifelong project for me. 
Questioning: How I'm going to nourish our soil better this year. 
Smelling: Basil. One of the greatest summer smells, I reckon.
Wearing: A new pair of Softstar shoes. My last pair lasted for 4 years! These were a little Christmas splurge for me. Barefoot shoes make all the difference for me. 
Noticing: The light is definitely changing. It's a little more golden now. I see you there, Autumn.
Thinking: That I'm glad we've taken our time to ease into this year a little gently and thoughtfully.
Knowing: The rest of the year will probably be full on. 
Admiring: Fellow homeschoolers who plan amazing, incredible and super beautiful years for their owlets. 
Sewing: Cloth pads. Practical, necessary and waste free!
Getting: Some immune system building remedies ready. All the garlic. 
Bookmarking: Fire Cider recipes. Tweaking and picking what works for us where we are. 
Closing: My laptop any minute now. 
Feeling: Excited about visiting my sister next month and giving my nephews a squoosh.
Celebrating: The long weekend in Hobart. Gotta love extra time with Huz. 
Embracing: Big, scary, exciting challenges in the works. They're the best kind.

~ Lauren. xx

Apple Jelly

In amongst all our rambling, wandering adventures of late, we've kept an eye out for roadside treasures. Tasmania is full of gorgeous little farm gate stalls, but for the adventurous, there are also plentiful finds, growing wild along the roadside. A drive through the Huon Valley turns up baskets full of apples, haws, edible weeds and the occasional late berry, if you're lucky to find a spray-free patch. All that food, ready for the eating if we keep our eyes open, slow down and stop the car from time to time. 

A lazy walk home from co-op one day left me with a bowl full of rosehips. The following day we took a huge drive down to the far south and pulled over from some apples from an ancient wild tree. The owlets offered to taste test the huge apples and, upon finding them rather tart, we decided to make some jelly. We're loving the delicate flavour of this batch and I think next year I'll aim for more rosehips to really boost that flavour. Jam and jelly aficionado, Little Owlet, tells me her favourite is the Quince and Orange Jelly we made last weekend, but she'll happily eat either with a spoon - and does! 

Apple and Rosehip Jelly

1kg apples, or thereabouts

2 cups of rosehips 

Sugar - we used organic raw sugar, but rapadura, juice or honey or a mix of sweeteners would be fine. 

Water

Chop the apples up roughly , core, stems and all. Pop them in a large pot with the rosehips and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the fruit is soft. Place a colander over bowl and place some muslin or old stocking over the colander. Strain the fruit - leave it overnight if necessary. Try not to squeeze the fruit as the jelly will be clearer if it drains naturally. 

Measure the amount of juice and add half the amount of sugar along with it to a pot. For example, for 4 cups of juice, add 2 cups of sugar. Most recipes will suggest you need to have an equal amount of sugar, but we find it just too sweet - this will also depend on what sweetener you choose. There is enough pectin in the fruit to set the jelly anyway. Simmer the juice and sugar until it becomes jelly. Scoop off any foam that forms on the surface. Place some clean jars in a pot of water on the stove and boil for a little while. 

Place a saucer in the freezer. Test the consistency of the jelly every now and then by dropping some onto the saucer. When the liquid thickens and holds it's shape a little when you run a finger through it, it is ready. Have your jars ready and ladle or pour the jelly into the jars and pop the lids on to seal. 

We enjoy eating our jelly on toast, in cakes and tarts, with cheese, or (if you're like Little Owlet), with a spoon. It tastes and looks so jewel-like and decadent, but it only cost us about 50c per jar, just for the sugar! It pays to keep those eyes open and go slow...

What's your favourite way to use fruit at this time of year?

Off on any foraging adventures of late? 

Have a gorgeous weekend! 

~ Lauren. xx