An unexpected slowing, a pattern and a tutorial...

I think many of you know that I've been pursuing a slower, simpler life for more than a decade now, probably since around 2012.  At first it was all about discovering who I was after many years of homeschooling, and then a realisation graciously unfolded before me from the Lord that I was now about to embark on a new season of life. I was an empty nester, no longer teaching, and discovering life with just the two of us left at home held a great blessing and immense joy. 

Life in the home would be slower, simpler, and different - though my natural "I can do it all" personality would thwart me off that track for many years. Slowing for me meant slow to learn! But I have, bit by bit, found that slowing, and especially living more simply, is what my heart truly needed all along. 

When I announced retiring from the blog last June, it was with full intent to not return. I spent the first two weeks shredding sixteen years of Elefantz Designs paperwork, and the next two weeks working in the garden. My heart soared in the garden! The joy was indescribable, and I felt perfectly at peace with my retirement decision. It was as though a huge weight had been lifted and I was free to live a much slower paced life as a very contented homemaker. 

And then I had an accident and injured my knee, an injury which ten months later has not improved, and is actually a bit worse than before. I was shattered at not being able to move around the garden, and follow through on the plans I had made for it and for our home. There have been other health issues since then, which praise the Lord have now been resolved, but the knee injury is the one which restricts me like no other. 

Back to blogging in November, there was joy being able to connect with you again, as I rarely see anybody since the injury, and that helped me to put the disappointments aside and get on with life as a slightly much slower homemaker. In fact I look back now and see all of this a blessing in disguise. My heart's desire was to live a slower simpler life, and God has used my unexpected physical limitations to teach me exactly how to do it. 

So here's the thing I have been reflecting on this week...

When you can only walk slow, everything in life slows with it. As the months have passed, I find myself not only unable to hurry, but not wanting to either. Not as much gets done around the house, or the garden, in any given day, but things eventually get done in time. I have learned that there's no rush to housework, no checklist to mark off at the end of the day, and no feelings of failure when tasks have to wait.

The garden is coming along well because of those small increments of care given in pure delight, and the preparation and care of making our sourdough bread over 24 hours every third day is an absolute slow joy after many years of baking a loaf within three hours. 

When I look around our home I see a place that is lived in, with a lot of love, a sanctuary for my beloved and I to enjoy each other where we can close a door on the world outside. I'm noticing things that eluded me before, and delighting in what once was seemingly unimportant. When I do something like cleaning the oven, I take my time, and it can be many hours of slow work, but I notice things which had been invisible before. 

For example, cleaning the oven this week I thought about what a home baker once said about putting dough to rise in the empty oven with just the light on - that it would give a subtle enough warmth to help the dough rise, and with milder winter days coming that setting would have been beneficial but alas I do not have an oven light. 

Then as I cleaned, I thought to check the oven manual. You never know what's right before you until you slooooowwww down. 

On my oven settings there's fan bake, ordinary bake, rapid bake, grill...quite a few settings, and I use them all for different things. But in the manual it mentioned a Defrost setting which can be used to defrost food from the freezer AND to rise dough! I walked slowly to the oven dials and yes, there it was in plain sight and I'd never noticed it. 

I wonder what else I'm going to discover that has been overlooked these past eight years living here? There's so much to love about this slower life, my friends. Yes it involves pain, and yes, it prevents me from driving the car, but it has so many benefits to rejoice in, and I choose to rejoice.

Now, this week I wanted to give you a couple of free projects. 

One is an embroidery pattern that ties right in to choosing a slower life. May it be a gift that blesses you, and anyone you choose to stitch it for. Use the link below to download my free "Message to Self" pattern.

DOWNLOAD the free pattern

The second gift is a tutorial which was originally shared here during Covid. I want to share a few home-focused projects with you in the coming weeks, and this is a favourite of mine. The Farmhouse Produce Bags are simple to make and you only need a few things, one of the them being a cotton tea towel. 

I made two back in 2020, one for onions and the other for potatoes, and they have stood the test of time because I still use them today. Six years on and they are still pretty, still functional and have not worn out. Using good quality tea towels may be one reason for that, but I also think the French seams have kept them sturdy.

We use brown onions and red onions, but all this time I've mixed them both in the same onions bag. Early this week that changed. I decided the red onions needed a bag of their own, so I followed my own tutorial, and made one...

If you'd like to make some Farmhouse Produce Bags, I have put the tutorial into a PDF file for you to download and keep. These bags would be fine for storing other things too, such as dried beans, parsnips, or whatever you like to store in cotton that will keep well. 

Use the link below to download the free tutorial.

DOWNLOAD the free tutorial

I completed the cushion made using the free Bird in Pot pattern I shared with you HERE and it's sitting in my leather chair by the front window, where our dear Kelly-dog loves to watch all the roadworks which have been going on out front since January. 

How are you? Have you had an experience which forced you to slow down, but became a blessing in disguise? Perhaps your slowing is still fresh and its been very difficult to accept - know that I am praying for all of you who are going through such a time.

Remember always, God sees you. He is not blind to your struggles, nor ignorant of your joys. He is our Father who loves us, and His mighty hands hold us even through the fire, the storm and the valley. This season has taught me to not just pray for healing, but to pray for my eyes to see the good in it, and my heart to overflow with happiness and gratitude.

ABIGAIL - I almost forgot to tell you that I have made the entire Abigail Bible study into one PDF file. You can download it HERE

God bless,

until next time,

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You will find loads of patterns for instant download HERE in my Etsy Shop 

March days at home and Abigail part 4...

 

How quickly these weeks pass in 2026. I've been needing to take a number of rests each day, but in between those rests my heart is happy to do precious homemaking tasks, which are essential for my good mental health. 

The Lord assists me to ponder the blessings of life, and to keep up with the essential chores, as well as the ones that are done monthly or seasonaly. Last week I spent hours on and off through Monday to deep clean our laundry, knowing the following day would require complete rest, and my goodness, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction felt afterwards was akin to enjoying a bar of my favourite Turkish Delight! So naturally I ordered one in the following day's grocery delivery. Blossom and I have spent the past 30 years enjoying these as a treat! Do you have a favourite chocolate bar??

I've had numerous emails and messages asking about my knee and many of you thought it was arthritic in nature. I'll answer quickly here, to avoid more email overload (though I am so very thankful for the prayers, love and concern you show me!)...its not arthritis, but a number of other things that occurred during an accident last July. The main source of the pain however, are two 'bone marrow oedemas' which are akin to very sharp knives stabbing my knee and tibia all the time, but worst of all during the night. I finally get to see an orthopaedic specialist next Tuesday and I am hopeful he will be able to guide me through ways to heal. Would love your prayers - thank you. xx

Above is the UFO project I have chosen to complete this month. The blocks began back in 2024 as part of a quilt project a friend and I were both making at the time. She has continued with it, but I got to a certain stage where the reality hit that I would not be able to quilt it by hand as it is a very large quilt, and living in the hot tropics would make such an undertaking very taxing, and we simply cannot afford to have a quilt top professionaly quilted. 

So last year I chose a few blocks to use in a table runner, as I really love the fabrics and colours. The prints used were many years old, and belong to fat quarters, charm squares and yardage, from Lecien a decade ago (who no longer produce fabrics) and some Mary Englebright from about 2008. There's also some other very old prints, and all together they make the happiest display for a table topper. 

Have you been working on a March UFO project? What is it?

One other project I already finished this month was the bunny I knitted all the pieces for last October and November, but had not sewn together. Finally I did that the first week of March and gifted it to Rafaella for her 8th birthday last week. She absolutely loved it and takes her bunny-girl to bed every night.

There was a lot of purple DK yarn in my knitting supplies after the bunny's dress, shoes and bow were completed, so I thought it would be fun to knit myself a pair of slipper socks in the hope of having a cool winter this year. My mindset was "if you make it, winter will come". Ha ha!! We shall see. ;-)

Not being at all interested in knitting socks on four needles, I came across this pattern for two-needle socks on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. Now the pattern called for DK yarn and 3mm needles, so I assumed (we should never assume, right?) that using the Stylecraft DK yarn from the UK would be the same as what was in the pattern...but nooooo. 

Having never heard of Super Corfou, I did a google and it just said DK, so I googled no further. And admittedly I did not knit a tension square, because I'm lazy like that. Shocked? Don't be. 

Not far into the pattern I could see these socks being rather small for my size 7 feet (EU 37)...

...but still, I knitted on. Once begun, I loved the texture and colours, so I decided they'd fit one of my granddaughters.  

Both feet are completed now, I just need to stitch them up. Before winter would be good. 

Now that I know the instructions I followed, using my DK yarn and not the one suggested, knit up a much smaller slipper sock than I can wear, the instructions shall be modified to fit my dear feet. Sadly I have no more purple yarn, but there are many other pretty colours in the yarn stash to choose from. I shall keep you posted on how this modified plan works out if you're interested. Or perhaps you have some advice to share?? Larger needles perhaps??

Sourdough baking is becoming a twice a week delight, with a third weekly loaf of 'ordinary sandwich bread' in between. My husband can eat bread with anything, and I mean anything. It's what he goes for around 8pm each night, with a thick slather of peanut butter, and is what he likes generous portions of in his packed lunch for work. Fortunately, breadmaking is my delight! 

It's been almost two months since Rosie and I have been able to meet up for a lovely morning tea and chat. One reason is that I am unable to drive with my knee problem so I can't visit Rosie, and another is that our road is being ripped up (been going on for two years, but now they are right in front of our house and many homes on either side) to lay new pipes, widen the road, alter the lanes, tear down trees, put in traffic lights, and various other obstacles to a peaceful existence, and a third is the monsoonal wet season which has brought flooding much of the time. 

But I had a wonderful surprise on Saturday morning, when Rosie knocked on my door for a two-minute visit, and to bless me with birthday and get-well gifts! Non-residents are not allowed to drive into the roadwork constructions areas, so her dear hubby Brian parked up the road and Rosie walked down to my place. What a happy hug!! Seeing her was so good for my heart, and I was incredibly blessed with the bundle of lovely gifts. She knows me well, and included in all the gifts was a gorgeous ceramic pear and a bag of spearmint leaves (I collect pears, and spearmint leaves are my favourite lollies).

Hopefully I can get back to short sessions on the sewing machine next week, as what I intend making only requires a few minutes on the machine, and the rest can be hand sewn and crocheted. You know I love making jar toppers, and as well as sewing a lot for myself, I have gifted quite a few at Christmas and birthdays. They are so simple to make, and quick too. Some have lace sewn around the edges, some do not, and others I have crocheted around the edge. Some jar toppers are just fabric (lined so that both sides are different), and some have embroidery on top. You can get quite creative with how you make them, but the best thing is how lovely they look in the pantry or on a shelf. 

The photo below was taken in January and you can see what I mean about how lovely they look on jars, especially when they are together along a shelf...

...but this week, I did a huge pantry stock-up shop (home delivery is such a blessing right now) and all my shelves have had to very slowly be emptied, cleaned, and reorganised to accommodate extra supplies.  I decided to use one of those shelves to house all my dried and medicinal herbs, the ones I use for herbal teas. Right now the jars look so very plain, but in coming weeks some new pretty toppers will make everything pleasing to the eye. 

I've quite adjusted to doing everything slowly now. It was hard for many months, and I did my recovery no help by being frustrated and pushing my leg beyond it's ability more times than you'd know. Finally, after my latest MRI in February, I was content to go slowly, to consider my capability and pain level each day before beginning a task. Knitting has been a true delight, beyond any other crafty pursuit since my accident last year. I hope to get back to crochet when winter arrives in June, and eventually complete the blanket I began in 2024, but for now, those hand stitched UFO projects each month are satisfying, and the small knitted items are easy to pick up and put down. Breadmaking is a joy, and so are the simple wholesome meals of old that nourish us and are quick to make, or easy to languish in the slow cooker. I have even learned to roast a whole chicken in the air fryer and it's delicious! 

The garden is too often flooded this wet season, and completely overgrown with weeds, but it can wait until I am healed and functioning. Some things just have to wait, while other things take priority, and there's no need to feel bad about that. Life is a series of seasons, and when you accept that, and choose to work with whatever season you're in, your mind can be calm, your heart at peace, and you know that you know God is still in control. That truth is what I lean on, it's what gives me hope, it holds me steady when the storms of life swirl around, and it is what I hope you know too. 

ABIGAIL: part four

The final part of our study has been published and you will find it HERE on the Abigail page of my blog.

What a blessing this study has been in putting my own character under the microscope of God's Word! May it be a source of blessing to you as well. 

Until next time my lovelies, 

My free newsletter is back. Just sign up HERE and you'll receive it every couple of weeks.

15% off all Elefantz patterns HERE in my Etsy Shop until March 20th.

Jam, fingerless mittens and Abigail part 3...

 

JAM

It is the end of stone fruit season in Australia, so before it all disappears I have jam making on my calendar. Over the weekend I made apricot jam, one of my personal favourites, but I did have to be frugal about it as apricots are quite expensive. It helps that no-one else in the family considers apricot jam their favourite, so the two large jars I made up will last me a while. 

Blossom's favourite jam is strawberry, and I always make a big batch of that around July or August, as where we live in the tropics, strawberries are in season through winter. 

Cully May and I both love plum jam, and I have about three kilos in the fridge waiting for me to prepare them, but as I've had a very painful few days with my knee and cannot stand very long, they will have to wait a bit longer. 

Rafaella and Charlie David love my Lime Butter, and Lemon Butter. As our lime tree is heavy with fruit right now, they are making the most of whatever I can make them. Apparently Charlie David eats our limes like oranges! I give him a few to take home, thinking he'll have some slices in his water (he loves that) but in fact he's eating them whole. By the way, he eats lemons too. 

KNITTING

Lately I've had a feeling that we may get an actual winter this year - something rare in the tropics. Last year's winter was so mild and very warm, that it was only during a week of cooler temps (23-25C days) that I realised my feet were cold and I needed some warm clothes. I still do not have any closed-in shoes, or warm slippers, but I am starting to prepare for these purchases. 

One thing I am doing, using what I already have, is to knit fingerless mittens. Many years ago I bought this pattern, Misselthwaite Mitts from Alicia Paulson, because I loved how she'd embroidered the little vignette's (inspired by the book The Secret Garden) on all sides of the mittens, but as I only have variegated 4ply fingering yarn in my stash and no solid colours, I simply went ahead and knitted them plain. Such an easy pattern too!

These are the mittens I completed for myself...

On Tuesday I had Blossom and the children visit for the day, and Charlie David absolutely loved my mittens, wearing them around for ages. The he asked, "Nana, will you make me some too?!" and of course I said yes. :-)

He told me how he loves the colours in a sunrise and sunset, so this is the yarn I'll use for his...

I altered the pattern to fit his hands, with room for growth, and made a start this morning. Blossom is very excited because she is sure he will love them. She also requested a pair for herself. It's rather fun to have these projects on hand because I adore knitting, but always need a purpose for it. 

I hope to make the embroidered mitts one day, but for now I am very happy with the plain ones!

SEWING

Another frugal activity recently has been to repair some of my linen/cotton dresses. I wear dresses every single day, and because of this, the hems can become a bit the worse for wear. I hang all our washing out back on the clothes line, and the fierce summer sun probably has a part to play in the wear and tear, but oh how I love the smell and feel of washing off the line!

Anyhow, I've been going through the cotton quilting fabrics for prints I can use as new borders on the dresses which need repair. 

This Tilda print from 2024 was leftover from a quarter metre bundle I was sent to design with back then. It's not exactly the same in colour (nothing in my stash was), but it wasn't bad and the final look is really nice - after all, this is only a day dress for wearing at home. 

Have you done any mending lately? Do you alter or repair your clothes? 

I have a number of items in my wardrobe that will be made-over in the coming month or two, but I will need to purchase some warm things as well. Even if we do not end up having a cooler winter, I'd rather be prepared than regret not doing it. 

ABIGAIL

Part three of the Abigail study is up on the Abigail page today. Looks like I've been sharing one part every three weeks, and so I'll have part four (the final part) in three weeks from now. Have you been following along?

On the Abigial page you can simply choose to read the study from there, or scroll to the bottom of each part to download the file and store on your computer. :-)

Go HERE for Abigail Part Three

The summer is fierce right now, as is usual in February, but I must admit that its really knocking us around this year. I find with each passing year, the traveling forward in age, things that were once easy are increasingly challenging. 

Staying on top of things in the garden is not happening, especially as I am unable to stand for long periods and water the parched pots and raised beds...however I am still doing a bit each day, and that consistent labour, small though it may seem, does reap rewards. As overgrown with weeds as our front garden is, the grocery delivery man this morning said "what a beautiful garden!". I lamented all the weeds which have crowded out the flowers and shrubs quite a bit, but he said, "it's still lovely!" You know, my heart lifted when he said that. 

Too often we see the weeds in our life, and the beauty that still dwells within the weeds is unnoticed until someone else points it out. That's just like the Christian walk isn't it. We are a mix of weeds and beauty - but as time passes, and our walk with the Lord grows deeper, the weeds get less and the beauty becomes more obvious. There is hope in that! 

In case you ever missed this free HOPE patterm I shall share it again...

Go HERE to my FREE patterns page for this and more stitchery gifts I have shared in the past. 

Until next week, God bless dear friends...

My free newsletter is back. Just sign up HERE and you'll receive it every couple of weeks.

The gentle art of homemaking...

 

Twelve years ago I began writing about a favourite book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity, and as the years rolled on I referred to it often, and even did a year long book study on the blog with my readers in 2019 (you can still go through that HERE). I had a block of the month with that theme (some of the patterns are HERE) as well as similar themed years for the blog along the way - you see, it really resonated with me as a homemaker and stoked the flames of my home-loving heart. 

I was thinking about this recently, especially during the cleanout of our bookcases last week, where I gathered all my homemaking books on the table, before positioning them together along three shelves, inspired to re-read as many as possible through 2026. No matter how many times I read, or flip through them, there's always something new to learn, or to consider, with regards to homemaking and living a homemaker's life.  

I was pondering the difference between what I once embraced as 'the gentle art of domesticity', and the way I think about it now as the gentle art of homemaking? I can't exactly express the difference in a way that would make sense to others, but in my own heart it is that the first was about the 'doing' (what we did in the gentle domestic life) whereas the second is about the 'being' of a homemaker, the core love in our heart for being at home, for tending the home, for making a home somewhere loved ones choose to be, for creating a sanctuary of safety and comfort that nurtures the creation of heartstrings in those who leave but know they are always welcome to return. 

There was a time when being a homemaker was quite normal, and everyone knew that the home could not function without her. Pop thanked Nana after every meal, appreciating the time and care that went into the dish she'd prepared for us. He was also keenly aware that if not for her, none of his shirts would be washed and ironed, the floors would not be swept and mopped, his lunch and mine would not be packed and ready when he left for his shift at the docks and I left for school, the pets would not be fed, and the various tasks that must be attended to in a home, whether tiny like ours, or a larger family abode, would fall by the wayside. He never held back his gratitude, but showed me by example, that her role as a homemaker was to be treasured and honoured. And I think that's the 'gentle art of domesticity' side of it all, because he saw what she did and loved her for it.

Truly, my own heart grew up longing to be like her, to care for my own home, and to be treasured and honoured in the homemaker role just as she had been - but I too saw it all as things she did, that I also wanted to do one day. And I genuinely did always love keeping house, even to this day!

But the gentle art of homemaking is something else, it requires there to be a deep love and desire in one's heart for the things we do within our walls, that we would pursue the everyday ordinary tasks with delight and joy, not feeling burdened or hard done by, resentful, or looking for a way to escape. 

I read this morning a very wise fact, "there are no greener pastures on the other side", and it made me think of women I have known in life, young mothers of the children I cared for in my home through the Family Day Care scheme. Most of them told me how much they lamented being tied to home and were now following their dream of building a career instead. Sadly, back at that time there were no time restraints on how long they took to collect their children each day, and it was common for me to have the babies and toddlers overnight, and in a few rare cases, it would be days before the mother would be back to get her child/children. They had their taste of freedom and ran with it, going out after work, and not bothering to even call me to ask if it was okay or if their child was alright.  

But some of the mothers changed their minds over time, and as their hearts returned to family and home, they would step away from the hustle of career building and settle back to where they had begun with relief and happiness. Initially growing tired of the 'doing', especially after having children and choosing to step away and escape what they described as drudgery, over time the desire to 'be' within their hearts overcame that negativity and they saw beauty in mothering, and a genuine desire to care for their homes. 

There were also other mothers who had no choice but to work, and oh how they loved their babies! They would linger for a while before saying goodbye to their little ones, and would never be late in collecting them. In fact they would sweep those babies up in their arms and hug them so tight - my heart would always swell with emotion. There was even a single father whose young son I cared for, and he worked a lot of nights so I'd have the 4 year old quite a bit, but he would get to my house as soon as he could to collect his boy, and ask his son a million questions about what he'd done or made or where he'd been during their absence from each other. When they eventually moved away to another state I received a number of postcards over the following months telling me how the boy was settling and what he'd been doing. 

Now I know many of you reading this have had, or do have careers, so you might read all this as me being negative about women and careers, but that is not so. I'm sharing the experiences of my own life, and how examining certain situations that crossed my own path are helping me right now to identify the difference between the 'doing' and the 'being' within a woman's home environment. Over the years quite a number of women have emailed me or left comments on my blog posts to tell me how much they long to 'come home' full time, but must for now continue working for one reason or another, and what I appreciate from this is that they are true homemakers in their hearts, for they long to be home. Isn't that the most important thing? No matter our circumstances, the 'doing' of domesticity can be taught, but the 'being' of a homemaker must be planted and tended in the heart, and that 'being' is not about where you are (whether in a kitchen or an office), but what's in your heart. 

I think that the gentle art of homemaking will be my theme this year on the blog, as it more accurately reflects my heart motivation, than the art of domesticity does. What are your thoughts on this?

THIS WEEK...

I have really struggled with my knee, more than over the past seven months since I injured it, so many hours a day have been spent reclining on the old soft couch with books, knitting, embroidery, old episodes of Agatha Christie, and my iPad. It's been important to get up every hour and walk around, and its in those times that I do the washing, bake bread, give things a dust, or attend to small tasks. 

I'm no longer able to drive as using the accelerator and brake cause extreme pain, but my beloved husband has tomorrow off work and will be taking me back to the doctor and we shall see where things lead from there. Dear Rosie came to visit on Monday, and kindly offered to take me to the doctor any time I need her, which means the world to me moving forward, as right now I have no idea how long before I'll be healed and back to normal movement. 

You can see the photos of my completed Japanese stitchery UFO and I'm loving how it turned out. It's also nice to have my January project in the 2026 Adventure challenge finished and hanging on the wall. I folded it over one of those art canvasses you find at the discount stores, and stitched felt across the back. 

Due to my knee, I've not yet been able to cut out the fabrics for the quilt pattern I chose to work on through this year, but I am enjoying knitting small woollen squares which shall eventually become a lap blanket, so that will be my 'extra' project to work on when each monthly UFO project is completed. 

ABIGAIL STUDY...

Part Two of the Abigail study is now up on it's own blog page, and ready for you to read or download. You will find it HERE and I'd love to hear your own thoughts as you've been studying her life. 

If you have been wanting a Bible based stitchery to work on, you will find "Grow in Grace" (photo below) as a free download HERE. It's quick to stitch up and a lovely project for gift giving, as well as displaying in your own home. Be blessed as you stitch!

God bless each and every one of you, and may He, during the year ahead, assist you to overcome your struggles, heal your heart, provide for your needs, and build your faith in Christ. 

And may we all grow in grace.

Until next week...

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Settling into bread rhythms, and part 1 of Abigail...

For many years I have chased the elusive perfect sourdough bread recipe. I remember my first attempt back in 2000, visiting a homeschool friend with the children. Her family had moved over from Sweden and she had quite an alternative lifestyle, and I'd never met anyone like her before. Apart from the children always barefoot, their beds made out of trees her husband had felled from their backyard, a swing in the bedroom made from  more trees, completely 'unstructured unschooling', and all her shelves full of alternative medicines, tinctures and salves etc, she could do the most amazing things with sourdough. 

We had not long begun homeschooling our 6 and 7yo children, having previously homeschooled Kezzie for a year in high school, and were still in the workbook mindset (though we soon switched to Charlotte Mason and never looked back) when we met this family, and it was through the mum, who became a really good friend, that my interest in natural health began, most noticeably at first with the everyday food choices we made. 

For a few years I made my sourdough, lentil patties, and hummus, exactly the same way my friend taught me, and we juiced every single day, but then we moved away to another state in January 2003, and I soon began playing around with different recipes and ideas. 

Bread became my focus, but not sourdough. I loved kneading and folding and creating all sorts of loaves by hand, and my family loved it all. It didn't matter that we had to move into a tiny one bedroom cabin atop a freezing mountain range for six months in 2005 - there was a small oven so I could still make bread every day. To be honest, the children have always agreed that those six months in 2005 were the best years of their childhood. But back to sourdough...

Off and on for the next few years, I would dabble with sourdough, but would then go back to regular bread baking, trying other things like focaccia, wholegrains, cinnamon scrolls, pita bread, pumpernickel, jam rolls or fruit loaves, until I perfected them and knew the recipe would stay the same for the rest of my life.

Around 2013 I was baking sourdough again, every second day, but with a cheat. I'd use my starter, but also add some instant yeast, so that I could rise the dough in 90 minutes and bake bread immediately after. It was still good, not as sour, but a cheat nonetheless. 

I fell off the wagon again the following year, and went back to regular bread baking, or buying ready baked loaves. My stitchery club had taken off and so I had less time to work in the kitchen. By dropping sourdough I could focus on making healthy meals instead, and back to daily juicing. 

Since we bought this house and moved in just over seven years ago, I have gone back and forth with sourdough recipes, as the internet is swarming with them, the library has an entire shelf of sourdough cookbooks, and YouTube virtually overflows with sourdough aficionados! Which is why I was going back and forth - try one way, give up. Try another, not too bad, but next loaf fails, try another, doesn't work in my climate...and you get the picture. 

And then seven months ago I read about the old way, the original way, the NON-artisan way, to regularly bake a loaf of sourdough. Then I found someone on YouTube who tried the old way and succeeded...definitely intrigued me. But then the knee issue, the arm issue, and generally no interest in anything other than baking regular loaves of bread every few days, or opting for a store bought. 

But last week. Aha. Someone in Alaska, living off grid with her family, shared how she made her sourdough bread the way they did 100 years ago, in a day, with no weighing, no frills, just basic steps and a great loaf at the end. 

I thought, no way...this won't work for me because she's off grid in snow laden Alaska, and I'm in a monsoonal hot and humid wet season in the tropics! But you know, I was intrigued. So I gave it a go. And it worked. I have never known such an easy sourdough recipe, and not one that you could make and bake the same day. 

You can see how big my loaf was in the photos above. I used half white bread flour, and half freshly milled spelt grain flour, and the sour dough starter in my fridge from three weeks ago. Truly, the size of the loaf and how quickly it rose that morning surprised me. Then to have it rise again in the dutch oven (we have a small one, too small for a loaf obviously, so now I need a larger one, or make smaller loaves) and be so delicious that hubby and I were spreading the butter and homemade apricot jam on for dinner last night, well - and so this is that one sourdough, that best recipe/technique I have been waiting for since 2000. And it's a keeper.

Now this lady spends a lot of the video showing you how to make a starter over seven days, but as I always have a starter in my fridge that I feed every few weeks and which bubbles up within an hour of being on the table in the warm air of our home, I fast forwarded through that and went straight to what she did on the day she baked her loaf. 

If you're interested in watching the video, it's here...

...and my husband found this one last night about the history of sourdough and why it was so healthy for people in the Middle Ages. Fascinating! My husband has always loved my bread, but now he's wanting a sourdough loaf to be our everyday loaf. Bless him!

ABIGAIL STUDY - part one:

I shared the first part of the Abigail Bible Study today, and if you pop over HERE to the study page you can read through on the page or download the PDF to your computer files. 

Love to hear your own thoughts, and thanks to everyone who is joining in because we can learn a lot from each other's insights along the way. 

Tuesdays with the Family...

Every Tuesday Blossom and the children come over for the day. We have the very best of times with a special morning tea, and lunch, and plenty of activities to do inside (the monsoon has been endless). Blossom coloured this for me last week, and now I want to find a frame for it. Love my girl so much.

Whether it be scones with jam and cream, and bowls of fruit, or the table spread with ingredients for the kids to make their own pizzas, nobody goes home hungry from Nana's house. In fact there are always leftovers to take home for daddy Ross. 

This Tuesday they got some of my huge blankets and spread them across dining chairs and couches to make a cubby, before dividing it all into two cubbies so they could be neighbours. Charlie broke his arm on Boxing Day, for the second time in a year, but nothing slows him down! We're pretty sure he'll grow up to be the next Bear Grylls. ;-)

Before I go, when I shared the last post and the photo of my basket of UFOs and kits for the Adventure 2026 project, I forgot to show the gift hubby got me for Christmas. 

Sheepie. 

We don't bother with big gifts, and some years no gifts at all, but he knows how much I love farm animals and thought I'd like a sheep for the garden. I love my sheepie!! But he's not going in the garden. He sits on my desk and I talk to him as though he's real. I cannot express just how much I love my husband. He's a gift from God everyday. 

Oh, another before I go...you know the huge poincianna that almost killed my husband when it split and came down twice last February? 

He chopped the remains and we were not sure whether to plant another or not. Well, God answered us in the middle of 2025. A new tree sprung up right beside the trunk of the other one - and this came up from a seed, not from the trunk. 

In just six months it is at least 14 feet tall!

I can stand under it and the top of my head just touches the bottom branch. Amazing! With all this rain, and the wet season still in the early days, I think by mid year it will already be huge. 

God bless you all, and thanks for hanging in here today. I have to sign off and go feed the pets as they are letting me know it's getting late. 

May you be blessed in all you do for your family and home...whether that be baking bread, cooking a meal, washing the dishes, mopping the floor, or tending a loved one who is unwell. God sees those little things too, not just the big things. His eyes is on the sparrow, and He's watching over you. xxx