A beautiful walk today, am feeling slightly under the weather so it was nice to catch some sunshine, top up the vitamin D and be breathless at the beauty of the world around me.
The more mindful I become the more I lose myself in the beauty of nature. Stopping to look at a butterfly basking in the sun...not the only one taking a moment. Don't get me wrong I have an endless list of thing to do, always. But it will always be there...the butterfly will not. 

Recently I have been trying to cut back on shopping, all aspects. The amount I shop for, the amount I spend, the amount of packaging there is.
​Its difficult especially when everything tells you should be spend, spend, spending! Not just on food or clothes or beauty products but every second advert is for a new sofa, a new car. So where do we stop? when do we say 'I don't need that'?
So my weekly shop ...how can I spend less but guarantee a heathy nutritious meal for all my family. Thankfully I love to cook, NOT Nigella style or even Jamie Oliver style, although both are amazing and have some great cook books out there if you are looking for inspiration.
So with just my own style, cooking from scratch seems to be the best way.
I LOVE fresh ingredients.
Fresh ingredients are cheaper and healthier than prepared foods.
Fresh ingredients have less packaging, and lets be honest some packaging is so ridiculous 3 layers of plastic with an outer package of compostable card doesn't make it environmentally sound especially when most food worthy plastics are still not able to be recycled. 
​Fresh Ingredients are easier to use up in soups, stews at end of week instead of ending up in the bin.
Fresh ingredients are easier to compost.
​Any supermarket can now provide you with local produce and there are some great farmers markets going on.
​You don't need to cook anything fancy,  try starting  a '3 ingredient' recipe? 
For my family its usually something like Potato Broccoli Cheese Bake or Creamy Mushroom Pasta adding sides of chicken or bacon  for the meat eaters when they are around. 
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Don't get me wrong we still have the odd pizza but usually add our own toppings and we definitely love a takeaway  and supporting our small local eateries but since we started we are all feeling a lot healthier with our change to fresh foods and at the same time we are dong our bit for the environment. 

​Have you changed how you shop? Where you shop?
​Do you cook fresh? Or are you ready meal mad?
​Who do you think should be responsible for the excessive packaging on food? 

Its been a few days, hope everything is well.
Yesterday I went to the beach, the beach is where I go to feel up, good, fresh, alive.
This time of year can be hard for me, whether its the change in seasons, longer darker nights or just life, I struggle with day to day everything. In fact because of this low three years ago in October is when this journey began for me. 
​One of the most important things for me now is not to fight it, we are meant to slow down on the run up to winter, take stock of our lives, breathe deep and let go of what does not serve us. 
​Sorry I make this sound easy but initially it was hard. We all put pressure on ourselves, our homes, our appearance, our families, our achievements' etc. etc. letting go can be difficult. So where can you let go? where is your happy place?

Lovely day spent in the garden today. Little green still poorly so we had a look in the greenhouse to see what is left to harvest and surprised to see we still have so many beautiful tomatoes to come!
​It is so very mild but Big Green Man reckons it will be a hard winter as the berries this autumn are plentiful. 
​The garden is one of the main places I definitely enjoy being green in, composting, growing our own fruit and veg, loads of flowers all year round for bees and bugs to play in. Probably a lot more goes to the wildlife than to us but that is important too. During the long dark winter hours its important that my garden is a shelter and feeding ground for nature. 
​My garden is where I go when I am sad or angry, it always calms me. Even before I was blessed enough to have a garden being outside in amongst flowers plants and trees lifted my heart. and if all that loveliness doesn't do it for you then a heavy dose of weeding clears the mind!

Afternoon!  Today was meant to be an up and all over it kind of day however the littlest Green Life has a bug. It was a long night and still lots of washing to do.  But lets use this, how can we make this a better situation. Its hard to relax and feel good when your little one (or one of any size) is unwell and upset. Its very hard to feel like you are being eco-friendly when you need to use hard detergents and a boil wash to tackle the bacteria. Its hard not to be selfish and worry about whether you are next in line!
​So what do you do? First line of defence is love and hugs and a lot of hand washing. Your baby is ill, they will recover faster with your care, lots of sips of water and rest. Don't be scared to sit down, the other housework can wait.
We don't use hard detergents in our house, from Soap, Shower Gel, Shampoo to Washing Powder, Dishwasher tablets etc. So how do we tackle the bacteria? Hand washing - Soap for me is difficult, most make my hands sore within 1 wash never mind the endless washing when there is a bug going round. Today I used Highland Soap Co -Peppermint Organic Handmade Soap. It was nice, a lovely refreshing clean smell and my hands didn't get too sore but always looking for something new to try and would love any recommendations'   
The bedding, pyjamas, towels etc. we boiled washed everything not always the best choice for the planet however nothing kills bacteria better than 100 degree wash and this way we avoided detergents. 

Very excited to be here! This is so exciting for me and hopefully will be for you. 
​There are so many hard things in life we felt it was important to make the better things easier. For the last few years we have been on a journey of helping the planet and as a result helping ourselves and others.
​We will be looking at everything from reduce, reuse, recycle, re homing, make your own, gardening, self care.
we will blog about these things as we do them in our own daily lives to show that it doesn't have to be hard and some aspects of saving the planet can be quite beautiful for us all​. as we get up and running we will be looking for full audience participation in this new lovely blog so please feel free to message with thoughts and ideas. All input will be acknowledged and credited.