Solid and simple: plans for the year ahead
Wading back in, managing burnout, having fun while living waste-free, and maintaining summer as long as we can.
We’re dipping our toes into this new year, slowly. I’d love to say we’ve been just resting and recharging. Actually, we’ve been working in our day jobs right through the new year, but taking some time away from social media, writing and other things that draw our attention outward for a bit. So here’s me, wading in up to my waist and ready to dive back in.
We’ve been talking about all things zero waste and waste-free living for the whole 7 years we’ve been living waste-free. We’ve been talking permaculture for longer and Oberon’s been trying to create positive change (or at least prevent a whole bunch of negative stuff happening) in his day job as an ecologist working for state government for decades. We felt like we were really making some in-roads with waste and adding our voices to the call to shift things, and practical everyday ways to do that. But then 2020 happened and things still haven’t recovered. Here’s the reality check:
Shopping and consumption habits haven’t returned to their pre-covid state yet. People are still shopping more online than locally. They’re still consuming vast quantities of single-use packaging and throwing things out more than ever.
Some hard truths about our recycling industry have been exposed in the last few years, which begs the question: “Do we stockpile until the technology saves us?” (Spoiler: no, we don’t).
The cost of living continues to increase. Package-free food options seem out of reach for many.
And we’re tired… the burnout is real, folks. We feel it too. It’s why it’s taken me weeks to write this post.
The good news, perhaps, is that we feel there are solid and simple answers to all of the above, and at personal, community and global levels. We’ve communicated them before, but we’re going to keep writing and sharing and looking for ways to make it easy and normalised for more people to have a go at reducing waste and increasing their positive environmental impact. The more voices out there, the more opportunities for this stuff to resonate with more people and create change, right?
I’d been working for about a month at our record store when one lovely customer mentioned that she had our book and had followed us online for some time. “I don’t know how you do it all”, she said. Chances are when you’re thinking this about someone, they’re not doing it all, but they’re doing enough. Having lived this way for years now, living waste-free is just living. So our mission this year is to share more of the simple things we do that make living waste-free on a minimal time, money and energy budget possible.
In this space, I’m feeling like there’s some catching up to do, so I’ll be sharing some new recipes and ideas we’ve been playing with, picking up our 52 Climate Solutions again (tomorrow!), and some other little surprises along the way. I’m also conscious that you probably don’t want your email inbox too full, so I’ll be trying to find a happy balance for our paid and free subscribers.
Starting as we mean to continue…
We love the period of reflection that a new year brings, but know full well that you can start new projects, habits and ways of living your life at any time of the year, whenever you are ready. Sometimes they sneak up on you, before you’re ready! It happened that way when we challenged ourselves to switch to living waste-free. It happened that way when we decided to open a record store, one random weekend in May last year, and what a challenging and rewarding ride that’s been!
So, instead of resolutions, we’ve been setting ourselves up with a solid and simple summer holiday (even though we’re working) rhythm in these weeks, so we can continue on as we add more things to our year. This means not being on social media so much, and prioritising time for rest, having fun together, working (playing) in the garden, and preparing food. All things that nourish us, outside of the work we do, and make us feel good. We’ve learned through the years to find fun in the growing and harvesting of food, making things, and spending time in nature - these things are all versions of people care (one of the permaculture ethics). It feels good to do them and coincidentally, they create a positive impact. They connect us to each other, the land we’re on and the food we eat, so they’re a priority.
What the summer version of this looks like for us:
Get out in the garden early and regularly, for short periods.
Go fruit picking and foraging, and protect fruit in our garden.
Enjoy the harvest and preserve something each week - jam, bottled fruit, cordial.
Make space outside for relaxing - we have a secondhand tent on the grass and an old bath under the quince tree this year, but a blanket in a shady spot is just as good.
Swim - in the river, at the beach, in cold water.
Read books every day. Even if it’s just a paragraph before falling asleep.
Listen to music, listen to birdsong, listen to the fan whirring, dog snoring… listen.
Go wandering once a week or fortnight. Visit secondhand shops, go to the library, walk along a beach, eat an ice-cream. See where the day (or portion of the day) takes you.
Make food from scratch, but keep it fresh and simple with lots of fresh veggies. If cooking, make extra so there’s a meal in the freezer for longer days out or when you feel tired.
Go to bed early - possibly the most challenging of all!
What we’re loving now - the summer edition
Reading - Stolen Focus. Still. It’s a great read. Lots of good chats in our house since we’ve been dipping in and out of it. Interestingly, the same factors that have been crushing our attention spans have been damaging our environment. Lots of crossovers to climate change and our ecosystems, which makes lots of sense, really.
Watching - The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House - so nurturing, gentle and beautiful with reflections on friendship, passion and the crossover between traditional and modern culture. And lots of comfort food!
Listening - albums by Tiny Ruins, Laura Marling, Johanna Warren, Sarah Vaughan, The Breeders, Beabadoobee and Lady Wray are on highest rotation in our shop right now.
Planning - our homeschooling year ahead. Just me and our littlest this year, as our middle kid heads to college and the biggest is in 2nd year uni. Maisie wants to dive into ecology, magic, folklore and art, which should be super fun for both of us.
Making - pom poms, crochet things and watermelon icy poles! Our homemade lemon and mint cordial blended with watermelon pieces, then frozen to make icy poles, is absolutely delicious!
Harvesting - kale, lettuce and berries! We’ve made all kinds of things with strawberries, then black currants… Mulberries are just beginning. Plums will be next. Maisie thinks it’s like each fruit gets to have its own festival. I like that about eating seasonally.
We’ll be back with 52 Climate Solutions tomorrow and some more practical and thoughtful stuff in weeks to come. Hope you’ve been well and enjoying some lovely weather and weekly fruit festivals where you are!
Much love,
Lauren. xx
Love all of this :) It has some great ideas on how to be slow while still embracing all there is to do during summer. I am into preserving mode and would happily spend all day doing that right now. When I'm not preserving, I'm thinking about it :) Enjoy the rest of summer!
It seems like a lot of people who start one business inevitably start another! I’m a serial entrepreneur as well. Good luck in all your efforts! While you explore summer, I’ll keep pushing through winter...