I Wanted A Simple Life

Last year I quit my job, sold my house and moved to a cottage in the northeast of Scotland. I was burnt out, still grieving the death of my parents and I was ready to start over. I wanted to slow down and live a simpler, more sustainable life that my mum and dad would hopefully be proud of. It's still very much a work in progress but these are the moments that make up my days. What's 450 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius? Sitting on the front step with my book, looking out over the garden There's something amazing about growing plants from seed. Even though it makes DIY projects harder, it's probably a good thing I live alone because I'm not sure anyone else would put up with the amount of plants on every available flat surface. I have an endless list of projects to work on and some days it feels like I never actually accomplish anything. It turns out that progress is a lot slower than social media led me to believe. Like anything handmade, I'm not sure making your own vanilla extract is particularly cost effective but it's really simple to do. These two bottles should be ready in time for Christmas, if I feel like giving any as gifts. Bokashi is one of three methods of composting that I'm currently doing at the cottage. It's an anaerobic form of composting that uses inoculated bran to ferment your food scraps and you can compost things like meat and dairy and other things that you wouldn't normally put in a compost bin. I'm not zero waste or self-sufficient by any definition but I get a lot of satisfaction out of finding potential in things that would otherwise be thrown away. The liquid from this compost will be a great addition to the soil in my raised beds. Every time. Every single time. You. Useless. Adding another bay onto my composting setup has been on my to-do list for a while so I think I in the world but it's made entirely of wood that would otherwise have been thrown away so that's good enough for me. I'm trying to cook as much of my food from scratch as I can this year which means a lot of batch cooking because otherwise I default to my favourite food group stressed out when they go wrong because they do all the time but now the evenings are getting lighter later and it's dry outside I try and go out on a walk when I can because it's a really nice reminder of why I moved here in the first place and it helps me remember that things are back to life in the process, I'm here most Sundays. Click subscribe to stay up to date. Thanks for watching, see you next weekend.