in praise of slowing down
August 01, 2023
I must have started writing this post in 2020, because that's where my sourdough obsession started. I recently found it again, and decided to publish it now, because for me, it's more important now than ever.
A few years ago my friend and neighbour Meaghan gave me half a loaf of the most delicious, fresh & homemade sourdough bread I've ever tasted. She also gave me some of her starter so I could make my own bread.
As a family that night we enjoyed her delicious bread, and we each declared that it was the most delicious bread we have ever eaten.
I decided to get to it, and used her starter and tried to make my own sourdough bread after reading a little bit about it. It was terrible. It looked beautiful, but it was dense and blah and just not good. So I did a bit more research, bought a book, and have now been making delicious bread ever since.
I made cheese buns! This is so empowering because I can MAKE MY OWN CHEESE BUNS for my girls and send them to school and I know they are going to love it, and I know the ingredients that went into them, and all that other good stuff.
It's giving me a lot to think about. About becoming more self sufficient in our busy busy world, carving out time to make things again, and it's honestly given me such a sense of satisfaction and pride at being able to do this myself.
I've started to become really inspired by mending and fixing clothing that has started to wear out. All my daughters leggings get holes in the knees eventually, and it's such a waste when they don't last very long. I started searching for visible mending on Instagram and a whole new world of folks who were also passionate about reducing waste and fixing what is already here, rather than replacing them has opened up to me.
My first attempt at patching up her knee hole isn't perfect, but she is so sweet and supportive and she absolutely loves it. She can't stop touching it because it 'feels so cool'. There is a new hole in her other knee, and she's excited for me to patch it as well. It does make my heart happy.
I have a white flowy shirt that I picked up second hand, but it was a bit tight around the hips and I didn't love the elastic around the arms. So rather than try to find another shirt that fit better, I carefully ripped a few of the stitches at the arm area and cut out the elastic. That was an easy fix.
Next I've ripped open the seams at either side of the shirt to make it more loose and have sewn up the rough edges.
I did this while watching my youngest at her swim lessons.
Lately whenever I think I want or need something, I do a little searching on the internet for inspiration and find I can actually make what I'm looking for (within reason of course).
I wanted to get more counter space and wanted our fruit bowls off the counter, and started looking at those hanging wire baskets, but then searched on FB marketplace and saw a hanging macrame plant holder and figured I could make something like that with the rope I had, and some bowls.
So I did.
It felt really good to make something that I otherwise would have bought. If you are a maker, you will understand this. I have learned that there are these people, and they are called makers. Some of the can food, some of them crochet, some of them compost (a lot) and some of them find such satisfaction from creating something. Anything!
Satisfaction with using what we already have, not giving over more money to the Amazon machine, and just admiring the handcrafted nature of it. Huge bonus, my girls keep looking at it and complimenting on how cool it is, so now I know that we'll have some future macrame projects to do together.
I've really gotten back into making and fixing things. I think it does have to do with the feeling like I'm getting disconnected with doing things myself, relying on just buying things because it's so damn easy to just do that these days. And there is no judgment on buying things when you need them or want them, or not fixing things if it's not what you want to do.
I do that too, we all do and this post is not meant to make anyone feel guilty if they aren't doing these things. I know that making things is not as fun for lots of people, as it is for me. Just like taxes and accounting isn't fun for me at all, but for some folks, that is their jam.
For me, our kids are older now, they are at the age where it's not hands on 24 hours a day. There is a lot more breathing room, and it's just in my nature to make things myself, it just always has been. I've fallen away from it for a long time because life just gets so damn busy, but I'm so happy to have found my way back to making and fixing things and doing it myself.
Since this blog post was originally written, I've learned how to build furniture, lay laminate flooring, tile a backsplash, paint cabinets, and have recently fallen in love again with pottery, clay and making things again.
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