Just Humans Being...

Do you feel like an outsider looking in on the world? We do. We have stopped listening to the news, the radio and stayed away from most social media. We ditched TV many years ago and cancelled a streaming service we were sucked into earlier in the year. Taking a break from all this is quite empowering and instead we are concentrating on eating well and filling our spare time with nice things like reading, educating ourselves (at the moment we have somehow got into studying psychology) and meditating. In September 2001, we were on a camping trip in France with our kidlets, completely unaware of the 9/11 incident in New York. We had noticed lots of folks on the campsite sitting around their radios, but we assumed that it must be an important sporting event...something we have no interest in! Several days later our Dutch neighbours realised that we were the only campers enjoying ourselves and the wife must have drawn the short straw; coming over to announce "New Yo

Please take some time to watch this video. Take some time to look at your life and learn how to live differently. If  you are unhappy, make changes to your life. Find gratitude in each day. Try not to criticise others and instead feel compassion. Enjoy time in nature. Be quiet and calm. There is so much anger and stress surrounding many of you out there at the moment... Take care of yourselves, take time out from the news and stop worrying about how many times your neighbours are venturing out. Occupy yourselves doing something new and interesting instead. Most of our days are spent weeding, planting, cooking and eating. We go to bed earlier than we have done in years, usually aching...pleasantly so though! We are learning about growing vegetables, enjoying playing with soil and it feels good spending lots of time out on the land. Sending you all much love, Kay and Sime xx

We are probably in a minority of people who hope that life will never return to the way it was. We hope that people learn to be resilient and stop being materialistic. Stop flying all over the world and stop shopping in supermarkets. We would love to see people support local small businesses, watch their children thrive without government indoctrination, continue to unschool and slow down...is there really any need to work so much? Think about what you want to do with your life and if another pandemic happens in the future - where would you like to be? We can highly recommend living simply, sharing with others in a community.  Learning from each other, helping and supporting each other.  Life really doesn't need to be a struggle - it can be wonderful, just set the intention and if you are living in an unhappy situation, work out a plan to make your life better.  If we can do it...then anyone can! We are very grateful to be here and to have a lovely farm

Bakes are a great way to use up the end of a loaf and any leftover cooked veg. The mixture can be made into patties, sausages and balls, but the laziest easiest way is to bung it all into a tin and bake! We make them a lot because they are easy, tasty and filling... This one has 1 tin of chickpeas, 4oz of our homemade sourdough crumbs, leftover purple sprouting, leeks fried in soy sauce and spices, a blob of tomato puree, wild garlic and nettles. We put all the ingredients together in the food processor...  Then into a loaf tin and bake on a medium heat for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave for 10 minutes before turning out. We had half the bake between us for our second breakfast on Sunday and the leftovers on Monday with bread, salad and pickles. It really is easy to eat simple, healthy vegan dishes and we love it! Hope you are all keeping well. Love Kay and Sime xx

Less traffic in the air and on the roads is making for a much more peaceful life. This area of Cornwall is already pretty quiet and now we are really noticing the difference... Trips to the outside compost toilet can be quite eerie - especially in the evening, but we do admit to loving it...Peace and quiet, clear skies and an increase in birdsong. Last year, we stayed in rural Hampshire near the border of Berkshire and we were genuinely shocked at how noisy it was each and every day. The constant hum of traffic and planes flying over. We wondered whether the lack of quiet was the cause of many people seeming stressed and impatient. This trait we usually see in city people, but it was intriguing to see in the countryside. It is amazing how quickly we become immune to what is going on around us, but do we still feel it subconsciously? The life we lead would not suit most people, but we love it. We were never cut out for life in a city or town and living on a housing estate

We realise just how lucky we are to be living in the countryside. Lockdown for us is quite different and although, like lots of other people, we have lost the majority of our income - we find it easy to adapt and already live very frugally... Our work on the outside world has reduced to one day a week and instead, we are able to help out on the farm in return for rent and some food. We have an organic veg and fruit box still being delivered to supplement what is available here and have no need to venture out to supermarkets or nearby towns. Those of you who know us are probably aware that we are not big supermarket shoppers anyway, so we feel no loss for them.  We don't have a freezer and cook from scratch, often making extra for the next day.  We eat simply...oats for breakfast, homemade sourdough for lunch and usually rice, quinoa or very occasionally pasta for dinner. All served with fresh veggies and pulses. Easy.  We've already dried a jar full of you

How often do you take time to be thoughtful and quiet? To breathe and be in nature? Do you start your day slowly, even when busy?  We like to spend our mornings gently waking - reading to each other, writing, sometimes singing, making breakfast and taking time to leisurely eat and digest our food before we begin our day. We choose to live in the slow lane, from where we observe others rushing through their days, often stressed and with a need to fill every moment doing what they consider to be meaningful.  We feel no guilt in being lazy and happily sit around chatting instead of doing what we loosely planned to do. You may think it's procrastination, but we prefer to think of it as "going with the flow". There is more to life than filling your days with stuff, working hard, keeping up with your neighbours and it's not until you get off that treadmill that you can see for yourself just how great life can be. Part of the process for us in slowing down

Oven baked potatoes with haricot bean hummus, baked tomato and mushrooms and silken tofu pan-fried with kale, onion and lots of crushed garlic. A simple tasty feast...vegan, organic and oil-free. Today's hummus is made with haricot beans, fresh lemon juice, fresh parsley, ground cumin, smoked paprika, a tiny pinch of Cornish sea salt and some crushed peppercorns.  We love baked tomatoes. These have fresh oregano pushed into the centres and a sprinkle of black pepper. We bake them for 30 minutes. Kale, onion and garlic frying in water and soy sauce, turmeric and cumin. We added silken tofu after 10 minutes and fried for another 10.  Sime's plate...piled high, as usual! Since we stopped using oil some years ago, we found that soy sauce, miso and lemon juice are great alternatives, though organic vegetables seem to be naturally more flavoursome, especially oven roasted vegetables. We rarely follow recipes and tend to make up meals wit

                           It's a sign there are big changes afoot, when a company like Lonely Planet acknowledges that veganism is here. Although we are not into buying stuff anymore, we do have a passion for books...especially travel books! We have collected many travel guides over the years and we continue to use our French ones even though they are probably over 20 years old now. We bought our first Lonely Planet Publication in 1991... Europe On A Shoestring ! We found it to be a great resource, using it frequently to do research when planning trips, as well as taking it with us.  We love nothing more than sitting with maps and travel books, dreaming and planning our next or future adventures and always try to find whatever information we can about places to eat, so when we heard about a new vegan travel guide - we had to check it out. Click here for a preview of The Vegan Travel Handbook  The book features various lists like The World's

All this cold weather makes us crave warming stews or hippy slop as we usually call it! For this one we fried 1/3 of a butternut squash, half a red pepper, 2 carrots, a handful of green beans and a bulb of garlic with a good sprinkle of mixed herbs, water and a splash of red wine for around 10 minutes. Then we added a can of chopped tomatoes, 8oz water, 4oz washed red lentils, a teaspoon of ground cumin and simmered for around 20 minutes. We made the dumplings earlier, as it's good to let the batter stand for at least 15 minutes. We used to make the dumplings with vegetable suet, but have used rice as a replacement for years now. This time we used 6oz brown rice cooked in turmeric, 3oz wholemeal flour, half a chopped apple, 2 teaspoons of ground flax seeds, 1 teaspoon each of  baking powder, dried sage and thyme, a good handful of fresh parsley, a pinch of Cornish sea salt and a sprinkle of black pepper. Use a tablespoon to scoop enough of the mi

We made these quick burgers for lunch today. In the food processor, we whizzed up firm tofu, garlic, leek, carrot, green pepper and mushrooms. With soaked sundried tomatoes, cumin, chilli flakes, black pepper, tomato puree and maize flour. We were hungry so we just used raw vegetables, but the burgers are tastier if you fry the veggies first in a little soy sauce, or better still - use a variety of roasted veggies.  Once all whizzed up - dollop on to a baking tray and bake in a hot oven for 15 minutes, then turn the tray round and bake again for another 15 minutes...no need to turn the burgers over. Leave them to stand for around 10 minutes... And serve them up! We had them on sourdough rolls with dry roasted potato wedges. Delicious!!! Here's our Simple Burger Recipe again if you are interested in trying this method. Night, night, Love Kay and Sime xx