Around Here Lately

I feel like without a full-on garden or animals or much space, I don't have nearly as much to write about as I used to. I miss the chickens like crazy some days. And the fresh, beautiful eggs. Someday again I will have that. But for now, I am valuing the simplicity of my life on my own. As I told my parents a couple nights ago, there is something very comforting and liberating about having your entire life contained within a 600 square foot area. All of my things fit in my apartment (even if they're wedged in weird corners), I have pared things down so I have only what I love and use, and I don't have anything tying me down (lease aside). I can be content and comfortable, but not feel trapped in any way by pets, gardens, or other obligations. Much as I love those things, right now it's nice to feel free.

My life is filled with simple meals, I'm getting a lot of joy out of cooking and getting creative with it (which is really just a fancy way of saying I'm seeing how far I can stretch my budget). It's been fun to be more aware of how one tasty ingredient can make an entire meal feel special. The other night, I splurged on a bunch of fresh cilantro at the store, and heaped up that night's simple tacos with it- that fresh tanginess makes so much difference. I've been on a major broccoli kick this winter, and last week I branched out from my usual steamed broccoli and chopped some up fine and put it in a quiche.

My space is small, so my chores are pretty simple. A good sweeping once a week is usually all that's necessary, and most of the time I do the dishes regularly, and wipe down the counters. On weekends I give the bathroom a once-over and take out the garbage and recycling. Often I can go two weeks before my kitchen trash bag is full. Lately I've had to put food scraps in the garbage, which feels terrible- but I accidentally overfed my worm bin so I'm giving them a  chance to catch up and eat everything that's already in there before I add more.

As one person, I can usually go two weeks between loads of laundry (the trick is to have enough socks and underwear to last that long). I only use the dryer if there are sheets or towels to dry, otherwise everything goes on racks in front of the heater.

I've got a new knitting project on my needles, the most complicated thing I've attempted yet. I'll get it up on Ravelry one of these days. I have another cotton dishcloth going too, small and quick. It's easier to do a few rows of that when I have a couple minutes to kill but don't want to pay close attention to what I'm doing.

On Friday night I broke out the potting soil again and got my tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, and flowers started under the lights. I forgot that I was out of planting tags, and went rifling through the cupboards to see if I had anything that would suffice- turns out a container like this one converts into tags perfectly:

Last but never least, I had my first dinner of microgreens last week! They've been growing away in their tray, and I cut off a pile to have with potatoes one night. I ate them plain and with my fingers- so delightful!