100 little ways to live slowly, simply & seasonally
An invitation to connect & commune
Hello, from my humble kitchen.
Where a pot of minestrone is bubbling away, the air filled with the scent of fresh oregano and just picked parsley.
With a moment up my sleeve to let the stove top work its magic, I’d like to invite you to linger here and let me share something else I’ve been cooking up.
Typically, a writer doesn’t reveal their process. We tend to dream, deliberate, draft, delete, google synonyms, proof and deliver. But cooks lay it all out on the table. Before our eyes they prepare, chop and combine whole foods and flavours, guiding us step-by-step through their process and adding new skills to our repertoires. A good cook doesn’t just serve you up a polished, digestible, word perfect plate of food, they share stories, memories, tips and tricks honed over a lifetime of learning.
This letter emulsifies two provisions of my persona, the writer and the cook. I’m putting on my apron and rolling up my sleeves to offer you my recipe for a slow, simple and seasonal life. A homegrown & homemade compendium with enough flexibility to cater to all dietary (and literary) requirements. The kind you can turn to, over and over, for inspiration and be proud to pass onto your kin.
How this collection came to be:
Following natures lead, my creative soul began to blossom in September. Into my journal I scribbled a list of all the little (and sometimes big) ways that our family live slowly, simply and seasonally. I was finding it near impossible to succinctly define what these three ways of being mean to me, for it is the compilation of multiple small acts and modest doings that add up to a slower, simpler, more seasonally attuned life.
I realised on reflection of my inventory that each epigraph held many tales, and I wanted to dive deeper and write more about every single one. This wasn’t just another attempt to organise my brain, here were 100 little invitations to share my stories, photography, book recommendations and recipes from my heart, home and garden with you all. I had unknowingly drafted my vision statement for Splendid to be.
Nibble on this list lightly, with a pinch of salt perhaps. It is not designed to be prescriptive, definitive or a glutinous feast. Slow, simple, seasonal living is not all or nothing. It looks different and means different things to every one. I certainly don’t do all of these things, all of the time. Take to heart what calls to you right now, sit with others and compost the rest.
You’ll notice the first few love letters are ready to be devoured, you may have already sampled them for yourself. If you haven’t, I invite you to tuck into what I prepared earlier. As I publish new letters, slowly working my way through these delicious truisms, I will return to this compendium and link to each mouthful.
Without further ado, lift the lid of my writerly mind as I share with you, in no particular order, all the love letters I plan to spend the next year or two penning (accompanied by my photography of life’s little pleasures of late).
100 little ways to live slowly, simply & seasonally…
Ferment, pickle & preserve
Bake bread
Knit your own
Shop local
Be a bookworm
Don’t forget to play
Put the kettle on
Bake cake and eat it too
Buy your food in bulk
Invest in community
Love your library
Join the toy library
Keep chickens
Volunteer
Eat real food
Cook from scratch
Work less
Read aloud to your children
Go analog
Know your cycle
Remember how far you’ve come
Entertain yourself
Make your own art
Plant a fruit tree
Be a collector
Detox your home
Go for a bushwalk
Downsize & downshift
Ride a bike
Car share
Start a club
Eat less animals
Gift homemade
Share abundantly
Practice yoga
Eat the rainbow
Embrace adventure
Observe the Wheel of the Year
Open your house to others
Join your community garden
Never stop learning
Define enough
Nature journal
Connection above all else
Cut your own hair
Love the skin you’re in
Commune with the moon
Make pizza
Ritualise your morning
Home educate your children
Eat with the seasons
Dine alfresco
Get to know your neighbours
If in doubt, step outside
Retrofit your home
Rest
Set intentions, not resolutions
Get out of the city
Quit the rat race
Sew your own
Take your time
Insource
Bring the outdoors in
Pinpoint your seasonal markers
Rebel
Just add paint
Ask, what if?
Spring clean
Line dry
Be a homebody
Make do and mend
Make your bed
Heal with herbs
Read poetry
Uncapitalise your creativity
Turn off the news
Romanticise your life
Wear vintage
Shop secondhand
Seek solace in the sky
Put down roots
Put pen to paper
Grow your own
Be still
Make, bake & decorate
Make pasta
Don’t go it alone
Spend time in wild places
Permaculture your life
Localise your food
Acknowledge those who came before you
Plant for pollinators
Make compost
An invitation to connect & commune
I’d love to know which of these prompts spoke to you. What are you curious to know more about and why? I would be delighted to dedicate a letter to you personally. Furthermore, tell me what you are most passionate or brimming with knowledge about so I can pick your brain! Let’s collaborate.
How do you define simple, slow or seasonal living?
I recently asked this question here on Substack and here are some beautiful responses I’d love to share with you all:
“Slow living is actually an incredibly frugal lifestyle as it involves rejecting consumerism, finding joy in creating and being (instead of spending), making do with things to avoid waste (food or otherwise) and taking advantage of seasonal abundances.” -
who writes Simple Living
“At its heart, it’s about living mindfully and consciously, with an acute awareness of the things which matter most in life. It’s living with an awareness of others, of time and place, past, present and future. In a fast-paced and ever-changing world, it’s about building a strong foundation where we can live alongside the rhythms of the natural world. Perhaps it is also about living within our means, reconnecting with and cherishing the simple moments life offers us.
I think it’s also worth saying that the things we crave now, the things we place under this umbrella of slow, simple and seasonal, are nothing new. This is how those who came before us lived; we have much to learn from them as we navigate a turbulent, global world of the 21st century.
It is not an aesthetic. It is not about linen dresses, country cottages, growing your own food, perfectly-set tables, neutral decor, freshly-cut flowers on the table, gingham tablecloths, baking sourdough etc., though, of course, any of those may feature.” -
who writes Rediscover · Reconnect · Re-Emerge“For me, it’s a way of living creatively.
It means being aware of the smallest changes around me and focusing on the process rather than outcome.
It means paying attention to the natural world and its cycles and using those as guidelines rather than human created ones.
It means paring down to what really matters in this life: respect for nature and each other, appreciation for what we are given, acknowledgment of our frailty.” -
who writes La Bonne Vie“It's also about rejecting the idea that we have to be productive 24/7, that we are always and constantly striving for more. It’s living in alignment with the seasonal energies, which is about growth, but also about turning inward and rest as the year turns to autumn and winter. It’s living mindfully and with intention.” -
who writes For Your Sunday Morning CoffeeThank you for reading my musings on the many little measures that add up to a slower, simpler more seasonally attuned life.
I hope my words help gently guide and encourage you on your own journey.
My writing is free to read, and always will be.
Can we please be friends IRL and live in the same community? This is beautiful. You have a gift.
This was great! I love the idea of greater simplicity in life and living with the seasons. I like the idea of growing things, and I'd love to have an herb garden!