Seasonal Homemaking Diaries: gathering a wholesome kind of Autumn

As the leaves begin to turn here in the far south, the light starts to fade, and morning mists now greet us at dawn, my heart is starting to swell with excitement that my favourite season is finally upon us.

I make no secret of being a walking contradiction - I am a confident woman, bold, happy to put my hand up to volunteer an answer or a bit of time, and I adore speaking to people - yet at my core I am a true introvert. I recharge with the hobbies of introverts, and as the Earth itself begins to rest, I start to feel really alive. As if life itself is lending to my personal battery, and my chosen lifestyle - which is spent mostly in our nest.

The beauty of the season is something to behold too. Colours of richness, smells of comfort, and a pace that is a perfect balance. I like that it encourages comfort that isn’t as claustrophobic as winter. So too, it invites you into a season to wrap yourself up in the abundance of harvest. A time to take stock of the goodness in life.

Our little family has been blessed with so much lately: new opportunities, honest work, and spiritual revelations and family moments I’ve long dreamed of. This weekend, our son is being baptised!

We have raised him in the Word, and the Gospel is a common conversation in our home, but only in God’s perfect timing does one personally decide to walk with Him. Arlo has finally made that commitment, and while this is only the beginning - much like a wedding is the start of a marriage, not its completion - my husband and I are delighted for him.

We have also been blessed with finding a good Church, and after two years on Australian shores, I finally feel at home. It’s taken a while to get here, but I now realise that the missing piece all along was simply the peace that comes from having a home church, and a community to be part of.

I wanted to gather together a few of the little, wholesome, and simple things that I’m enjoying in this season, for my own records if anything. Those small, steady comforts that are anchoring my days and filling our home with a warm and gentle kind of joy. These are the things keeping me grounded as the days grow cooler and slower, and while many of you are stepping into Spring now, I hope you might still find something here to carry into your own season.

Slow Living Inspiration for the Autumn Season

As you enter my home, you need to take an immediate right down the hall, and right again (lest you end up in my husband’s office), and you’ll find yourself in my kitchen! I’ve recently changed a bit of the decor in here and have been adding some Scandinavian crimson red accents - I’ve always shied away from bold colours, but have felt drawn to dark red and rustic wood lately. Perhaps it’s the warmth it brings.

You’ll find it (subtly) in the artwork, in the gingham tea towels, and in a little project I’m working on (and will reveal soon). I’ve been thrifting lots of lovely worn, warm, wooden, and farmhouse style bits which brings a bit of character to our otherwise 2000’s kitchen. I can’t do much with the cool-toned tile and worktop, so it’s all in the decor and accents for now.

My friend Steph suggested I make a feature of the light switch by putting a frame around it as it’s in a funny position - which reminded me of Monica’s door in F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I think her idea is really cute. I might try and also find a deep frame with something on a hinge to hide the cooler-stat too. I’ll likely thrift whatever it is, so it’ll take some time. As all good things do.

I also have plans for a shelf over the door too, we have a carpenter friend who might be willing to help, and I’m hoping he will. I’m still kicking myself for not buying a shelf that I spotted in an op shop more than a year ago now. It had heart shapes in the brackets!

I have quite the list of little homemaking and craft projects on the go at the moment. This gorgeous antique English chair was gifted to me by a new friend recently - Arlo said he is going to make a seat for it in his woodworking class at school. Fingers crossed it turns out ok!

I have thrifted some lovely fabric for the seat and am looking forward to it’s completion. It’s a really nice heavy linen biscuit coloured (that used to be curtains) with a texture that has a bit of a rustic feel to it. Perfect for our little weathered cottage.

The carving on the chair really reminds me of the handcrafted furniture you’d find in a Hobbit’s Hole… I’ve often thought that is such a dour expression for an incredibly cosy home! I’d rather live in a Hobbit “Hole” than a palace, personally.

What I’m cooking and baking this Autumn

We’re back to lots of our favourites! We had the happy return of one of our favourite pies this week, it’s a Mary Berry recipe that’s a little time consuming to make but absolutely worth it! I love to play around with the pastry on this one as it makes the whole meal feel like an event. I have honestly lost count of the amount of times I have baked this pie now. Thankfully it feeds our little family of three over two nights, so the effort it takes doesn’t feel quite so bad when you get a night off from cooking the next day - I just warm it back through for a while in the oven add a side of fresh steamed vegetables.

Mary Berry’s Foolproof Cooking is a great book which is where I found this recipe, so I recommend that one, and Family Sunday Lunches.

We enjoyed my Grandfather’s famous Irish Stew on St Patrick’s Day, with this easy soda bread recipe that has been on the blog for quite some years now.  I’ve also been having lots of fun making things from scratch! Like my own Coleslaw, and Granola Bars.

We go through so much of these during the week, it was getting ridiculously expensive to buy. I’ve shared the recipes directly on my Instagram page (granola bars, coleslaw) - honestly, they’re so easy, I’m half kicking myself I didn’t try them earlier. Make sure to follow me on Instagram for the “quick win” recipes I’m trying as I’m sharing them as I go. They don’t usually warrant a full on blog post, so my feed over there holds these ones. (I’m sharing my thrift finds there too)!

We really do live in an age of convenience compared to what I have been reading in my vintage magazines, and we’ve lost touch with the skills most homemakers had pre-industrialisation and supermarket age (which, is only a very recent thing in the grand scheme of things). With the way things are looking (again) in the world, I think knowing how to make things yourself it’s a good skillset to engross yourself in, and try and expand on in whichever way is possible for you.

It’s never too late to start. I know many dream of not relying on convenience foods at all, but I also personally think there is a small balance to strike. It’s not possible for me to fully have the agrarian lifestyle that I dream of, and I’ve also not met a ketchup yet that is better than Heinz, so we’ll celebrate the little wins made at home - and still happily buy what our tastebuds favour.

Homemade butter definitely tastes better, but when cream is just as expensive, and you have to pay for the electricity bill to churn it (unless you’re a manual girly) then it makes sense to buy the stuff at the shops if the ingredients are clean. However it is still good to know how to do it if you need to!

It’s a productive hobby to learn old skills.

I’ve also been making lots of my bone broth as usual from our scraps to fill the freezer as well, because the stuff in the shops is wildly expensive (and the cheaper options are full of unrecognisable things)...

Oh, and I’m dipping my toe into baking for church! I took these cookies last Sunday and they disappeared so fast. I’ve joined the hospitality rota now, so I think my Saturday afternoons are going to be carved out for baking.

Can’t say we’ll be mad about it… what a nice excuse to taste test! The boys will volunteer their tummies, no doubt.

I’d love to hear from you if you have any tried and tested things that would be good to bake and take.

What I’m reading, planting, and crafting to nourish my heart and mind this Autumn

I didn’t know there was a term for this until recently, but it turns out I am a “Polyreader”. The term comes from the prefix poly- (many) and reader (from “reading”) obvs, and it specifically refers to someone who habitually juggles multiple books at once, rather than finishing one before starting another.

This has been the story of my life, and is precisely why my bookshelves positively heave and bulge. I just can’t get enough of books and have come to realise it’s where I am a true collector.

Having so many interests and wanting to know a little about a lot of things, I often like to hop from one book to another depending on my mood, and as such, I always have few on the go! Aside from the Bible by my bedside, I have always had a book going for each facet or mood, and whatever I’m hoping to learn about at any given time.

So the big bedside and coffee table pile currently holds The Life Giving Home by Sally Clarkson, a copy of Something More by Sarah Ban Beathnach, The Artist’s Way which is so similar to Something More (I’m obviously in a “season” of self-RE-discovery), and the outlier is Occult Feminism: The Secret History of Women’s Liberation by Rachel Wilson.

I listened to this Joe Rogan podcast episode (YouTube link) on a solo driving trip recently and was fascinated. I don’t usually listen to that podcast but was recommended this particular episode because of the content and WOW. I had to get her book immediately… I’m reading it on Kindle, and haven’t quite made my mind up yet, but there are some shocking facts that I’ll leave you to discover for yourself if you wish. There’s lots of tidbits in the podcast alone. The more I go down the rabbit hole connected to this, the more I’m flabbergasted. In my advocacy, it’s important to stay aware of certain arguments for and against something, and I can’t help but feel a lot of people are missing some key facts. Make of that what you will because I don’t want to influence anything negatively, but having listened to what this woman has to say, it’s making me think a whole lot harder about some things we’ve just accepted in our culture.

On a cosier note, as the weather really sets in and I’m highly likely to be in the mood for fiction to read by candlelight, I’ll be turning to another Rosamunde Pilcher that sits ready and waiting on my shelf. I’ve been saving September for the autumn especially. I finished Coming Home a few weeks ago and it has fast risen to one of my favourites. Pilcher’s world feels as cosy as Hobbiton.

I recently thrifted some self-sufficiency books from the 1970s that I dip in and out of too. Which is on-topic at the moment as we have started the ground work on our small kitchen garden. We’ll never be farm-level sufficient, but I’m great at bringing forth courgette gluts!

I’ll be sowing Swedes (the root vegetable, not the people) this week for the winter veggie patch, and hopefully planting Kale seedlings once some grasses have been cleared at the end of the garden. My crochet basket has been dusted off too, but what I am making besides dishcloths at the moment I’m unsure - I’m trying to craft something other than straight lines and so far ave made spaghetti! I’ll get the hang of it one day, I hope. I have a lovely Norwegian friend who is good at knitting and crochet so I might ask her for some tips.

What I’m currently listening to, my Autumnal favourites

I haven’t listened to much music of late, except for some background folk, and lots of podcasts in my headphones - mostly on seasonal living and off-grid living. The usual suspects are As the Season Turns and I have quite enjoyed a few episodes of Gubba Homestead, particularly this episode.

Some might think she’s a wacky character and likes her conspiracy theories, but there are particular episodes that are less of the conspiracy stuff, and a lot of encouragement. She seems quite awake, and I find myself nodding along as I’m going about the gardening.

At this time of year I like to have olde-English folk on in the background, and really enjoy Sam Lee who I discovered through the ’As the Season Turns’ podcast. It’s gorgeously grounding.

Aside from that, country music has been on in the car a lot lately with a bit of Lainey Wilson, and Ella Langley. Three Storey House made me cry the other day as I really miss my brother Kristian - both our characters are described in that song. I miss my little sissy too, but we didn’t grow up together in the same way, she is technically young enough to be my daughter!

What I’m wearing as a homemaker this Autumn

This is my third Autumn in Australia, so I think I’ve finally got it figured out! Autumn here in Victoria is just like back in England. I’m glad I shipped over the wellies, and the wax jacket, and last winter even needed to go out and buy a thicker coat!

We don’t live right in the country, but on the edge of it so my wardrobe needs to reflect town and country… if I had my way I’d be in nothing but wellies now! I feel like the days of really dressing up are kind of behind me as things are getting very expensive. I can no longer justify the cost of buying “wear once” or only a few times kind of pieces. I’d rather put money into the garden than a night out.

Maybe it’s age and wisdom, or maybe it’s a sign of the economic times - I’m not sure. Less is more, and the little things matter most, as they say.

I have been using Pinterest to help guide me in outfit planning, and while it’s not exactly intending to be a capsule wardrobe, but to visualise what-goes-with-what, I have noticed that I already own a lot of what I’m pinning, and need only fill a few gaps. I’m not a fashionable person at all, and the more I think about it, the happier I am to admit that I just want to be practical, comfortable, and feel pretty. I’ve named the board “Leaves and Linen” which I think explains the vibe perfectly.

I’m going to be investing in some wool tights so I can eke out a touch more dress wearing before it get’s far too cold and impractical. You might be surprised how my taste is evolving, but I want to spend a lot more time in the garden, and pretty-pretty dresses don’t always lend themselves to that. What I have purchased in the past year is less decorative, and a lot plainer than usual.

On my wish list for this season are some Merry People boots in Rust (or Mocha, can’t decide), and this Shetland Fair Isle sweater from The Grampian Goods Co.

I’ve bought a couple of items recently, namely a crimson linen blouse - I adore the colour! Some gingham “easy pants”, a brown cotton dress from Uniqlo in the sale, a 100% wool chocolate brown “Market” cardigan, and thrifted a lovely soft cotton crossover wrap. I’ve found some cute denim overalls too, but I’m not sure if I’ll look like an overgrown toddler or not - I guess I can only try them and see, haha!

After this exciting weekend has come and gone, I’ll be doing a big edit of my clothes and marrying up my inspiration board with what I have, and likely, having a big clear out.

In every iteration of life, I’m probably the girl on the farm, or digging in a veg patch, and splashing in puddles. Always the girl who delights in the things of nature, and in the quiet beauty of being blessed to live in a simple but cosy home.

I wandered far from that girl for a while, but individual beauty isn’t held in trends or what’s fashionable. It lies in authenticity and enjoying the uniqueness of who you are in any given season. Not chasing, but embracing.

Until next time, stay cosy, and enjoy what’s blooming - whether it’s flowers in your garden or just gratitude in your heart.

Yours, as always