January Slow Living in the South of England

January Slow Living in the South of England: Outdoor Family Life, Gentle Crafts, and Healthy Winter Habits

January arrived after a chaotic Christmas, and I have to admit we were all burnt out. So this month has been about finding our rhythm again: spending time outdoors with the children, settling into slow crafts and homemaking, and laying small, thoughtful foundations for both family life and the future of Growing Wilder.

It's mid winter and we are trying to get outside as much as possible. The weather here in the south of England, especially on this little tiny island micro habit is a lot more friendly and calmer than Berlin over the winter months so with our Scandinavian gear, it's pretty easy to get outside despite the rainy winter days.

We are also trying to do slow crafts and things in homemaking and with the children. And doing preparations for the middle Wilderlings 3rd birthday. She chose a cow theme, which is quite on brand. Birthday crowns and felted play mats. It’s like painting with wool, and I hope to run workshops in these one day.

They both started nursery this month for a few mornings a week and having that gentle reset at home has been quite the relief.

We’ve been making music. Rhythmic and pleasing sounds from Mr Wilder, and chaotic jingle, dingle, joyous noise making from the rest of us. I’ve also been very slowly practising the ukulele, that Mr Wilder gifted me for Christmas. I thought to be honest I'd pick this up a lot quicker with my childhood violin practice but strumming is actually awfully hard.

Otherwise, I've got very big plans for Growing Wilder over the next few years. Plans that require patience, dedication and resilience to put everything into place to grow it to a point where it can fully support the entire family.