Last days for @40hourfamine donations.. donate or else!

Did you promise to donate? Still thinking about it? Want to help, but don't know how? Feeling guilty cos you didn't donate much to charity last financial year? Want to look better for the accountant next year? Or just know that this is a great thing to do, and know it will make you feel great?

Well, now's the time to do something about it!

Donations for the 40 hour famine close on the 30th September. That's THIS SUNDAY!

Now, remember the sacrifices the three of us made (my arms, oh my arms) and the scorch mark on the carpet (phew!), and think about all the millions of people in developing countries who live like that (and worse) day in, day out, with no end in sight.

They need our help.

So, stop feeling guilty, do something about it, make a difference, and get thee to OUR DONATION PAGE and make that donation. Just $40 is enough to feed a family of five for a month. A little bit for us, means so much for them.

Don't wait...

Don't hesitate...

Don't dilly...

Or dally...

Go...

NOW!!!!!

Donate or else... millions of children will continue starving, will continue living in poverty, will continue to live in ways we can barely even imagine.

@40hourfamine all finished!

Finished off with a lovely bowl of homemade strawberry yoghourt.

Not only did we give up electricity, but also gave up processed and pre cooked food and made everything from scratch, including grinding our own flour!

If you haven't already, please read our blog to see all the interesting stuff we did, and you'll find the link to donate to the cause.

$40 will feed a family of five for a month, we only need five of you to donate that much, and we meet our target!

40 Hours is over, but we're still going..

The boys decided they wanted to keep going. I'm having a nap, or attempting to. Day two wrap up will follow shortly!

A feast or a famine?

Lunch is served!

Chicken and potato soup with leftover chicken from yesterday, and made with the stock from cooking said chicken (which gave us three meals plus leftover soup for dinner).

Bread made with 25% hand ground wheat on the side.

With your choice of:

Yoghourt Cheese from homemade yoghourt hung overnight.

Butter made by hand.

This meal was so filling we are postponing desert until afternoon tea.

Dessert.

Homemade yoghourt, flavoured with homemade strawberry sauce made with handmade butter.

Food for thought.

I finally get to sit down for the first time today. I have been lugging hot water from kitchen to laundry and sink, washing underwear, getting bread made from floor we ground ourselves risen and in the oven, working on chicken and veg soup, and strawberry sauce to go in yoghourt made with our hand made butter.

The house is filling with the aroma of baking bread. It is so worth it!

But it is such hard work without all those gadgets we take for granted and without processed food. This meal has been two days in the making! For the majority of the world, this is normal. We ARE extremely privileged by pure luck of having been born into the life we have. I've given up all this 'stuff' but I still have good food, a roof over my head, my family are safe and healthy, and well educated. If I run out of something, tomorrow I can zip to the shop and buy it with the virtual money on a plastic card. I have unions to negotiate for better pay at work, and a government that at least sometimes listens.

Food for thought.

The washer woman

Hamish helping hand wash our unmentionables. He says that getting his sleeves wet is all part of the deal!

Cheese and coffee done the 40 hour famine way

The boys slept better than they ever have. An extraordinary twelve hours! Unfortunately, I didn't, sleep, much, but that's beside the point.

Up at 6:30 to deal with bread dough and yoghurt, err, yoghourt, darn predictive (my children Morgan and garnish will attest to that frustration!)

And pictured is yoghourt cheese and the left over whey. Normally I would google to find out what I can do with it, rather than waste it. I vaguely remember it being good for skin as an astringent and exfoliant, due to the lactic acid. I'll have to dig around the bookshelves, see what I can find.

Oh, and coffee, a latte really, figured I deserved one, made by boiling our free trade coffee grounds in milk, not as good as a real one, but certainly appreciated.

I'm loving the quiet. No TV. Boys in separate rooms, so not arguing. Oh, except for Hamish's fighting gun type noises over the Lego box, asked him what it was, it's none of my business! Be told, woman! But it is a nice noise, amazing the sound effects that come out of a seven year old boy.

I have, however, become hyper sensitive to the sounds of water coming to the boil. The skills one picks up eh?

40 hour famine: Day one wrap up!

Wow, what a day. We are EXHAUSTED, me most of all.

I read all our blog posts to the boys and they thought it was absolutely hilarious, even the bits not meant to be funny.

Before I head off to bed I have to hang the yoghurt for cheese, and set off the next batch ready for the morning.

Morgan:

I feel sad about the people eating flat bread every day, they could get sick, they don't get fruit and veges. And they never get lollies. Mmm!

I felt scared when I saw Hamish with the paper on fire, I thought it was going to be the end of us.

Hamish:

(Ed. All Hamish would contribute was a load of nonsense. Apparently he has a huge giant armpit and has been eaten by dinosaurs.. the duffer!)

Who needs TV and movies for entertainment with these two?!

One very close call or A lesson learned.

We had a very tasty dinner, chicken noodle soup. Made completely from scratch with homemade stock, and as we didn't want to use packet noodles I made it with egg noodles. All very tasty and the boys scoffed it down, with Morgan even having seconds.

It was already getting dark at the dining table, so we are by candle light.

I then headed to the kitchen to start getting the bread dough made ready to rise overnight.. until garnish decided he wanted to make an authentic treasure map, you know, with the burned bits around the edges...

Yes, you guessed it!

Monday will involve a phone call to the Real Estate Agent about the small burnt patch on the carpet, the result of me stomping out the flaming paper (glad I was wearing slippers) and Hamish has (hopefully) well and truly learnt his lesson, no shouting required.

We're otherwise OK, slippers included!

Stripping things back..

I have had to stop with the wheat grinding. My wrist and hand are stiff and aching, and if I want to be able to hold a pen at Tafe on Monday, then I need to stop NOW! Its so jarring: whack whack whack, stomp stomp stomp.

We (mostly I) ground about a cup of flour as pictured above, its taken all day and it's very grainy, it will get mixed up in our bread mix tonight.

How are the boys going? Could be cabin fever, Morgan has settled down, but I just caught Hamish doing a strip show, accompanied by his own composition entitled "I have a bum!"

Cabin fever? No wait, that's normal! (Photos of strip show NOT included above)

The status so far: The exclusive interviews.

Morgan.

What is the most difficult thing so far, and why?
Grinding the wheat because you have to have big muscles and I'm so skinny.

What is the best thing so far and why?
Playing board games and enjoying myself (Ed. Although he's spent most of the day complaining how boring it is!)

What is the most interesting thing so far and why?
Making butter and non fat milk (whey) because it made whipped cream first, then butter, and all you have to do is shake it.

What do you miss the most?
I miss computer games because I like computer games, but this was better.

Hamish.

What is the most difficult thing so far, and why?
Shaking the cream to get butter.

What is the best thing so far and why?
Eating the flat bread, because it was tasty and different.

What is the most interesting thing so far and why?
Making flour because it's so cool mushing and scrunching it and I like it.

What do you miss the most?
TV

Alex.

What is the most difficult thing so far, and why?
Pounding flour, oh my arms!

What is the best thing so far and why?
Time has zoomed by, being so busy doing preparation, and having to heat water on the stove etcetera.

What is the most interesting thing so far and why?
Realising how much we take for granted.

What do you miss the most?
Access to information, by far! It has been a real challenge so far, much more than I anticipated. Normally when any question comes up in my own head, I Google it, Wikipedia it,so my head is full of unanswered questions, and I don't like it! *stomps feet* There has been a fair amount of guesswork with cooking/recipes,and I just hate NOT KNOWING!

It is no surprise really, that education is considered the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, and those people have so little access to it. If they can access education, their time is limited due to working so hard, or caring for the rest of their family, particularly families ripped apart by death. AIDS, malaria, malnutrition mean that older children often look after younger siblings, or have to work because their grandparent is physically unable to.

I think the BEST thing so far is actually the fact I only have to do this till Sunday night. And I get to go to Tafe on Monday morning.

Making flat bread

There's a saying about breaking bread, I can't reminder what it is exactly, but the bread must be made first.

I'm making Indian flat bread. This is with purchased flour and is quick and easy for a mid morning snack. Would have been easier except I've lost the rolling pin..

Thankyou to those who have donated so far today, I believe we're up to $300!

Hunger makes hard beans sweet

Here is Hamish helping pound wheat. It's hard work, and we can only do a small amount at a time, if we stick at it we might have a loaf for dinner, tomorrow!

My arms ache, not much, but enough to make pounding more challenging. I can only do a little bit at a time. Imagine doing this, day in, day out.

The boys are quietly doing stuff. Drawing reading etc. At least the arguing and composing has stopped.

So far we've made butter, ground a small amount of flour, started of the first batch of yoghurt, which will get strained for cheese. And the second batch will have strawberries added.

Tomorrow we will feast for sure!

ACTUAL buttery goodness!

And here it is! It needs just a little more shaking, then straining out, but this is REAL FRESH MADE BUTTER. It wasn't as difficult as we anticipated.

Also, happy anniversary to my Parents, Helen and Colin, 39 years!

Buttery goodness!

Morgan shaking his booty, err, butter!

For the love of Milo.

Part One:

At 8:30 last night, we turned off the telly, lit candles, and switched off all the lights. It's somewhat unnerving going from a well lit house (at 7:30 I realised every light in the house was on!) to pure candlelight, especially trying to do stuff.

I drafted this with pen and paper at 9:00pm by 2 candlelight and let's just say, I might as well have been writing blind, or at least writing semi visually impaired.

The boys wanted to sit in bed and read:

No!

Still, the novelty hasn't worn off yet.

It is interesting how not being able to do something you take for granted suddenly makes you want to do it CONSTANTLY. I was rather tempted to check facebook again before climbing into bed.

No!

Hmm, I wonder what breaking news there is?

No!

I should check the blog..

NO!

Maybe I'll text or email someone..

Dang!

So I climbed into bed and wrote this post.

Part Two:

7:30am Saturday

Morgan climbed into my bed at 6:00am shining a torch in my eyes, yep thanks son!

He mentions something about a newspaper hat. Perplexing to say the least.

As it turns out, this was Morgan's thought process after bed:

"I want to read a book, no, can't do that because of the forty hour famine, um what else can I do, oh I know, I'll make a newspaper pirate hat, just what I need!"

He also woke up with his bedside lamp on, he said he remembers turning the torch off and going to sleep, but then when he woke up, his lamp was on.

We've already had one "I'm bored, I hate this, I can't do anything, stupid famine!" outburst, after I caught Morgan about to start up their laptop. NO WAY, BUDDY! Nevertheless, after a gentle reminder from me, they are both playing a board game.

Pictured above is the first thing I did upon rising. The heating of milk and water, which didn't take as long as I expected. It's very nice to have Milo!

A quick test to make sure everything works

This is our new mortar and pestle. It weighs A TONNE.. If anyone ever breaks into the house I'm going at them with a knife in one hand and this thing in the other!

I'm not sure how successful it will be, making our own flour, but we've got some cracked wheat and some whole wheat flour as a back up.

Some of the things we'll be doing

It's almost upon us! The boys are making sure they watch as much TV as possible before it goes off, although they will be getting a bath very soon. No more hot water, except from a pan on the stove. I'm getting everything with the blog set up to work from my phone, the laundry is all done and dried, and I'll be putting batteries in the torch and setting up candles soon.

There are a few things I've planned for the weekend. Most involve food, and doing things traditional ways.

I bought some whole weat grains, and a mortar and pestle, so we will try grinding our own flour to make bread. I'm expecting some very sore arms, although we're working on a much smaller scale than that pictured above. We're also making yoghourt and butter. Amongst other things. I had planned to cook fish in salt... but forgot the fish! Erm... oops!

We have nothing pre-prepared or processed (except some wholewheat flour as a back up if the hand grinding doesn't work!)

In the laundry we will be hand washing in lectric soda,which will be a learning experience. I also haven't used a washing line for six years, so the clothes dryer comes in second behind the microwave as what I think I'll miss the most in the way of household gadgets.

I did also buy us a treat or two:

A block of fair trade chocolate (YUM!) and some fair trade coffee.

Seems fair!

Once again, don't forget to donate!

We are almost half way to our target of $500.

40 Hour Famine Almost Here

Not long to go! We start tomorrow... Have you made your donation yet?

I think it's time for me to lay down our rules of what we can and can't use during the weekend, this isn't going to be easy!

What we're giving up:

Electric Lights
Lamps
T.V.
DVD
Home Theatre
iPod
Laptop
Computer Games
Internet, social media, facebook, twitter
Printers
Laminators
Iron
Kettle
Microwave
Popcorn Maker
Blender
Slow Cooker
Hairdryer
Washing Machine
Clothes Dryer
Hot Water from the tap
Vacuum Cleaner
Basically anything that uses electricity
PLUS
The Car

Exceptions

My phone - to take photos of our experience and update to the blog via email
My phone - for calls in case of emergency only
Oven - as it would be dangerous to light a fire in the middle of the loungeroom
Fridge - as it would be totally against the concept to waste all that food
Torches - to enable noctournal toilet visits as it would be unsafe with bunk beds etc
Aquaruim filter - dead fish, nuff said!

I pick the boys up tomorrow afternoon and we'll be doing our food shopping, then home for a last hot bath/shower and to start prep for some of our interesting activities. TBA.

Also, it's not too late to register to to the famine yourself. If you do, be sure to put our username holmesperrim into the "who referred you" box. We'd love to know if we inspired anyone else to join in!

If not, please share this via facebook (or whatever you use) so we can raise as much as possible for this great cause.http://40hf.com/holmesperrim

Spread The Word

Hey you, please sponsor us!

The next steps in this Journey involve asking people for donations.

We have just sent personal emails to six people. Fingers crossed they can donate and we'll get closer to meeting our target of $500, maybe even BLAST through it!

Then we have to raise $40, which is enough to feed a family of five for a month.

Done, done and done... we've raised $170 already in only two days.

Talking about Spreading the Word please like our facebook page and share it with all your friends!

Spread The Vision

This cool little video follows a "day in the life" of a child living with chronic hunger.

Morgan: It was funny when the man said is that a hyena and I also like it when the girl fell over because she couldn't really see where she was going because the man was in the way in the strikenoculars. It was sad about that the girl always had to eat the same thing, never anything different, it was also very sad that they were very hungry so they couldn't concentrate during school.

Hamish: I liked when the man thought there was a hyena chasing her, but it was just a baby with the strikenoculars and when his mum said that she was a good runner. It was sad that they didn't have much food and when the man thought that she was eating and drinking real food, but she was just playing pretend.

Morgan: The video makes me want to sponsor two times or one hundred times because you think about all those poor kids with no food or water.

Hamish: The video makes me want to cry one hundred times and I wish that I could give the  little girl some of my yummy strawberries to eat because she doesn't have much food and strawberries would be really special for her.

If you watch the video and want to do something about it, you can join the 40 hour famine yourself, or you can sponsor our efforts here. The money goes to help communities grow food more effectively and to be self sufficient in times of drought. This also gives kids more time to play and go to school and be kids.

The Journey Starts Today!



The 40 hour Famine helps hungry kids like Burtukan

Ok, so anyone who has registered for the 40 hour famine will find there's this "My Journey" thing to go through, various steps that World Vision suggest you take in the 40 hour famine.

First one is to create your fundraising profile: Done! (this is where YOU go to sponsor us ;-) )

Next we have a video to watch.

I'm saving this for when the boys are here this evening, but I'm sure I'll need tissues, and I know it will help reinforce to the boys just how lucky they are to have been born in Australia to parents that have a regular income, a roof over their heads, supermarkets, schools, cars etc.

I'll get them to help write a response to the video over the weekend.

Our World Vision 40hr Famine Blog

This is our blog for the World Vision 40hr Famine.

Morgan (9), Hamish (7), and their Mum (that's me) have been looking forward to doing the 40 hour famine since the start of the year.

We will be giving up many modern comforts and technology.

The boys will be posting hopefully too, and documenting our fundraising efforts.