This December in our Village

Staying balanced and joyful

Photo by Sally Frawley HELLO!   I am so glad that you are here. How are you doing? Busy and excited for the festive and summer season I hope! I definitely am. As I publish this bumper December issue, I am packing my bags to drive to Kingston, Victoria for our Ukelele group’s first public performance at the 155th Agricultural Show! I have never performed like this before and I am excited and nervous all at the same time. Please wish me and our group luck! My cup is also still full from last night’s book club end of year gathering with my friends. We had a pot luck dinner whilst debriefing All Fours by Miranda July and exchanging wrapped books from our personal collections for summer reading! Divine night. Thank you ladies. In my garden, my Hydrangea Macrophylla White is bursting with abundant flowers along with my Star Jasmin and Gardenia Augusta Magnifica. The scent is incredible and fills my house with complete joy. My professional series on Leading and Living Sustainably has now launched on LinkedIn with Prioritising the Way we Lead And Live and Taking a Leap into the Unknown now published. Take a read and please do follow me as I will be writing more thought leadership pieces through this business platform over the coming months. Take a look at how I support professional women here. Our Cookbook Club will take a break in December and January, but our Villagio Community Forum will still be active. Please join us and take a look at our chosen books for the first quarter of 2025 and the date for our next live meetup in February. Details here. As I sign off for what has been an incredibly fulfilling and busy year, I would like to thank you for being part of our village. Please do take a moment to write to me here if you would like to say hello or share your feedback. I would really love to hear from you. I would also like to thank Meagan Kennedy and Sophie Hansen from Marketing Directive and Sally Frawley for your professional guidance, marketing support, digital design and photography over the year. Such a privilege to collaborate with talented women across Australia. And to Naomi Bulger for supporting the original Villagio concept and design. Naomi, if you are reading this, I hope I have made you proud with bringing our ideas to life. I will be taking a well-earned break from our monthly newsletter and social media in January and be back in touch at the start of February with so much more to share and do in 2025. Wishing you, your loved ones and all those special people in your villages around the world a wonderful festive season and summer (if you are in Australia!). Grazie e Buon Natale a Tutti! This month in our Village Photo by Sally Frawley Now is the time to bring out your gorgeous food covers as you begin to host friends and family. This Mayotte Food Cover mesh cake dome from Provincial Home Living is a top pick for me. Professional women making the time to connect with each other provides us with such a solid foundation of support. Read my thoughts. Follow water. Take a friend with you on the journey. And then grab a coffee afterwards. Read my thoughts. Seek out someone to learn from and then pass on those pearls of wisdom to enhance someone’s life. Read my thoughts. My friend Merilyn gave me a gorgeous little stainless steel apple and I pondered what I would use it for. Read what I did with it. Follow Villagio’s Instagram for weekly inspiration on how to build your village. This month we are cooking Limoncello Tiramisu Photo: Sally Frawley Limoncello tiramisu is a festive crowd pleaser and zingy fresh alternative to the classic coffee flavour. I think the limoncello pairs exceptionally well with fresh berries. Get the recipe card and watch me make it. If you prefer a limoncello ice-cream version, check out my gorgeous Limoncello Semifreddo. Get the recipe card and watch me make it. Did you know that Limoncello is very easy to make yourself? And it  is a lovely gift. I love to store a bottle in the freezer for those moments when you need a little pick me up! Get my recipe. Support local Australian garlic producers. Being Sicilian, always having fresh garlic on hand is a big deal! That’s why I only buy Australian. Read my thoughts. This month we we are reading “The Village” The Village by Matt and Lentil Purbrick celebrates the life-giving value of cooking and eating with your village along with a comprehensive chapter with practical advice on setting up a natural garden to feed your village. This beautiful book is the sequel to their first book Grown & Gathered - Traditional Living Made Modern. Matt and Lentil base their lives around completing impactful projects and they now spend their time between Italy and Berlin owning and running two sustainable and organic wine ventures, Minimum Wines, inspired by Matt’s Italian village, and UN PO’ celebrating natural ancestral winemaking. In 2021, Matt was awarded a Young Gun of Wine gong.   Follow Matt & Lentil on instagram at Minimum Wines and visit their inspiring website Grown & Gathered which documents their way of life. This month we are meeting Natasha Morgan The incredibly talented and dynamic Natasha Morgan creates beautiful garden spaces that enrich lives and communities. She promotes sustainable practices, celebrates the art of gardening, and creates spaces and opportunities to nurture creativity, connection, and well-being. Through her workshops, collaborative events, and divine artisanal products, she aims to educate and inspire to embrace the beauty and benefits of natural living. She has three wonderful workshops coming up including: Garden Design; The Productive Garden and Preserving the Seasons. You may even like to purchase a gift voucher for a loved one. Visit her website; sign up to her monthly newsletter and follow her on Instagram for inspiration. You won’t be disappointed. In February, our Cookbook Club book is Kitchen Sentimential Last month’s cookbook club and Zoom chat discussing Ela! Ela! written by cook and food writer Ella Mittas was so wonderful. Thank you to all the women who joined us. These catch ups fill my cup every time. Please join our Villagio Community Forum here. We would love to welcome you. The Cookbook Club will take a break in December and January. Our chosen book for February 2025 is Kitchen Sentimental: A journey to self-discovery one recipe at a time by Annie Smithers. Our February live Cookbook Club Zoom chat is scheduled for Wednesday 12th February at 8pm AEST. Click on this Zoom link five minutes before we go live. Over the summer break, you may like to read Annie’s Recipe for a Kinder Life or watch a heartfelt five minute clip about Annie called walking gently on the earth. More about our Village Silvia Regos https://villagio.au Next Next Limoncello Tiramisu With thanks to Meagan Kennedy and Sophie Hansen from Marketing Directive and Sally Frawley for the digital design and photography. Such a pleasure to work with talented women across Australia.