Permaculture

The frost has still been hanging around but I have been creating my plan to grow my permaculture paradise. It’s very small but being and working in the garden growing food is very pleasing for body and soul. It will be a 5 year ongoing project but I am trying to work with nature and understand the working relationship. Gardening and being in nature provide exercise, sunshine and food that has not been tampered with. It’s an essential part of my new reality. I may not be able to garden in the conventional way but being in a wheelchair should not hold me back.

The birds and the bees are regular visitors and all is well in my nano garden.

Bacteria

To improve my digestion I have taken the same science as if improving the soil in my garden. I equate that what happens in here is the same as what is happening out there. I changed to starting to eat in season and increasing the diversity of ingredients in my food. Instead of eating just rice, there would be millet, quinoa and couscous too, more variety in vegetables and fruits and telling myself that yes I can eat that but checking whether it fits that formula. This week it’s local asparagus although in the supermarket it comes from Mexico. Little changes do build up. Having a local veg box also provides me with local bacteria that will further enhance my wellbeing.

Building compost update

The compost bin houses a thermometer to see how the temperature is cooking and it’s gradually going up. Currently 28 degrees which is still on the low side but it will no doubt increase. To up the temperature I add green matter and to lower the temperature I mix the compost layers up. Additionally today I added a box of worms . They arrived in a box and the box will gradually decompose while the worms venture out and see what is happening. It’s just like cooking with waste. Eventually it will turn out to be compost . Just add patience.

The conversation with nature

Yesterday I observed the birds in the garden and apart from them picking up little twigs and breaking my wool mat to bits, they were obviously building a nest.

Then there was a bluetit that kept going to my blackcurrant bush and I thought he was destroying it. However on closer inspection, there were little green flies on it meaning the bluetit was doing some work in my garden.  Sometimes we just have to observe and notice that a garden is created by all of nature and not just us.

Black Gold

Today’s task was to harvest the homemade compost and to start the new compost heap with the resources available in the garden. The heap was emptied and started again with layers of leaves collected and started in a black plastic bag, rabbit poop and bedding ( available locally), earth from pots from last year, grass clippings and kitchen waste. It then was sprinkled with water and covered with a layer of the leftover wool material that had been pecked at for weeks as nesting material for the birds. The area is not wheelchair accessible but in the corner is a broken plant pot allowing me to deposit waste collected that will be added weekly. The compost available now is black, dry and liquid gold for the garden.

Painting with plants

Exactly what I am doing with the garden? The aim is for it to be beautiful and edible. I will be sharing and caring for wildlife hopefully creating mutual beneficial relationships.

My resources in space and energy are limited but that does not mean I cannot garden, preserve and champion.

The front garden is a typical country cottage garden but instead of seeing the garden from the outside to its best advantage, it’s at its best looking from inside because that’s where I am mostly. 

Last autumn my helpers planted over 200 bulbs and it’s a spectacle to behold. The bees have plenty of flowers to visit while I plan additions to the garden that will be edible. So far amongst the flowers we have rhubarb, artichoke and rosemary but more planned. 

The back patuo which is accessible provides a salad garden mostly with edible flowers. Going around the space in my wheelchair provides exercise, fresh air and sunshine. Everything we need to grow.

Compost bin part 1

Today’s gardening task with help is going to be crucial to continue to reduce the waste from the garden as well as home  and decreasing the waste produced and sent away. The compost heap. It’s small but bijou. My grow beds will get a top up on a regular basis and I intend to put waste to better use. Secret to good compost seems to be in the planning: brown and green waste. Seems I have a variety of that so walk with me.Bacteria are the future !

With a little help ....

A few days ago I had the idea to put some marigold seedlings out into the sunshine. To protect them at night I gave them a blanket, the insert of the packaging received from  www. Pipersfarm.com .  ( one of us  eats meat and buying it from pipers farm means it’s sustainable, grass fed and they even have packaging that can be recycled) so, having recycled the cardboard, inside the refrigerated packaging this wool blanket kept things very cold) First I thought it would be an ideal cover for the compost bin but then I had the idea to insulate my seedlings that may not be completely ready to be planted out.

Upon waking I wondered why it was falling apart but in observing the comings and goings of various birds one little bird must have told another  : ‘hey if you are looking for warm suitable nest material, look no further, that tiny garden there has some for the taking.’

And there I thought recycling was my responsibility solely but I find that with a little help from my nature friends, it’s happening naturally.

New home

We moved to our little cottage because I was unable to live in the previous house as my new reality means getting about in a wheelchair. I live in 3 rooms, the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom and my living space expands into the garden in summer. As a ramp has now been installed I am getting out a little in the garden and creating a growing space there.

How to establish your rhythm of life

What rhythm of life is appropriate to you and how to find out what is it?

STAGES OF LIFE

There are a number of stages in our life and to accept and know which one we live in now can help us tweak the energy we have. Children have a need for routine, adolescents need sleep to function properly, young adults, active in the workplace, young parents, the 30 age group, 40, 50, 60, 70 etc.Each stage of life brings challenges with it, You might be following that linear path as it unfolds or like me navigate between them.

Questions relating to each stage :

SLEEP( night)

How many hours of sleep do you need for optimum energy?
Do you sleep the required number of hours and if not what is stopping you?
If you were to sleep the required number of hours what would be the impact on your energy?
If you cannot sleep the required number can you build in a nap in the day?

Our daily rhythms vary and although I know I am at my optimum energy when having had a good 8 hours uninterrupted nighttime sleep  my teenage sons require about 12 hours and are a lot more present if I accept their rhythm. That means that their breakfast time is my lunch time and our main meal in the evening is their lunch time and that at 9 pm they are likely to need a snack. Even if it means we have different daily rhythms they meet at certain points.

ACTIVITIES( Day)

How  many hours does it take you to do your work?
when is the best time for you to use available optimum energy?
Does your commute add time to that?
Do you take time to be present when you eat a nourishing meal?
Are there seasonal changes to this pattern?( Winter and autumn)

WEEK
How do I use the time at weekends? (Could be catching up on sleep)
Is there balance in my work and play?

SEASONS

There can be very little variation on how we currently use our energy during the seasons and every week seems like another but it was not always so.
Spring was a time of planting new seeds, new life, growth after a period of fasting and as the workload increased so did the length of the day. With the convenience of electric light we can modify that but do we use the time to its optimum?
Summer was a time for tending the growing plants, eat fruits in season, socialising and usually a time to work and play at maximum capacity. Summer is the time of plenty, warm, long days.
Autumn is a time of harvest and preparing for colder weather by processing the harvest and ensuring we will have our needs met in the colder days. Autumn offers us ambiguous days that remind us of summer but also of the winter ahead.
Winter offers us the shortest amount of daylight hours and an opportunity to see if the fruits of our labours do indeed carry us through to the next season. Harvests are limited but it can be a time to slow down a little, stay warm, coset ourselves a bit and plan and gain strength for the year ahead.

YEARS

Each year and each period in our life has its own demands and thinking of what is important and what is authentic to us we can live with each 'now' in harmony or discord.

Somehow this century we have challenged these rhythms of life by working day and night, every day of the week, eating everything whenever we wanted, anytime in the name of progress. We rarely notice a change of season or pace getting out in all weathers, to accomplish our life's work paced over the seasons of the year instead of over 365 days.

A step towards change to ponder:

Start by finding out how many hours of sleep are most beneficial for you and make it a habit to get the sleep you need.( it fluctuates with age, health issues, effect of nutrition etc)
Can you give yourself a day of rest each week and plan activities that will nourish you?

Its an ongoing movement towards doing our life's work and staying present in the 'now' noticing the time of day, day of the week, seasons and how we function at our optimum level. It is a challenge but enables us to make our lives meaningful.

To do or not to do that is the question

Its February.

Sitting here cup of tea in hand, I wanted to take stock to see if all the things I had planned to do in January got taken care of and what was left undone. As usual I had far too many things on the list to accomplish ( even in hibernation mode) where I get caught up in the enthousiasm of New Years resolutions. I did spend January planning month by month what I intended to do but then nature has a way of stalling my to do list regularly and refocus on the present moment.

The snow arrived and clothed the roads with a blanket, well everything was white, cold and I listened to the frantic movements of the birds in the garden who were probably looking for food. I so enjoy the birdsong during the day and my contribution is to feed the birds in winter when I can. I notice the wildlife and nature now as where some years ago, I would be more focussed on getting to work and how this or that meeting would be chaired. Being mindful of 'NOW' means being open and present and I notice more of my surroundings and its opportunities. Being snowed in helps.

Nature provides its own version of a duvet day and while clothing the outside with a covering of magical snow I responded by lighting the woodburner, feeding the birds and making a celeriac soup.
Whatever I had planned that day got superceded by the weather conditions. Sometimes nature provides us with opportunities to help us recognize that we need nurturing.

I noticed the rush outside:

• people commuting to their workplace
• cars abandoned by the roadside
• fear of not getting to work
• phone calls regarding that urgent meeting
• postmen delivering mail in all weathers
• customers venturing to the shop for supplies of quick food
• dogs being walked 
• people covered in layers of clothing
• trees draped with snow

The shop papers were not delivered and neither did lorries make it to the village but farmers came with their landrovers to help and everyone in the community did what they could to take part and check on housebound neighbours. Children had a rare snow day from school ( as the buses did not run) and the day seemed to bring out a carefree play to all concerned. I picked up my bag of leftover yarns and dedicated the day to making a little hat and reading about fair isle knitting, a technique still to be mastered. My to do list fell by the way and at the end of the snowy duvet days I felt I had accomplished a new skill which did not figure in my original plan of the day.

A snow day may be  inconvenient and here it stops the routine dead. Many are unprepared and struggle to continue in the forward movement created by a need to struggle against nature to fulfill a personal to do list. Rarely do we stop and question whether by going out and following our daily work routine, we are taking a risk of damaging our cars, other people or our health. The diary is so full that taking a moment to stop, breathe and be still is far more frightening than taking the slippery road outside.

Its good to focus our mind towards things and tasks that need to be done but a duvet day gives us a rare opportunity to reflect on what nurturing ourselves can accomplish.

Sprouting seeds

Winter time gives us less vegetables to choose from and although outside my salad patch contains lambs lettuce and a few hardy varieties it is not as prolific as summertime.
The addition of sprouted seeds adds a lovely crunch and vitality to salads,sandwiches and stir-fried vegetables.

The process is simple but it requires daily attention and the equipment needed can be simple or complex but lets start simply.

For a visual representation this video provides a good introduction to sprouting.


My little jar was a present from a neighbour but it works well and delivers a small amount of sprouts to try the principle out. Little sprout jars and seeds can be obtained in the UK from https://www.livingfood.co.uk.

When your sprouts are ready to eat they will keep in the fridge for about 3 days thus a continuous small supply can be achieved with 2 jars on a windowsill.  Sprouts contain all the energy a seed would have needed to blossom and eating sprouts gives us the opportunity to harness all that goodness. Sprouted seeds can be bought at a wholefood store in bags ready made but growing your own is much more economical. Why not try it as an addition to your salad supply.

Sprouting makes indoor gardening a reality providing valuable nutrients when we most need it.

Nurturing the soil

This year's project involves replenishing the garden and after careful observation a plan is forming on how to let nature recreate the space we have into a food producing ecosystem. Having spent time in the garden, listening, watching the grass grow, the rain fall, the puddles form, the leaves fall and the slugs crawl I am ready for the next step..
The answer can be found in nature, in forests where every layer, every plant and every microorganism work in synergy for the benefit of another.

Instead of wanting to dominate nature in the way of traditional gardening, I want to explore the permaculture way of engaging in beneficial relationships between plants, soil, insects and wildlife and start observing, listening and interacting with what the garden has to say.

I want a relationship with the ecosystem in my garden but does it want a relationship with me?

I want to ask questions about plants and bugs; who are you, what do you do for the garden and what do you need from the garden? How can I take my place in the garden instead of dominating the system?

10 fruits to grow in the garden

Fruit trees, bushes, crowns and canes are an investment to start with but after 3 to 4 years, cared for, they will provide you with a return each year.

Three trees were gifted to me this year, apricot, greengage and victoria plum.

Here is our selection to provide fruit throughout the year:

1. Rhubarb- purchase them as crowns. These are the very first fruits of the season, make excellent pies, leaves used in mordanting fibre, crowns can be used as a dye.

2. Strawberries - lush, easy to grow in pots or as groundcover ( works well with rhubarb in a pie)

3.Apricot - tree, needs to be planted where the sun shines most day as it is a warm weather tree.

4. Blackcurrants, white currants and red currants : bushes providing berries in July/ August, excellent for jams, jellies and cordials.
5. Cherries - A morello cherry tree can flourish on a north facing wall and provide a good crop provided it is netted when the cherries ripen, otherwise the birds will strip the tree.
6. Gooseberries - a prickly bush, makes good jelly as it is high in pectin.
7. Plums,greengages, damson - eat fresh, can or freeze, jams and jellies.
8. Berries - Raspberries, Tayberries, Loganberries, Blackberries, Mulberrries, Blueberries cultivated and wild.
9. Apples and pears - If you have space you can create a succession of harvests lasting from October to January.
10. Quinces and Medlars-

Wild food - January - Velvet Shank mushroom

According to Richard Mabey's book the Velvet Shank mushroom is the only  one able to survive frosts in winter and while walking through the garden I spotted a tree trunk with wonderful mushrooms on it in the most vibrant orange. I am not knowledgeable about mushrooms but if they are Velvet Shank it would be a useful addition to stews  as they require a long cooking time. Its Japanese variety which looks paler and longer is reputed to have medicinal properties.

Surprisingly we will be having mushoom pasta for supper tonight but I am not going to give it a go this time.




Steve Kirk of Bushcraft Magazine does show in the video above how to cook them wrapped in bacon.

Preparing the soil

The future tomato bed has been created by putting a layer of spent straw, compost and soil together with some leaves. It will not be required until April, May this year but preparing it now allows the garden worms to aerate the soil and create a good growing medium for the tomatoes.

The bed will have bush tomatoes  from Siberia in an effort to grow a heirloom variety that produces fruits early in a colder climate. The plants will be interspersed with basil and parsley as companion plants with a coreopsis in the background to attract beneficial insects.

The promise of a seed

Having decided what vegetables to grow and poured over a variety of seed catalogues, choices have been made and today, the seeds have arrived. This year instead of buying them from the gardencenter , the seeds have been chosen from the real seed company because the seeds are true to type and hopefully will not only produce the named variety but also be used to create our own seeds for next year. Not practical probably for all seeds but important to continue to grow vegetables in the future.

Each packet comes with growing instructions and instructions on how to save seed. Currently, you could be spending a lot of money on seed varieties that promise a bumper crop but then cannot be reproduced as the seeds are genetically programmed to produce a harvest but not seeds. This guarantees seed producers a constant demand each year for new seed.

Gardeners have always saved seed from their produce and produced lasting and enduring results in gardens and allotments and with a little care, we too could be building up a seed bank. Companies like Monsanto genetically engineer seeds to produce the most yield but these plants do not produce seeds true to type and thus farmers and gardeners are dependant and compelled to purchase seeds each year for their business. It is quite likely that tomatoes and peppers found in the supermarket come from genetically modified seeds.

To store the seeds we use an office concertina file with 12 tabs for each month of the year and the seedpackets are slotted into each month of sowing. That way at the beginning of each month, sowing seeds is easily identified and if succession planting is required, it gets put back into the following month. April currently seems like the busiest month for sowing seeds.

Resources


the real seed company
organic gardening catalogue
sarah raven
seeds of change ( USA)

How big a garden do you need for food production

Once you have made a decision to grow all or some of your own herbs, vegetables and fruit the next step is to find the right place in your garden to do so.

The vegetable garden should have the following elements:

• requires maximum sunlight ( not shaded by buildings and trees)
• requires good soil which is well drained
• is free from weeds and other competing plants
• has access to a suitable water supply
• is sheltered from prevailing winds.

In the end it all depends what you have available. In our garden some areas are sheltered by trees and walls and sunlight is not always prevalent all year around due to the surrounding buildings. I am trying to use the sun facing patio to create more growing conditions for sun loving plants. Shady areas in summer are great to grow salad leaves as they tend to bolt in sunny places.

Some herbs such as parsley, coriander and basil can be grown amidst the vegetables but annual herbs such as rosemary, sage and lavender can be grown as hedge plants at the edge of borders.

The size of your vegetable garden depends on what space you have available but to feed a family of four with a rotation of crops ( 2 seasons in each plot) would need to be between 80 and 100 square metres. ( An allotment is 250 square metres).

In principle it is therefore possible to grow much of your food requirements from a family garden or allotment. What to grow follows in the next post in this series.

Resources and inspiration for small gardens with big yields:
The Dervaes family- urban homestead
City Farmer
Butterflyhillfarm

Tiny growing spaces

Every little space counts

In a small garden you need to use all your available space efficiently. Using the plan created of your garden enables the creation of every feature and structure as growing opportunities for plants.

• Walls and fences can support climbing plants and espalier trees ,shelter plants and absorb heat to help ripen fruit.
• Balconies and patios can be used for growing plants in pots that need extra protection or different soil conditions.
• Sheds can be used for holding plants that need extra protection, potting up plants, tool storage and drying of herbs and other produce.
• The garden shed may be a base to add a greenhouse or chicken run.
• Pergolas can be used to support climbers
• Ponds can be used for ducks and productive water plants.
• Terraces can be created on sloping sites supported by retaining walls.

Explore areas that can take window boxes, pot stands and shelves in greenhouses.

Patti's video shows how to build an easy vertical plant support system.

Getting stuck in dirt

The amount of food you can grow in your garden will to some extent depend on the type of soil you have. The fertility of the soil can be improved and is the key to a healthy, thriving garden.

Some soil improvers :

• Compost all the kitchen scraps and garden clippings, animal manures , ( not dog and cat),paper towels, tissues and inside of toilet rolls, then dig the compost into the soil.
• Add seaweed from seaside foraging as well as other organic material that will break down the soil.
• Collect leaves at the side of the road in autumn.
• Check the amount of earthworms you have in your soil. Worms aerate the soil and turn organic material into compost. If low consider adding some to your compost bin to improve worm population.
• Set up a worm farm and harvest their castings and worm juice to use as a soil conditioner
• Use organic mulches on the soil surface to stop weeds competing with the productive plants and to reduce the need for watering.

Resources

what I put in the compostbin

composting101

wormcafe

composting worms