Healthy nutrition

Managing my health has become the focus of my daily activities. Including as much fresh organic produce as well as growing my own have been instrumental in making a road to feeling better. There are certain foods that appear regularly because I want to eat them. When I have lost interest and awareness in them I understand that they are not instinctively needed. When the sudden urge arrives for a lemon , I know there is something in that fruit that is a missed element. My weekly favourites are avocado, blueberries, spinach and mango. Very seasonal are strawberries( just a few), fresh lettuce, purple snap pea, mint for tea and parsley. The garden suddenly is very abundant and I have spotted a few miniature tomatoe fruits. It’s all immediate and grounding and provides plenty of opportunity for gratefulness .

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.