Tag Archives: gardening

WORKING SMARTER, PLANNING BETTER

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It’s June the 2nd. I’ve been missing in action for most of the 2nd half of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Life gets busy. I want time to rest. I can’t do/have it all. I gave some thought as to what matters the most in what I am doing. Taking some time off to breathe, rest and regenerate is top of the list for me. Not that I have that much time to sit idle for long. There’s always something calling me. When you have a greenhouse, a garden, 6 raised garden beds, community garden plot and a city allotment, it keeps us quite busy. It is a very worthwhile busy though, growing our own food. I just have to work smarter and plan better.

It’s beastly hot out today. Heat is not my best friend but the weather is not something I can control. I have to suck it up and deal with it, like it or not. It’s also involves planning and working smarter. It’s probably not the best day to do any transplanting but my red leaf amaranth is getting to a decent size in the greenhouse. I had seeded them for my mother. It’s now or never. I gave them a good watering and scooped them out onto a plastic tray. They’re all planted now in my mother’s garden bed. I hope they take and do well.

The thinking about doing something is more difficult than the task. I’m home now, sweaty but happy I could do something for my mother. I enjoyed the planting and visit with her. I’m learning that it is never a good time to do anything but it is the best time to do something. I just have to work past the thinking into doing.

HOPE FOR MY SOUL

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There’s no point in lamenting over the state of our planet/world. We are as dry as can be. What has happened to our April/May showers? I should rejoice at the warm temperatures but 32℃ and 30℃ forecast for the beginning of next week. Then it’s back down to 17℃ a few days later. I hope the forecast of rain pans out but somehow they have the habit of dissipating. Meanwhile our and U.S. news toots much hope of Covid under control and we can resume life as normal. But listening to news from other parts of the world, I think it is false hope. We are all connected. What affects one, affects all.

Let me not dwell on these things that I cannot control. I have to give myself a shake and ask, What can I do. How can I find hope? This morning I read an article of hope and resilience in the Guardian on the growth of American food forests. It’s what we are attempting to do. Our passion and goal is to grow as much of our own food as we can organically – in our own space and in the community garden.

It does take alot of time, energy and work but it is very rewarding for the soul. I see results for my effort. Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours visiting my parents and planting mom’s front flower bed. It’s one of the things I can do for her. I’ve stopped with the gifts for Christmas and other holiday seasons. There’s not much material gifts that my parents need now. So it is Chinese takeout for the holidays and snow shovel in the winter. I start a few flowers and vegetables for them in the spring. My mother still likes to do everything herself. We compromised and split 50/50.

It’s Sunday morning, the 15th day of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I’m showing up as best as I can.

HOPE ETERNAL

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My days seem so busy now with the greenhouse, seedlings and plantings in the raised beds. It’s difficult to make a regular showing here. It’s best if I do make a concerted effort though. Showing up helps me to prioritize and organize to make best use of my time. It also helps my brain function. So here I am, making an effort and doing the best I can.

It was a cold morning with snow flurries. It continues to be cold with lots of wind but at least the sun made a showing in the afternoon. The greenhouse is toasty warm. All the plants are inhaling and exhaling in ecstasy. I will find a space here to pot up the seedlings when it is cold out. I’m tired of hauling my potting supplies back and forth between the basement and the deck. Yup, the weather is crazily erratic. We can have 3 seasons within a couple of days. I am adapting quickly though.

Only a week and a day till April 30th and Tax Return due date. I shall not worry and fret about it. I will pick a good restful day before then and do it. It’s only worth one day’s worry and work. Then it is done. I will pay my due, feel the hurt and get over with a tap – SENT.

It’s another colder morning. It went down to -12℃ overnight. I’m glad we have the electric heater on a thermostat in the greenhouse. It’s set on low to kick in at 2 or 3℃. Otherwise, everything would be toast. I hope my raised beds are ok. At 8:38 am, it is now -3℃ outside. I’m hopeful. They are under layers. I will check maybe at noon. It will be 2℃ then. Well, our last frost date is June 1-10 according to Vesey’s and May 15 according to the Farmer’s Almanac. It also says that -4.4℃ and colder is considered severe frost with heavy damage to most garden plants. I did add an extra fleece cover over the celery, daikon and brokali last night. Fingers and toes crossed. Hope eternal.

TRIGGERS AND BULLETS

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Another April morning. I’ve come to the keyboard but I am lost for words. The morning feels grey and wintry though the sun is breaking through. I can’t quite believe that the high today will be 18℃. It is 8:44 am. It’s 6℃ outside and 10.3℃ in the greenhouse. The 10.3 sounds high though it is still quite chilly inside. I’ve made a visit there and out to take the covers off the covered raised beds. The lettuce, celery and daikon are all looking fine. They do like the cold so maybe I can stop fussing and covering under the cover. But I see that it is going down to -6℃ Monday night. How can I stop worrying? It is easy to just throw on another cover.

We are living in unpredictable times. Maybe we always have but never knew it. What a waker upper, eh? Now there is no escape. There are plenty of deniers even though the third wave of Covid is hitting hard for many countries in the world and global climate change threatens our survival. I’m not being pessimistic but facing the facts. I like to deny, too, but denying and hiding from things leads to stress and anxiety. I’ve learned the hard way, from experience.

Not running away and facing the enemy is scary, very scary. I suffer from anxiety attacks. I have ran away and hid. That only led to prolonged anxiety, the waiting for the other shoe to drop and my heart in my mouth. It’s been a long journey and I’ve gotten acquainted with my fears and triggers. I am much better now. I’ve learned to stand my ground and face my enemy. Sometimes I have to bite the bullet, feeling the rush of adrenalin through my body. I always come out the other side, safe and whole. This gives me confidence. Each time I gain a little more.

I think I’ve become a better person for all my anxieties. For one thing, I am more empathetic to other sufferers. An ear to listen is a valuable thing. It took me a long time to realize that I don’t have to fix everyone’s problems. I just have to sit and listen without judgement or offerings. Another thing is I’ve gotten to know myself very well. I’m well acquainted with my emotions and my physiological response to different stimuli. I’m learning how to deescalate my emotions so that they don’t cause me harm. I feel things very deeply. I am what you call a HSP, a highly sensitive person(self diagnosis).

It is now 10℃ out. The sun is a little brighter, but the sky looks cold dirty dishwater. It is what it is. I will carry on as best as I can. Meanwhile the bulbs I planted the autumn before last are blooming – more and bigger than last spring.

CHRISTMAS IN NOVEMBER

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Christmas in November

Gosh, it is already 5 o’clock in the afternoon. I did not go for my afternoon walk. No sun today. It’s been foggy and dreary – like a cup of weak tepid tea. I did get my exercise this morning at the YWCA. My enthusiasm was a little dampened by the rising numbers of Covid positives in our province. It’s difficult not to be affected by bad news. But I’m still doing well considering. I once thought I reigned supreme among the depressives. I was always reading books and taking workships on beating the damn thing. My shelves are full of self-help books. Maybe that is the reason I’m still standing. They have helped after all.

I’ve just gave myself a Christmas present – a year’s subscription to Permaculture Magazine U.K. I’ve been watching alot of gardening videos on YouTube by Huw Richards. I was a little put off by his accent at first but then I got charmed by his good manners and looks. He’s very informative and a good presenter. I can’t wait to get my first copy in the mail. On top of that, I have digital access to their past 28 issues. This is Christmas in November.

We finally got a remote temperature/humidity sensor for the greenhouse. Now I don’t have to trot out to check every time. We can see what the temperature is over the 24 hours of the day. I can see that it is 0 degrees now (5:30) in the greenhouse. I have given up on growing anything there till end of February. But who knows? It’s our first year and the weather now is unpredictable. Meanwhile, I can observe the temperature and weather patterns. I can study what other gardeners are doing elsewhere. There’ll be seeds to order soon.

I do still have a little viable garden inside my sunroom. My herbs are doing very well. The lettuce has germinated in just a few days. I might have to transplant them into other pots as they are a little leggy. I wish the sun would come out but it looks like we’re having more snow tomorrow. That’s November for you. It’s a dreary month. But I have a room full of colourful blooms to cheer me.

POLITICAL & CLIMATE CHANGE

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Political & Climate Change

It’s difficult to be cheerful and optimistic when you watch the American election. Neither candidate, Trump or Biden are young men at 74 and 77 respectively. Neither looked in the best of health. I haven’t been following their campaign but I have heard the President talk on TV many times before. And I just want to turn him off. I’ve just listened to former NYC mayor Rudi Giuliani speak on NowThis News about the corruption of the Democrats on mail in vote fraud. It is very distressing, watching all this. I shall stop right now.

It is a f’ing frightening time in the world now. I hear no talk of climate change on the political stage. Theres no talk of plans of how to slow and reverse climate change. The politicians are only interested in attacking each other. As for our news, it’s all Covid and then the elections. We’ve been bombarded with our own provincial, civic and now the U.S elections. What about the other stuff happening in the rest of the world? What about our planet? Does anything else matter any more if there is no earth?

Oh, let me pull back to my corner of concern – growing food. It is something I/we all can do. It is my passion along with sustainability. I shall adopt Patrick Dolan’s approach of one yard revolution at a time. I love all his videos. They are a wealth of information and enjoyable to watch. Today, I learned some new vegetables to grow – claytonia and Egyptian walking onions. Claytonia is also good for cool weather. I’ve just discovered West Coast Seeds online this year. They have a wide selection of Asian vegetables being on the west coast where there’s a large Asian population. They have the claytonia, jade dragon bitter melon and winter spinach. I’m eager to try them out.

The door to our greenhouse went up today. Needs some fixings but everything is all closed in. We have a couple of warm days left. Can’t believe that tomorrow’s high is 18 degrees Celsius. Then there’s snow on Saturday. No climate change, eh? Oh, whatever!

LIKE A SHINY PENNY

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Some habits are good to keep. Though the Ultimate Blog Challenge is over, the commitments of the month are sticking. I do my 4-7-8 breathing exercise in the morning waiting for the kettle to boil. It is relaxing. I have my one fried egg for breakfast. I’m not ready to add the toast back. After breakfast, I had this urge to have another cup of tea and just while away the morning.

I didn’t. I could but I know that whiling away is not all that satisfactory at the end of the day. It is not when you end up with a messy house, untended business nagging at you and a stiff achy body begging to be moved. So I unplug the kettle, got out the vacuum stick and did the places full of Sheba’s hair. The furnace filter and motor will be happier as well as my pocket book.

Funny how dog hair and garbage odour can mar my days. Nothing glorious about dealing such things but it is necessary. They don’t do themselves. There is some pleasure when you see the dog hair get sucked up by the Dyson stick. Not so much washing the garbage bin. It comes later after the muck is washed away. It’s looking so clean drying in the sun. I hope it will kill the odour.

I am so glad that I keep showing up here like a bad shiny penny. It’s a springboard into the day for me if I can show up early. Now it is almost 8 pm. The afternoon and the evening is hot – still 31 degrees Celsius. Sheba and I are just back from our walk. I am soaked with perspiration. So happy I did some weeding in the morning. The weeds looked formidable at first but just pulling them one by one, it was not bad at all. I harvested some rhubarb and put down the leaves as a mulch helps to keep them down. Everything looks pretty good despite our strange summer. I am happy.

LESSONS LEARNED

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My two pairs of pants are shortened and hemmed. Hallelujah! Miracles do happen. It was not so difficult after all. I need not have waited 20 years to do it. Lesson learned. Nothing happens when I am frozen with overwhelmed and indecision. They hung in the closet, gathering dust. So any action, even if it is not the best or perfect, is better than none. Now that I’ve tried them on, I think they’re a tad too short. They’re tighter than when I tried them on last week. Ah, the waxing and waning of the waist line! They might have to go into the donation bag after all. But I will see. I can still let the hem down a bit on each. Maybe I can suck in my tummy.  More work but that’s what I get for not trying them on after pinning. Another lesson learned. So many damn lessons!

That was a few days ago. I ran out of steam and words after that short conversation. That’s how it is. Now I’m back to continue. That is the secret – to keep coming back. Life is not smooth sailing. It’s full of starts, delays, holdups, detours, rerouting, restarting, etc. My garden is the same this year. We had hardly any rain till these last weeks in June. Even the weeds were not growing. There was the cool temperatures. Everything was slow. Then there were the birds and bugs that ate what did come up. I lost half a bed of broccoli and 2 rows of beans never showed. Peas and carrots are seeded in the empty spaces. But my bed of greens is excellent. We had plenty of spinach and lettuce. The spinach is done and new seeds put in for a second crop. The onions are standing straight and tall. The kale is coming up.

So that’s how things are. Some things thrive. Some don’t. There’s evil in the world but there’s also alot of good. Just when I’m really down and despondent about our humanity, I learn of people with huge loving hearts and great courage. Trevor Green’s story moved me to tears. Then there’s Melissa Fung’s speaking On What We Owe. That made me put away my small troubles, for a little while at least, and think about the larger world. And I think again about what can I do to help.

 

FEASTING

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It’s the day after the fast. I had to do a little adjusting in the morning. I listened to my body. I did not go to my aerobics class. I knew that when I went to bed last night. My head and body felt a little strange. Maybe it’s the first time I was devoid of thoughts and worries. My body and mind emptied and cleansed, I had a good night’s sleep. I woke up feeling lighter.

After the fast comes the feast. It’s not about the food. Believe me, after fasting even for 12 hours, I do not want to stuff myself with food. Strange but true. The thought of a big heavy meal sounds nauseous. It’s about food for the soul. What do I need to become whole? I’ve been working at it forever and a day. Maybe I haven’t been conscious about it. I am now. I have been feeling fractured and broken. I have been sick for a month recently. Maybe all of it led me to this retreat of examining life. It’s all a part of the journey. I am sure I will have to travel it again and again. No free rides for anyone. There’s a keeper at the toll booth.

How did I feast? I read more from the Bible – passages from Joshua and Psalms. The books are long. So many battles in Joshua. I haven’t reached the end yet. Psalms 23, The Lord is My Shepherd is so soothing to read and recite. I delved a little into The I Ching.  I don’t understand at all about the hexagram, throwing sticks or tossing coins. It is enough to read the truths the book contains. It is part of my heritage and I have the book. I bought it in 2013. It cost me only $2. It’s beautifully made using traditional Chinese bookbinding. What a bargain, eh?

I miss not going out in the garden today. I know now that time is of value to me. Time tending – weeding, watering, trimming, harvesting and conversing with all that is living. The living breathing green earth matters to me. It was eery walking Sheba down the back alley this evening. It was very, very warm. Still  30 degrees Celsius when we started out. The earth was so dry, fine and powdery – like icing sugar. All the houses were shuttered or curtained. It was quiet as the desert.

I think we get it now, that our planet is in danger. Some people are trying to grow their own food wherever and on every inch they could. It’s a wonder to me every time I see this row of zucchini outside the fence in the back alley. They look limp and forlorn in the heat. But they are producing. Then there’s this house on the corner. The whole small backyard is given over to a vegetable garden and full of pots growing peppers and herbs.  The tomatoes overflow outside the fence into the back alley.  It’s all a feast for my eyes and soul. I am fed by others’ efforts as well as my own. I hope I do the same in return.

I am happy to be eating again. Sustenance is necessary for body and soul. The fast changed my relationship with food. It is as if I’ve developed more taste buds. I am savouring more, eating less. I hope it lasts. Nourishment and becoming whole is a deep subject. It will be an ongoing process in being a congruent person. I think it is what is known as life.

LANGUISHING

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It is Tuesday morning, a day off. Funny how I still think of days off when I’m retired. Those words have been a part of my vocabulary for so many years. You get two nurses together, the conversation mostly sounds like this: Are you on days off? Did you sleep? Of course that was in my days. I’m not sure about the young nurses talk nowadays.

So, I’m on a day off. I don’t have to head off to aerobics or swimming. I have no MUSTS to do, except….I have been saying for days I MUST get my shit together, tidy up, dust up and file up. Now that the day is here that I could do all these things, I just want to sit here, in my beautiful room and languish. Both big windows are opened. The sun is streaming in. It’s early enough for a cool breeze. A bird is chirping. I wonder if it’s the one nesting in the grape vines.

It’s been awhile since I’ve just sat in peace, not wanting to do. I relax the furrows between my eyes. How wonderful to feel the release of tension. I do not mind the clutter and bit of dust on my desk. I sip my tumeric tea as I gaze at the sun dancing on the magnolia and amaryllis. They need some water soon. Out the window, I can see Sheba laying in her hollowed out dirt bed beside the potted avocado. She is happy and cool, watching and listening to the birds in the yard. I will finish my tea and head out to weed a little. I’m getting back to the rhythm of ‘doing little blocks’. They add up like drops filling a bucket.

It is now 3 o’clock in the afternoon. I spent 2 hours in the yard and garden, weeding and harvesting. Perhaps I overdid. Now I am not only languishing but wilting a bit.  It is warm but I’m still getting a breeze through the windows. The birds are still chirping back and forth to each other. Sheba is languishing in the diningroom. She threw up twice today so maybe a light supper.

Can’t say I have climbed any mountains or vanquished any villains today. Haven’t even had time for any crime reading. Nothing much to show except some rhubarb stalks on the kitchen island and fewer weeds in the garden. Oh, yes, I’ve filled the raised beds in the back with rainwater. A good day. Now back to languish with my cup of tea.