Harvesting~Growing Your Own

Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard.
~Standing Bear ~

 

There is a lot of satisfaction to be had in harvesting your hard work of growing your own vegetables.

This year in the Dreamwalker’s Plot, I have managed to get stuck in to help Hubby weed.. And I have come away with aches and pains in places I didn’t know existed!   as I did battle with the never ending strength of Mother Nature as she reclaims back her Plot to be the wilderness she once was .. But the taste of eating your own grown far out ways all the effort, And you always come away feeling refreshed having worked hands on with Nature.

And to say its been hard work, I have loved every moment.  

This Year because of almost 6 weeks constant torrential rain fall its been almost impossible to go and get the weeding under control and as a consequence, several crops such as rows of swedes, parsnips and Carrots and other seeds which were set, just rotted in the soggy ground which didn’t germinate. It was good we tried an experiment this year with planting Carrots in a raised Bed, to combat the problems we had last year with Carrot fly. These are doing nicely..

A casualty also is that of the Broccoli which has gone to seed, before even forming tight florets, as you can see from this picture here.. You can see the second to front rows have gone to yellow flower seed.. And many Cabbage tops got eaten by the pigeons this year which have decimated many an allotment holder’s cabbage rows .  

We lost all the Raspberries and only managed to get around a good healthy punnet of strawberries off to eat which hadn’t been rotted and mulched due to the rain. A Big disappointment as we got Pounds off them last year and all my weeding and transplanting efforts, but that’s the name of the game.. You win some and lose some with Mother Nature..

But the Rain has been good for the peas

and Green Kidney Beans With Lettuce and Sunflowers in front.

Another success so far, although we need the SUN to ripen later on is the Sweetcorn, here you can see along with the leeks..after this photo was taken I cut the tops off the leeks slightly so they can thicken out.

You know there are times when we don’t feel like putting the effort in. But when we can be fully present in every job that we do, and we bring the fullness of our bodies, minds and spirits to the moment, the rewards are harvested in our lives.

We may not think we have  talents or abilities, but when we give them willingly in life… Not only in the labours of gardening, But in life situations, they attract not only good results but also the right people and circumstances into our experience.

There have been days where I haven’t had much energy, but I pushed myself to spend just an hour in the garden, and it helped me feel brighter despite the hard work.. And like anything we do begrudgingly this limits the flow of our energy and closes us off from the good that is available to us in every situation. But by giving the best in us to make the world around us better, we open ourselves to receive the best from the universe in return.

This year despite the weather I have given my energy to add to that of Mother Nature and we are never disappointed.. For her bounties in her harvest is always there to be reaped.We just at times need to look how full our baskets are in life, as we see how empty others are!..

Doing any job from this place of love within us allows us to do our part with humility and gratitude, while also learning lessons that move us steadily toward our goals.

The Bountiful Earth has many gifts, and I give thanks for the lessons of patience, and knowing there are times for reaping as there are times for sowing..Times of rest and time of hard work..

But each one us are important as we give our energies to add to the whole.. And so what ever you do in life, whether it is gardening, creative writing, photography, Arts or crafts.. Know the love you add into the mix also adds that energy of Love into our World..

And you will then also reap what you sow..

To see updates of how the allotment has progressed since April ’12

Click Grow Your Own 

Sue Dreamwalker