Growing Your Own 2012

I have set up this page ‘Grow Your Own’, because I think it’s important that people start and see the importance of becoming more self-sufficient.

We are altering our planets climate at an alarming rate, one only need to look out their window to see that the weather patterns are altering dramatically. As the planets align, more Solar flares are taking place, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes becoming far more frequent.

We saw in the UK the other year how the volcanic ash could stop our airplanes from transporting goods. It was only a matter of days and the shops were empty of certain foods. You only need to go into your supermarkets today and just see how many various places around the globe our food is imported from.. What would you do if the supermarkets were empty?

Those of you who live in Tornado areas who are seeing your towns disrupted, what emergency provisions have you prepared ? As we see bigger and bigger storms ravage our land.

I am not saying any of the above will happen.. But embracing a healthier lifestyle and leaving less of a carbon footprint we can manage to live very comfortably with a simple basic lifestyle. Learning to grow your own food is fun, yes hard work, but so very rewarding and healthy. It hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals and believe me it tastes great.

Below is the slideshow which updates of progress will be added in succession  Sub-pages will be added with various different subject information of Self-Sufficiency Help. Including information about Herbs and there uses and how they can help  us Heal .

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 Grow your Own 2012 

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The Ploughing of the Allotment Vegetable Garden

Our Allotment garden is only a couple of minutes walk from where we live. My Better Half ploughed up the allotment soil today the 11th of April 2012.  To give you the size of this plot of land it is approximately 165 ft in length by  45 ft wide…

The first crops to be planted will be Shallots, Onions, Beetroot, Early Potatoes, Carrots and Peas..  I have already sown in pots in the greenhouse ~ Sweetcorn, Runner Beans, Cabbage, Brussels, Cauliflower and Brocoli

The only fertilizer we are using is Chicken Fertilizer and very sparingly some Grow-more … We do not use any Herbicides preferring to plant flowers such as marigolds and others  which attract not only the bees but also put off the aphids. 

The crops left in the ground which you can see are from last years crops are Leeks and Parsnips which will be used up by the end of the month..  

New Updated Photo’s of the Progress of the Allotments will be added to the Slideshow in order of work carried out.

Strawberry Bed after weeding and replanting new shoots.

Digging of Weeds.. And Strawberry Beds. Link Plus Pickled Onion Recipes … 14 April 2012

 

12-05-2012

Here is another update as to the progress ofGrow Your Own. pages here on Dreamwalker’s.

When we connect back into Nature she never disappoints us. As in my last post toShine or not to Shine I explained how I had been feeling a little under the weather..( Maybe all the rain had also damped my spirits) But we all need the rain in our lives at times to enable us to grow and mature, as we appreciate the Sunny Days and those gifts we often take for granted. Just like our plants which wouldn’t survive if they had no rainfall.. Just like at the opposite ends of the scale, too much Sun and they dry up and wither, too much rain and they can rot and die also,.

So a Balance is needed both within Nature and within our own lives..

So after feeling quite low.. I took myself off to the allotments, we hadn’t been for a few days as it had been constantly raining. The weeds had quickly overgrown again, they always seem to flourish what ever the weather. My Hubby set too and rotavated, extracting last years parsnips and swedes which had gone to seed.

The Peas had been set and one or two had popped up which were pushed down again.. If the field mice get a whiff of them they can soon go down the row and eat most of them. The Onions I set a few weeks back you can just make out sprouting now to the right where the string is still across.

The Top picture shows the bean sticks which have been erected for the runner beans/kidney beans. The Bean Plants are still in the greenhouse and will be brought out to harden off about a week before they go into the ground at the end of May.. This is usually when last of the Frosts have gone, but nothing is certain in Gardening, especially as the weather seems to be taking its toll around the world with horrendous hail storms.

After a couple of hours weeding in the allotments, I was tired and a little sore, but my Spirit was truly rejuvenated.

Its amazing how Nature sooths us with her healing Balm

When we are of low spirit, a walk out in Natures Garden often is all we need to help heal our inner spirits.. I wonder just how many of us take Nature for granted..And how many in the modern day world understand that Nature is forever combating change, but she still goes on Growing.

As I looked at the Allotment, nothing much seems to be happening, but lots of things are going on under the surface, as the seeds are germinating waiting for that warmth to make them spring forth. Much is also happening beneath the surface of our Earth always its changing as Gaia too is Growing and reaching forever upwards in her vibration.

So too we humans search throughout our lives for that warmth, that love in which to feel nourished and nurtured . Without that love we too cannot grow in spirit.. So like all Gardens we need to weed out that which doesn’t serve us anymore and feed only that which we want to grow and flourish.

So Happy Gardening both in your own Back Yards and within your Minds..

For we all of us grow towards the ‘Light’.

© Sue Dreamwalker – 2012 All rights reserved.

The Kidney Beans are In, and already climbing the canes, Date 31st May 2012

 

So too is the Cabbage we have since set the Red Cabbage along side, It is covered with Wire at the moment as the allotment soon has lots of Visiting Pigeons and they just love to eat new cabbage leaves..

The Sweet-corn is one of our favourites, and we had a bumper crop last year, which we froze and are just coming to the end of eating from storage in the Freezer.. Family and friends always comment on how much sweeter home grown Corn on the Cob tastes..

The Onions and Shallots have come through nicely now, and you can see the two Pea rows coming to the left of them.

I had weeded the two onion rows on the right, Next Job weeding the Shallots 3 rows..Arrgh my back aches!..

Great Idea, Go and get the chair out the the shed… Arrgh that’s Better, not so back breaking now..  

Just thought I would share How My Garden Grows! with Pretty maids All in a ROW!

Now Of course I will leave you to guess about the Pretty maid!  

Have a Great Sunday!

 

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

 Date: 01-08-12.

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..

Sue Dreamwalker