Snails: My Enemy

So, after a few weeks of seeing absolutely nothing come up, out of my whole crop of basil, tomatoes, squash, and beet-root, I talked with a permaculture friend and he knew exactly what it was. He said that it had nothing to do with my soil or me doing anything wrong, but that what was happening was that as soon as my plants sprouted up, probably in the night sometime, snails would come and eat them up. So by the time I got there it looked like nothing had happened at all.

I'm debating over methods of warfare to use. I don't think I have it in me to use salt. And I can't use snail pellets because my friend's cat could eat them. I've found some homemade recipes, but haven't picked one yet. So far my first step is to gather a bunch of plastic bottles that I'll use as walls around my plants. I started with my new sunflowers that I transplanted yesterday.

I think that these snails might be symbolic of things in my life like procrastination, which I can see, but think that it won't be a problem. And it eats away at all these things that would've been sprouting in my life, but get's killed before I even know it's there.  Hmmm, I don't think I'll expand much more than that, because it could bore you, but as usual I'm finding parallels.

There have been even more big openings through some generous friends who are want to support and who even have extra supplies that they want to give me. One friend is going to be giving me more seeds (including corn) as well as a worm farm, which will be really good for my garden as well as for learning. I've been offered so much that I'm just about at the point of having to turn some of it down. I start gardening for that handicap organization on Thursday, so I'm getting excited for that. Looks like I'll be able to do it for 2 to 3 different homes, but one at a time of course. We'll see how that goes.

Sunflower sprouts

My sunflowers have sprouted overnight, from nothing to an inch high. I was stoked because this is my first plant to pop up.

My other seeds have yet to arise, which is making things difficult, because a weed is taking over the garden, and as soon as my plants pop up I want to cover the ground with a thick mulch, but can't yet.

Other than that, the best part of the week is that I get to work with an organization that takes care of severely disabled people, and I get to garden their houses, and I will have a government grant that will supply everything I need for it. So it's basically the best thing I could dream of. I get to hang out with them while I garden. I also get to play music for them, which will be fun. I'll have pictures of all that once I get started. Also, my friends have asked me if I would be willing to plant a tree in their backyard, so I'll be jumping into that new field as well, which will be fun. Have to find a tree that will grow fast, thick, but not too high because of power lines. We'll see how that goes.

Day 6-7: Aesthetics

I'm losing track of how many days I've been working so I think this will be my last "day #" post.

This morning felt great, not just because of the weather, but also because I got to rest my legs yesterday and found I was able ride my bike in my highest gears the whole way, even on the hills, which means that riding 5 days a week is actually getting me in shape. I love that I can do both biking and gardening together.

I was hoping to see my veggies starting to peek out of the soil, but it's not quite time yet. It's been seven days since I planted them, so at some point by the end of this week they will be appearing. So with that as the reality of the day, that meant I wouldn't get to lay down my new bag of sugarcane mulch that my friends gave me. So I watered the plot, and then I decided it was time to tackle all the weeds and grass that was covering the other parts of the garden.

I cleared one whole side of the yard that had not bee weeded in a long time and was really starting to feel some fatigue in my fingers as well as my arms and back. I decided once again to try and find a metaphor that would help me stay motivated to be diligent in weeding that area. The first thing that stood out to me was that these weeds I was pulling, had absolutely no effect on the health of my vegetables and was really not needing to be done. The second thing that came to mind was that it really didn't look good at all with the weeds there. These both came together for me and showed me that if I want my garden to be a blessing to others, I would need to to make it as inviting as possible for them, so that they want to go and eat from it. Weird I know, but I say it that way so that I can make the metaphor clear. I realized that many people would look at the garden and not see past the weeds that surround it to see that the vegetables and herbs were great, and that might keep them from being able to experience the blessing inside.

So with this I was seeing how if my life was a garden, I have a lot of great things deep inside of it that would be good and would feed others, but if I don't pay attention to the weeds and trash on the outsides of my life, people will never enter to find what's really inside. One weed that came to mind that I've been able to clear out is swearing, which I used to do all the time in high school. I don't have a moral conviction against it and I would say that it doesn't affect the core fruits and veggies I have to offer, but I know that for some they would see it as a weed and would have no desire to enter. I don't want to focus on my aesthetics than my garden, but I do want to be applying time when I have it, to make myself as inviting as I can. It sounds cheesy, but it helped my weed that whole section of the yard.

The other side of it of course, is to not judge someone else by the weeds that you first see when you meet them. I'm finding that everyone has weeds surrounding their garden/life, but everyone also has amazing exotic fruit trees, and vegetables that I need, and am not able to grow in my garden/life. It's a challenge to look past the weeds, and also maybe help them with the weeds.

Okay, I think that's enough of that analogy. All in all I'm loving each morning, and get excited just thinking about seeing the seedlings pop up, laying out some mulch, adding to the compost, weeding the other sections that need it, and whatever else I'll need to do.

Oh, planted two sunflower seeds in separate newpaper pots for an intercession time that we had last week, and I've been taking good care of them. Once they are a good size I'll be transplanting them somewhere. So when they pop up as well, I'll try and get some photos. Hope you're enjoying this blog as much as I am. It's a bit long I know. At least you don't have to hear my talk about it, because I say a lot more than I write.

Day 5-6: Compost

First off, I'm really excited and thankful about how this garden has been a way for all these people to jump in and support me in it. I've been given everything that I've used, planted, worked with, etc. It's been really encouraging to have everyone pitching in what they have. Thanks everyone.

Compost has stolen my heart so far. I can't believe that I didn't even know what it was or that it was possible until a couple months ago. I will briefly explain composting for all the people who don't know what it is. It's normally done in some sort of covered container, inside of which you put different layers of green organic material, brown dead organic material, newspaper, food scraps, (pretty much anything that was once alive and hasn't been cooked) etc. You maintain it by keeping it wet, and by turning it over every once and awhile. The whole time it's sitting, it's actually got bacteria inside that are slowly eating away at the materials and turning it into a fresh nutrient rich soil like mixture. Then when you have enough of that you can take it and mix it back into your soil in the garden.

My love for compost isn't completely based on it's physical job, but more on it's similarities for my life, and what I want my life to be for myself and others. My journey over the last few years has been aimed personally at being "real" in my life and my relationship with God, but the only way to do that is to take all the "death" that has happened, or been apart of my life and others I care about, and bring it to God to walk me through it and give real answers and healing to those situations and wounds I have. As I've done this I've grown a love and longing for Truth to be what dictates my life and decisions. It's been amazing and has been a source of true healing, strengthened and reconciled relationships, and begun to open my eyes to what real "Life" is. But it requires some very hard yards in dealing with death. And I see all that in composting, where you take all the death from the garden and the kitchen, and focus it in one place, and then wait as the bacteria (God) slowly works its way through the death and turns it into the best soil mixture you could ever want.

I want my life to be composting as I go and get it with tragedies, wounds, sickness, etc. And I want to be able to help others compost their garden's death and waste. This is the first time I've found a clear example of what's been on my heart for the last year or so, and I'm sure I'll be talking more about it for many more years to come.

Pictures

It's too bad I didn't get the pictures from the first few days. It's changed a lot. These pictures show the area I've cleared and now planted in. The bottom row being basil, the middle row (with the bamboo stakes) is tomatoes, and the top row is half beetroot and half squash. There is a picture of my Rosemary seedling, and then of one of my 2 compost bins. Hope you enjoy these. There will be more to come. This morning I started clearing out another section, so I can maybe be ready to plant more in 2 weeks.

Day 4: Sowing seeds

Don't worry, I'll hopefully have pictures up by tomorrow.

So today would not have the same significance if it weren't for yesterday's questions. I was confronted with what my dreams and expectations are for the next 3 to 4 months and what the actual needs are for the community I belong to. I realized (thanks to some friends) that I had these seemingly good desires for this season to be a chance for me to really explore and engage in a wide range of my strengths and passions all at the same time, with them taking up almost all of my focus. But as usual life has much more going on than just my world (especially in community). I had to stop and think about the fact that there is going to be a lot of areas where my help/service will be needed and it will have nothing to do with my strengths or passions, but will have to do with blessing the people around me who I'm covenanting to do life with.

So how does this relate to my garden? I realized once again that the garden was a mirror of my life. That those strengths and passions I have were my 6 packets of seeds. That my limits in time, responsibilities, and the needs of the people around me were all the different limitations that my garden faces as well, but have different names: timing, soil, space, sunlight, myself, etc. I wanted to plant them all and just have a super garden, but knew I couldn't handle it. So me that was what I needed to weigh up today... What to plant?

I'm not sure which one (life or the garden) has the power to change the other, so today I decided to start by choosing a path for my garden that hopefully will reflect in my life for the next few months. I chose to only plant a small amount of my seeds. Half what I really wanted (Tomatoes and Basil), and half what others had asked me to grow, but I really didn't care about (beetroot and squash). It's interesting knowing you're going to be putting around 3 months of hard work and care into plants that you know you won't even want when they're ripe, and will just be giving away. It was a great feeling though to plant them as a sign of my commitment to be serving others at a cost to myself. Who knows, maybe I'll grow to like beetroot by the end of all this.

So now it's time for the germination to begin, and in 6-10 days I'll be seeing green. I think I might have planted way too much squash, so I'll be having to eat and give away loads of that in December. Let me know if you want some for Christmas. That offer is only for people in Australia though. Unless you want to pay for the shipping.

Tomorrow I'll be back to weeding and plowing a new section, as well as starting a compost heap.

Oh, and I'm thinking of buying some Giant Sunflower seeds and planting them around town where I live, which would be awesome. I'll keep you posted on that as it unfolds.

Day 3

By the way, I'm numbering these days by when I work, not the actual amount of days since I started.

I started today really excited, because yesterday I was given five new packets of seeds which brings my inventory to be Tomatoes, Basil, Carrots, Shallots, Climbing Beans, Beech root, and Squash. I also was given money, which allowed me to go to Bunnings and be overwhelmed by the gardening section. I decided while I was there to buy a Rosemary seedling, but to wait on buying other stuff, because I have no clue what I'm doing.

So this morning I was really wanting to plant the Rosemary, and then to get more good soil onto my plot, so I could plant by next week. But when I got there and looked at the area I had cleared I realized that I had only cleared what I thought I needed and then the rest of the yard I had left the way it was. My gardening mantra then came into my head. "Your garden is a reflection of yourself." I realized that I was only thinking about what I needed and making that part great, but I had paid no attention to the surrounding plants, weeds, or the yard. This was boding as a poor reflection, given my goals are to be always reaching out and giving to others. So I, changed my work plans and spent almost the whole time clearing out further sections of the yard of weeds, plastic, dead lizards, etc. and plowing it to break up the soil.

In the end I used my newly cleared section to plant my rosemary at the bottom of the sloped area, so that it's aroma would drift up to the soon to be veggie areas. This is because Rosemary's aroma is known to keep away pests.

So in all, I'm being challenged and learning every step of the way thus far. And now I have my first plant. woohoo.

Day 2

Besides the personal refreshment that comes from an early morning ride and outdoor work, I had a few more metaphors in what I was doing that are helping me in my quest to really discover what true life is.

I did a bit more weeding today, which brought up the question for myself about why I was killing off life, in order to make room for the type of life I wanted to have. For me I felt that the answer was in the fact that life is all around, and there are many different forms of it. From a human life point of view, there are many different paths you can take in life. Some are very easy and don't need much to make them happen, but they are weeds, and they produce nothing, and the seem to draw away from other plants around them. But There are other paths you can take in life that require a lot more effort, and diligence, as well as risk. But those paths, like some vegetables, not only produce life giving results, but also are beneficial to the plants around them and will continue to produce if they are well maintained.

So with that said, I felt like removing the weeds was not me bringing death, but actually me saying no to the fruitless life, and "yes" to a harder more life-giving path for my garden.

The other thing I did was transfer good soil from one part of the yard to where I was going to plant. This really brought a new perspective for me on the saying "The whole Earth is full of His glory" because I realized, maybe for the first time fully, that soil has the potential to produce life. Even in Genesis, it says that Man came from the dust. I seriously have underestimated dirt.

Still have more work to do before I plant, but I'm realizing its not a race, and that there is something to learn from each step in the process.

Day 1

I got on my bike at 6:25am to get to the soon to be garden and start working away. The first thing I did, which took up my whole time was getting rid of the weeds. Which can be a bit tedious and frustrating given my usual work ethic, which ignores the details and cuts corners. But this was going to be a stepping out in something new, and the first thing I felt God spoke to me while I was working was that "your garden is a reflection of yourself". I'm thinking this will become a mantra for me as I continue to pursue this avenue of bringing life.

So far it feels great to just be up and doing a bit of sweaty work for awhile before I even start my day. I'm so thankful that my friends have allowed me to use their yard as my canvas.

Why Garden?

I've been on a long journey with this whole subject that started more out of conversations about nutrition and diet than it did out of anything having to do with getting my hands dirty. Through those conversations, I was beginning to be amazed at how much better nature is at giving us what we need than we are. The first steps were small steps in my diet, where I would eat more veggies and fruit, but it started to build to bigger things, and started to broaden my eyes to the world of agriculture and gardening.

Beyond that, I've been growing an interest in community development for places that suffer from treatable diseases, malnutrition, impure water, etc. As I dove into these subjects I realized I (as a Californian, suburban dwelling 21 year old) have no idea how to help those people, especially when it comes to agricultural solutions. So that sparked even greater interest on a practical level.

But none of those things brought me to a place of action. It was while reading "The Road to Peace" by Henri Nouwen, that I became fascinated by "Life". His description of Life as opposed to death was incredibly powerful for me when he started to use plant and human life as an example, and not just spiritual jargon to define life. I began to realize that there was a huge part of life that I had never really been exposed to. And I had little understanding on what true life was in the kingdom of God because I had only been surrounded by man made (dead) things, which I had learned to praise, and look up to as what life was.

There is so much I would love do dive into in this post, but I'll let it spill out as this blog goes on. The most recent book that has launched me into action was Guerrilla Gardening, which is about gardening in places without permission. I hope to catalog my adventures with that on here as well.