Spells and Berries

We made a trip to Creswick  on Thursday to dig out some raspberry canes and some currant bushes that were offered free on a social media page. Its always inspiring when you meet people of a like mind. A family full of artists, musicians and gardeners greeted us and gave generously of their time and energy.

We left feeling grateful, and inspired by the combining of aesthetics and productivity they had achieved. (they built a gypsy caravan from salvaged materials in their backyard)  Its something we are passionate about aswell, though  we are just beginning. But we  hope to grow in all directions creatively and continue growing to the point where we can inspire others aswell.

Currants planted out on the south facing side of the Garden

 Thanks to these generous people, we have added to our growing list of berries. Its been a delight to see our daughter picking blueberries straight from the bush to have with pancakes on saturday mornings over the summer months and showing a keen interest in foraging for free food in our local area for  blackberries and Apples that grow freely on the sides of the road.  She and her mother often stop on the way home from school at our "secret spot" to pick a basket full of Black berries that are in season now. She once commented, if we could pick enough, we wouldnt have to go to the supermarket at all. And its a wonderful feeling that she is growing up with these kinds of experiences and seems to be absorbing some of the things we are passionate about. We look forward to watching her pick baskets full of berries and currants in the coming years.

Work in the Garden continues productively over the long weekend. About 2.5 cubic metres of soil has gone in over the last few weeks, mostly mushroom compost from a local supplier and today, I planted out six of the currant bushes in a new bed, and had enough soil left over to fill another bed and plant out a youngberry and a native Raspberry.

What will be the main vegetable growing area fed by grey water from the outdoor bath

Tiny creek that feeds grey water to our vegetables

In the Glasshouse, Ginny has planted seeds of broccoli, brussell sprouts, turnips, kale, rocket, and some other winter vegetables which are springing up rapidly in the mild, warm conditions. These will go in the large, southish facing side of the fence that has the benefit of being kept moist with grey water from our outdoor bath, shower and basin in the cabin. I have experimented with creating two tiny creeks that feed the grey water into the beds. Some gravel road base slows the flow of water, and while not perfect, I am happy that we are able to put the grey water from the outdoor bath, which is a significant amount of water and gets most of its use during the drier months, to productive use.

Over the coming weeks, we will be creating a wicking bed in some potato boxes we got from a bloke in smokeytown, to use as a berry cage for the remaining raspberry canes. Concerned about their ability to get into pipes in search of water, we decided to contain them in a wicking bed, which will feed them by capilliary action

Spells

What Ginny brings to our work together inspires and nourishes me.  And I am sure she would say the same about me. We are lucky in that we seem to naturally compliment one another. She likes to style little spaces and I like to work on the construction, design and functional  aspects of things. She likes to plant and grow pretty things and I like to consider how growing plants can make us less reliant on consumer society.  We arent perfect, and our differences do inevitably cause conflict, which we are learning how to handle and work through together. We are frustrated by the apparent conflict between our creative passions, and being stuck in wage slavery, yet, we are making progress. The development of Enfield art and Garden is a big part of that mutual passion to move more and more beyond capitalisms grip on us. Which can be a slow excruciating process. We talked last night about the need to stop using chemical laden soaps for showering, as the water we use for showering is going straight onto the vegetables we will soon be eating. This is forcing us to look at how to approach things differently, instead of mindlessly consuming what is packaged for us. This cant be a bad thing.