Plow Monday

Plow Monday, the first Monday after Epiphany, is the traditional day in Europe for farmers to restart their farm work. Our garden isn't large, but, with the ducks, it's like a miniature farm. 

Normally, it's too wet at this time in the Pacific Northwest to do any digging, but many other tasks are possible, and it's good motivation for me to have this set date each year to start my “farm work”.

I got a lot of good permaculture information from Amy of the Ten-Acre Farm.  Amy says,

"January is one of my favorite times of year because I love the opportunity to start anew, make new agreements with myself about how I will spend time in the garden, and determine what kinds of experiments I will run to continue learning and improving."

Agenda for today & this week: 

1. Journal query

2. Creative Perspective plans

3. Walking script

4. Read "SoulSpace"

5. Clean and clear the living room

6. Tool blessing ceremony

7. Garden planing

8. Daily garden visits

9. Make Plough Pudding or Homity Pie

1. Journal query:

Plow Monday is the day I like to fantasize and plan changes in my garden: I ruminate about what worked last year, and what didn’t. Then I take out a fresh garden notebook and write up my goals for the new year - new garden projects, and new things to plant. My query every year is:

How can I make my garden a better sanctuary for wildlife and for my family, more comfortable for friends, a greater learning-experience for my grandsons and neighbors, more mysterious and secluded, more of a visual treat, AND easier to keep up with?

Garden journal: My focus this year is to continue to plant native plants that feed native pollinators and birds; Also, I want to add layers of education and service with art and craftivism, and a little plant library. I need to use plantings to screen the hot tub,  a secluded place for the boys tepee or a fort, and  a bigger sand pit with an edger and a cover. And maybe this is the year I will invest in a large umbrella?

2. Creative Perspective plans for the week:

This is my year of creative perspective.

Creative perspective: To keep a positive and broad perspective; shift my perspective to help myself find equanimity, and also expand my perspective (think outside the box), having the courage to take experimental risks and express myself honestly with words and art.

 

I plan to set myself Creative Perspective tasks each week: Define a new narrative to re-frame and shift my thinking, set some creative renewal habits and scripts, and open space for intuition and inspiration with beginner's mind, to generate inspiring proaction and creativity ideas. This week:

1. New narrative: "I am effective because I put my priorities first and act proactively; no need to carry a weight of guilt or defeat!"
2. Walking script: Fine tune a script to bring myself to a daily walk.
3. Beginner's Mind meditation on a winter nature awareness retreat program.

3. Walking script:

Last fall I read The Sweet Spot by Christine Carter (2015), which lined out a way to write a script for building a new habit. 

Tip #1 is to sketch a detailed draft of the whole routine I want to build so that I don't need to make any decisions at all, just go through the steps in order on auto-pilot. Tip #2 is to identify the mini-habits within the larger routine: Each tiny part has its own trigger and inherent reward.

Tip #3 is to throw ambition out the window. Start really, really small. Maybe I just walk to the corner and back. The goal is to create a habit that doesn't depend on will power, so do something so small that the habit begins to initiated - start to form the groove - that's all. 

4 a.m. - Think about the weather and make a note of possible walking destinations. 

 

8 a.m. - Get dressed and put on new walking shoes. Set out appropriate weather gear.

8:30 - Eat breakfast (chill out) 

9:00 - Brush teeth and put on coat.

9:15 - Out the door. Walk at least to the corner and back

4. Read 

"SoulSpace":

I'm just beginning this little book I bought, by Xorin Balbes (2011), with the subtitle "Transform Your Home, Transform Your Life". The introduction is The Eight SoulSpace Stages. He says to start with an affirmation, but I have set this intention:

I intend to bring order and simplicity to my home, bit my bit, and finish the things I start. I will take the time to truly see the places I am stuck and the emotional connections I have to this place and it's trappings. I will heal my home and myself from the haphazard, disrespectful, way we have been treated and release the regrets and clutter that hold us back, because it is time for me to show the world who I really am.

 

Part One is Knowing the Past, and the first stage is Assessment: Open Your Eyes and See What is Truly There. in this phase I will do detective work: "Use your beginner's mind to take a fresh look at what you've become immune to seeing; appraise what is there on a physical and emotional level, learn to appreciate the best of what exists, and begin to recognize what no longer serves your life."

I started this process last week with the kitchen, and this week will do the same in the living room:

• Get a new futon.
• Assess and improve the lighting.
• Dust and clear the bookcase.
• Better grow light system.
• Rotating focal art

5. Clean and clear the living room:

Every year in January I kick off a month of deep cleaning. My house has mold-related issues that are best done before we get any deeper into winter. Winter is also a great time to simplify possessions! I take it one room at a time, and this week I'll clean in the living room.

Extra chores this week:

• Houseplant care - Clean the leaves on the houseplants so. they can take in more winter light.
• Clear out one box of items we don't use: Put a bag by the door and clear the toy box and the craft cabinet; sort out some toys we don't use any more and pass them on.
• Woodwork - Wipe and dust the baseboards and clean the door frames. Scrub the mold off of the door and windowsills with detergent and warm water, then apply Borax solution and do not rinse, to help prevent mold from growing again.
• Walls - Fill nail holes and repaint. Move my paintings around and consider the lighting.

6. Tool Blessing Ceremony:

Before farm work starts on Plow Monday, a ceremonial plow is blessed at church, then paraded through the streets to collect money for the parish.

My tool wall and potting cabinet are in complete disorder because of our in-between state on our Big Home Project. Today I sort, tidy, and discard, and also clean and sharpen my garden tools and oil the wooden handles, and disinfect all pruners with alcohol wipes. While I work, I'll focus on the purpose and history of these tools: All the planting of food that they have helped with, and the pruning of trees, and the trimming of grass. 

I clean the dirt out of my storage basket, and put everything away again in better order. I make the act of cleaning into a blessing: “Bless these tools to do their work”.

7. Garden Planning:

January is the perfect time to get my plans for the year in order. This is actually a pretty time-consuming project, so I will schedule a few times this week to work on it: 

1. Choose what to plant: First I'll make a list of what we like to eat, all the standards, plus a few experimental crops.
2. Map out the garden: Revise the rotation of my vegetable beds for the year, and figure out where to plant each thing. 
3. Research and list the best kind of seed to get for my growing season. Check out the Second Breakfast Garden list of favorite seed companies.
4. Order seeds: Look through my seeds to see what new seed I need and make a comprehensive list, then place an order!
5. Update my planting schedule: Next, I need to determine the date to start each thing, and put it onto my planting spreadsheet, and my calendar. Hardiness zones are shifting, and first and last frost dates are less predictable than they used to be, but we are typically in USDA zone 8b, and Sunset zone 6, and our last frost date is now May 15.
6. Update my monthly checklists: I'm going to use the Second Breakfast Garden monthly guides this year to update my checklists, because they are in zone 8b.
7. Start a new garden record book: I used to keep better records, but somewhere along the line I stopped. This is the year I'm going to keep track of garden successes and failures—dates when I notice certain pests, and when I add soil amendments, for example.

8. Daily Garden Visits:

I've been out in my garden less since winter started. But even in January, the garden offers me connections with the earth and sky, the seasons, and the Spirit of Creation. My heart fills when I visit my garden even for a few minutes each day, to see the buds poking up and watch the changes in the trees.

Here are the tasks that will inspire me to step out into my garden this week:

• Harvest first. Amy of Ten Acre Farm says, always harvest first, because the goal of all of this gardening is to harvest fresh, healthy food for your table. So, to make sure that happens, prioritize harvesting over other tasks. This winter, all I have in the garden is beets, and I plan to harvest some today, and add them to the Hominy Pie.
• Visit a different garden bed each day with clippers, and cut dead plants and weeds (leave roots to feed the soil). 
• Take my camera out into the garden to collect images. 
• Check the bird feeders and refill them.
• This is a good time to prune the grape, and summer flowering bushes like the lilac and hydrangea.
• Rake up the last of the Hawthorn leaves and berries, and move them to mulch the paths.
• Keep applying leaf mold to beds (but leave the pumpkin bed bare so as not to provide protection to overwintering squash bugs).

9. Make Plough Pudding or Homity Pie:

Plough pudding is a steamed meat pie traditionally made in Britain on Plow Monday - very rich and yummy. See the recipe here.

Here is a vegetarian Homity Pie, pioneered by Land Girls during World War Two rationing - not a steamed pudding, but also not pure meat.

Ingredients

• shortcrust pastry for 2 small pies
• 1/2 lb. starchy potatoes
• 1/2 oz. butter
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp. parsley
• 3 oz. grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 lb. onions or leeks, or a mix of both
• 1-1/2 Tbsp oil
• 4 oz. peas or chopped green beans
• 1/2 Tbsp milk
• Salt & pepper to taste

Yield: 2 small pies

1. Line 2 small pie tins or dishes with the pastry.

2. Peel then chop the potatoes into quarters and boil until just tender – not falling apart.

3. Melt the butter. Grate the cheese. Peel and crush the garlic. Mince the parsley. Chop the onions and/or leeks fairly fine, then fry them in the oil until soft.

4. Mix the cooled and drained potatoes, peas or beans, and onions/leeks. Add the butter, parsley, 1/2 c. grated cheese, garlic, milk, then season to taste. 

5. Fill the pastry tins with the mix, then sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Bake in the oven at 425ºF for 20 minutes until the top is golden and set.