We are in the Waxing Gibbous moon phase, when I can settle again into the yin of Beingness. Now is a time to reconsider my intentions and make adjustments. I will contemplate the big picture of my life as I practice mindfulness and self-care. It's a time to review and refine, a time to practice Being and trust in the ebb and flow of the universe.
Today:
1. October garden tasks:
The consistency of the 15-minute daily visit keeps me connected to my garden even when I don't accomplish much.
- Harvest peppers, beans, tomatoes, raspberries
- Plant: broccoli, onions, garlic
- Seed Collecting and Saving: Look for native seeds.
- Sow Cover Crops: Chop plants to the soil line then broadcast red clover and fava bean seed to enrich and protect soil through the winter.
- Harvest my mason bees
2. Honorable harvest:
All year, my most important task in the garden is to harvest AND USE what I've grown, or share it with others. I accept the harvest with wonder and thanksgiving.
“If we think of the Earth as a big warehouse of commodities, as mere objects, we claim a kind of privilege to exploit what we believe that we own. In that property mindset, how we consume doesn’t really matter because it’s just stuff and stuff belongs to us. There is no moral constraint on consumption. And so, we find ourselves in a time of ecological and spiritual depletion.”
She goes on to describe a worldview where Nature is a giver who is a “someone”, not a “something”. “What would it be like to consume with the full awareness that we are the recipients of earthly gifts, which we have not earned? To consume with humility? We are called to harvest honorably, with restraint, respect, reverence, and reciprocity.”
In our own gardens, where we have started the plants from seed, planted, watered and cared for them for weeks or months - even then we need to remember that these plants are living beings, and a gift from Nature. We need to harvest with honor.
Kimmerer outlines the habits of an Honorable Harvest, and stresses that they are supported with small acts of daily life. The four habits I carry with me into the garden and my kitchen are:
Take only what you need.
Use it respectfully. Never waste what you have taken.
Share.
Give thanks for what you have been given.
3. Green tomato sauce:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. green tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- ¼ cup vegetable broth
- ¼ cup milk
- ½ tsp. sugar
- ¼ tsp. red chili flakes
- salt and ground black pepper
- basil
- 1 Tbsp. Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Spaghetti
1. Clean the green tomatoes, chop them roughly, and place them in a food processor. Blend roughly; it should not become a puree.
2. Chop garlic. Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepan. Add the garlic and stir continuously for 30 seconds; it should not darken.
3. Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, milk, sugar, chili, basil, salt, and pepper. Stir well. Stir and simmer on low heat, covered, for 20-25 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. Stir often, as the sauce tends to stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. Cook pasta. Finish the sauce by adding the grated Parmesan, one more splash of olive oil, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Add the pasta with about 1/4-1/2 c. of the pasta water if the sauce is too thick.
4. This week's garden plan:
We are getting balmy 60ยบ weather and it's not going to rain until early next week, so I need to water all my newly transplanted starts.
- Th: Feed squirrels and birds; water starts in front; mulch with leaves; harvest green tomatoes
- F: Water starts; duck care; bindweed eradication; mulch hydrangea bed with leaves
- Sat: Compost; plant onions; Cut back tomatoes and peppers, plant fava beans, and mulch
- Sun: Weed rose bed: Italian arum and creeping buttercup
- M: Duck care; bee care; make pickled beets
- T: Water neighbor bed, feed the birds
- W: Duck care; bindweed eradication; prune hedge
5. Nature-Culture flow and kid projects:
My garden chores and practices are deeply connected to my teaching, writing, artwork, and activism.
- Th: Both boys day - feed the birds and squirrels; make green tomato sauce
- F: Paint a bird?
- Sat:
- Sun: ECEF party fund raiser
- M: Bee care! Make pickled beets
- T: New bird cards, bird watching walk; carve pumpkin
- W: ECEF call; IFEK call; carve a pumpkin
6. Creative Visualization:
Every month at the waxing gibbous moon I call on the practice of visualization to help me to see the next steps towards bringing my goals to fruition.
Today I shine a light on my wild garden.
Creative visualization is a technique that uses my imagination to create change. (Because of my visual and auditory sensitivity, this is the best process for knowing what I'm feeling.) It has these steps:
- First, set an intention: Say, "Today I call on the Spirit of Love to bring me clarity and open my eyes to how best to balance the wildness with the tidiness my eyes desire."
- Center and relax each part of my body: With each breath, allow my awareness to deepen and become softer. No stress. No rush. I walk or float in an imaginary void. Open a connection to Spirit. Feel a soft warmth begin to grow and spread through me, until I am radiating quiet energy.
- Create a clear, detailed picture in my mind, as though the objective has been reached. Paint a vivid mental image of a wild garden, just tidy enough to please the eye, with hidden areas left to be. Put as much positive energy into the images as possible.
- Lastly, affirm that this is what I want with a short positive phrase in the present tense: "Today I will take the next step towards caring for the wildness."
- Give thanks and return: Saying thanks out loud is how I acknowledge the reality of the gift of my vision.
The thought-image is like a signal-flare that guides the physical thing or deed to manifest in my life (and it's a good way to keep my intentions in my mind). I will carry the vision of the completed goal with me, and focus on it often during the day, in a gentle manner.
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