Good day/night Hivers, hope all is going well for you and those around you.
The title of this post comes from a song called Karma by the artist Renae:
I particularly like the part where the song goes:
"The more you count your blessings,
The more you have,
'cause life is a reflection
Of what you are"
I felt blessed like this while strolling through my different garden areas and appreciating the diversity of lives that inhabit that space in the present.
So here go some of the pictures I took for your enjoyment 💚
Let's begin by visiting the wild garden. Some of you may recall my post where I said I wanted a "wild" area and a productive space.
The wild part is meant for letting plants go to seed and reproduce as much as they can, while the productive is for getting all the food I can from it.
A comparison of how they look today, pretty obvious which is which.
While the wild area looks like just a lot of grass, let's dive into it too see all the diversity going on there.
This plant is called cotton lavender (also lavender cotton) for those that don't know it. I got to meet it a couple of years ago at a nursery and bought one as a gift for my mother. It's very aromatic and hardy, so after seeing how well it did during the winter without any maintenance, I got one for myself.
It is mostly grown as a ground cover in places that are affected by drought, but it doesn't mind being in moist areas either.
Among it's medicinal properties we find:
-Reduces inflammation, improves digestion
-Stimulates uterus (menstrual problems), liver (jaundice), expel intestinal parasites
-Externally: Wash for stings, bites, minor wounds, skin inflammation, ringworm, scab
-Rub for rheumatism and painful joints
Very easy herb to grow, so recommended for lazy farmers. It's also good as a bug repellant and you might want to grow it near other plants that tend to have bug issues.
No idea what these are, though according to the app "PictureThis", it's a rose champion (silence coronaria). Anyway, it blooms some beautiful flowers and should be good at attracting pollinators.
Speaking of pollinators, there are many of them feasting on the pollen from all the brassica flowers in the garden! This makes me really happy as there are many bees among them.
When I first arrived here there were few bees and many wasps, which was sad, considering bee population has drastically decreased on the planet in the last years.
But now seeing as there are lots of them I rejoice to watch them do their thing, and sorry if my ego steps in, but it makes me proud to be partly responsible for this.
Everyone knows this one, right? Well, just in case you don't, it's a sage. Good for your stomach, your nerves, and the removing negative energies from places. My sage plants are still young so not much harvesting to do. However, I pick a leaf or two for a tea every now and then.
The rhubarb has had a little trouble picking up but it's not that bad either. I know people usually make jam from it or other cooked preparations, but personally I enjoy cutting the ugly leaves and eating the stems which are juicy and delicious. A nice way to get over the lack of fruit in this time of year.
The redcurrants are actually the first plants to fruit so far. This was a gift from a lady at a plant shop and she gave it to me because it was doing poorly, so she told me to take it in case I could save it. And saved it was, it has grown nicely near the stream. Last year it had a meager four fruits, but now that number has multiplied several times.
Part of the idea of the wild area is to allow plenty of "weeds" (they're all just underrated medicinal plants, some for human healing and others for the soil) to grow. Here's a buttercup flower which many of you might recognize.
Buttercup is a great soil cover, especially in areas where there's animal farming because it's toxic for the big grazers so they avoid it. Hence, it protects the land.
It's consider toxic for humans too, but if you steam it or dehydrate it first, the toxins will evaporate. I've used it on occasions when I've had little greens to add to my meals.
Chard is another plant that has a hard time growing here. I don't know why we they're considered shade resistant. Nonetheless, it survived the winter and has kept growing slow but steady.
Not only plants form part of the diversity here. There are many different insects, both above and below the soil. It is part of my entertainment to watch them go about their insect business.
This one is referred to as a "pilme" here (epicauta pilme) and is something many farmers fear for their crops. I do not fear them for I trust blindly in the power of diversity and the self-regulation of Nature. It is monoculture which turns perfectly harmless brings into "dangerous pests".
Rosehip is one of my favorite invasive plants. Another one that protects the land from the destructive force that is livestock farming as it's thorns keep animals away. I enjoy the jam made from it a lot and also like to make tea from it, or eat it raw after scraping the hairy content from inside. I also ferment it with a bit of sugar and makes for a nice bubbly drink.
This one is a complete mystery to me, I don't know how it got here and there it's the only one I've ever seen in my life. According to PictureThis it's called cypress spurge (euforbia cyparissias).
Not much information found on this one but I find it beautiful and welcome it. It is said to be invasive but that to me is irrelevant. I love all my invasive plants and together we will invade the world 😎
Well, this post seems to have extended a bit much, though I had lots more to share! Guess I'll be making a part 2 tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. Much love, thanks for your time and attention 🌱