I believe the biggest themes of life are put into the best focus when held up against the very sharp light of mortality. — Mitch Albom
Keeping Your Garden Hot and Spicy
Gardening is sexy.
I mean gardening lets you workout your mind, body, and soul. It helps you eat better by planting good things. It helps you tone down your bad habits and definitely makes you stronger against inflation.
It certainly does not make your mama proud tho, but that's an asian thing, you can still do a profession and also plant a garden. You can be a doctor and grow herbs. You can be a lawyer and harvest a cauliflower. I don't know, I'm a tech guy who also ferments stuff with Lactobacilli.
When the pandemic started, a lot of people became plant-mamas and plant-daddies in an instant, like it's their roots and it was a calling they didn't know if the pandemic didn't happen at all. But since the world had slowly forced people to break the new normal and head back to the old normal, almost everyone eventually left gardening and headed back to their office space. It's not a bad thing as we need to have a job to feed ourselves and our family.
The point is, everyone has a gift for nurturing the Earth. It is imprinted in our very own DNA, when we are endangered our instincts recollect our primitive survival handbook to help us survive and thrive.
Even without a teacher, we can somehow know how to grow plants and what plants are edible. But don't be like Uncle Gary who died eating wild mushrooms in the forest, maybe join a permaculture group, use Google search, or download a gardening app to properly guide you even in a remote setting.
Gardening can be boring and monotonous at times, some friends even wake up with ghost orders from online seed stores which they probably not plant at all and just store in the cabinets.
Like life, gardening has its own season and you must ride with it, not against it. In Japan, they say, has 72 micro-seasons and that is more interesting than just listening to weather forecasts. Maybe make a journal too and record what you observe each time you visit your garden. Is today, Parsley Flourishes season?
During summer days, it can be really hot and humid, but did you know you can literally make your garden spicy?
On some countries with snow, gardeners can grow chili peppers in greenhouses, by using straw bales as garden beds (with soil, of course) and also as natural heating. As it decomposes it gives nutrients back to the plant roots.
Since we don't have snow, I still can continue gardening almost 365 days in a year. Today, I am growing more Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) in the food forest. Lemongrass is a grass, so it can literally grow and multiply on its own. You can grow it from seeds or from stalks with roots, which you can buy in Asian stores, see more here.
In about four months, lemongrass can multiply from just one stalk to ten or more, if left to grow to a year or more it can really grow into a fat bunch that gives you unlimited source for your kitchen or your projects.
It goes well with traditional Filipino cuisines using exotic meats. These cuisines are usually grilled, roasted, soups, and stew. It also goes well on recipes using coconut milk.
Also, lemongrass can be used to make essential oils to repel mosquitos, I don't have the recipe, but likely you'll need a ton of lemongrass stalks to get an ounce of essential oil, based on experience. With it, you can infuse it to homemade lotions and balms, to help deal with insect bites.
I enjoyed highlighting lemongrass as a great spice to add to your garden or in a food forest. As the new year progresses, my goal is to grow long-term and low-maintenance crops in my little food forest.
PINNED POSTS
 | A Sustainability Review of the Year 2022 Starting from January, let's have a trip down the highlights of my journey in self-sufficiency and sustainability. |
 | Clearing the Damage After the Storm Instead of falling into anxiety, I took time to make use of what the storm had given. |
 | Building Abundance with More Fruit Trees Amid the Economic Turmoil This year, I planned to initially plant 100 trees wherever possible until the year ends. |
 | Using Saltwater and Fire to Heal a Permaculture Garden Plant debris becomes natural mulch and organic matter. |
 | Harvesting Cucumbers After a Year of Labor As crops mature, harvest season began as well. |
 | Fermenting Fish Amino Acid for the Garden Crops It would be a sin to throw away such things, even the food scraps I turn it to compost now. |
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About Me
@oniemaniego is a software developer, but outside work, he experiments in the kitchen, writes poetry and fiction, paints his heart out, or toils under the hot sun.
 | Onie Maniego / Loy Bukid was born in rural Leyte. He often visits his family orchards during the summers and weekends, which greatly influenced his works. |
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