I missed last week's question for the Hive Garden community as I was just so busy moving house. I'm desperate to be done with the massive garden I'm trying to maintain as well as start one in the new place.
Jamie tells me to calm down. There's plenty of time, he says. I continue to freak out. There is NOT plenty of time - summer is coming! I have a little garden already in some raised beds, a temporary affair which will grow enough cucumber, beans, lettuce, tomato, peppers and eggplant for the summer, but I need to get the raised beds in the ground, which means removing the concrete patio. More on this later.
I've been thinking a lot about how I've always been a gardener, and I think you can say that after you turn 50. I can't imagine not doing it. So whilst Jamie tells me there's plenty of time, my green thumb pales at the the thought.
Thing is, my body isn't working as well as it used to. I can't surf as much as I used to, and it's crowded more in the water and the swell and wind has changed a lot due to climate changes. The only way I can stay sane really is to create something, and creating a garden is what I'm capable of. I can't paint, draw or sculpt, but I can sculpt a beautiful green space that provides food and harmony. And if I die, hopefully the next person will enjoy it.
For me, it keeps me sane. I also love how it supplements the food budget and keeps us healthy. I can't not garden. I panic at the thought.
But there's a darker side of the #qotw I think as well. What if we weren't allowed to garden? With multinational companies gaining monopoly of all kinds of things, and big agriculture, there has been real fears over the years that the backyard gardener won't be able to grow their own food. I can't imagine that happening here. I think we've actually gone the other way. With problems with food security due to climate events such as flood and rain, I think governments are more supportive of backyard growers - we can supply local communities with sustenance.
The local council has even bent towards allowing raised beds on nature strips, supporting community gardens, and concessions for compost bins and worm farms. Even in suburbia we are allowed up to twelve chickens - and that's quite a few! And they don't mind little 'food is free' stalls on nature strips either, and we can also have bees.
I guess I'm going to reach a point where I physically can't do it. I like to think that won't be the case - a 'use it or lose it' mentality. People keep gardening in their 80's and 90's, after all. Maybe I'll get an AI robot gardener then to help me out a little.
With Love,
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