Whimfield veggie garden 2010
Posted on 15. Jul, 2010 by Laura-Jane - Whimfield in Inspirations, Life Dream, Outdoors, Prince Edward Island, Video
Rome wasn’t built in a day. And let me tell you something straight up–how it really is.
When you move across the country and start a thousand projects you cannot do everything that you want to do. And it drives you mad and bonkers.
And people might ask you if you’ve been to the farmers’ market or have you planted a big veggie garden or where are your farm animals or do you have kids your answer is NO NO NO because we can’t do it all.
This is our third Summer here on Prince Edward Island and it has taken us this long to have a real vegetable garden. Our veggie garden is a mess and we don’t know what we’re doing, but we’ve got a big garden none the less.
When I think back to my parents and where they were in life when I was born I realize how far they’d come by the time I came around. Between them they had a Master’s Degree and a PhD, a small acreage, careers, two other children, two cats and an orchard.
We are all born with nothing. And we grow and learn and become part of an existing family. We choose (or fall into) careers. We move out and make a home for ourselves. And eventually we have a family of our own, be it a spouse, children, support system or animals.
So today I am proud of my garden. Proud that we’ve gotten this far in our journey.
I can see myself on this trajectory of life now. Enjoying every step of the way for what it is, but also seeing my life as a whole. Thinking about the big picture.
Speaking of the BIG PICTURE, here’s an exercise for a rainy day. (I got the idea from a book. It’ll only take seven minutes so just do it, okay?)
Draw a big squiggly snail. Plot decades on it. Write “the end” in the centre. Plot everything that’s already happened, like this:
Next comes the fun part. Plot your future. Your ideal future. Not a ridiculously ideal future, just a future that could become true if you work hard and have a little luck. Go ahead. Write it in. (It’s not as easy as it looks. Believe me.)
Write your future. I will if you do.
(But I can’t show you my future because my dreams are mine own.)(But my garden is yours.)
christy
Jul 15th, 2010
I LOVED THE GARDEN VIDEO!! It made me smile and laugh. Totally cute. And I really like to hear you guys say “washed out” because you are soooo canadian ;). I’ve been waiting for the year of the big Whimfield Garden and you’ve delivered!!!
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jul 15th, 2010
Lol, I did it for you!!!!!! I remember last time you were curious about how our garden was doing. Hope you are well, my dear dear friend! You are an inspiration to us. Can’t wait to read more about your adventures as your life transforms with the new addition…
Deborah
Jul 20th, 2010
If I may share, some of the information that has benefited me the most as a gardener came through my introduction to the Mittleider Method several years ago.
http://foodforeveryone.org/vegetable_gardening/20/what-is-the-mittleider-method
Just implementing some of the basic ideas has made a tremendous difference in the appearance of my garden and in the amount of time and energy required: a 5-ft. perimeter path separating the garden space from the lawn; 3-ft. wide paths between 18-in. grow beds which can be double planted depending on the crop grown; watering only on the grow beds (between rain of course which falls everywhere); and using a scuffle hoe to keep the perimeter and paths clear of weeds.
I enjoyed the video of your garden, weeds and all. :) Torrents of rain in our area has left my garden a disaster this year, so anything growing looks good to me.
Brianne W
Jul 20th, 2010
Trial and error, thats what your garden is for. Every year you will learn a little bit more of what to do and what not to, how much to plant and when to plant it. Thats the fun in it all. I have gone to school for agriculture and I can tell you I am no master gardener, in fact I seem to kill flowers haha. But I’m learning as I go along, even if right now its just on my little apartment patio. It isn’t much space to work with but I do have lettuce, tomatoes, carrots & radishes growing fairly well…. our pet rabbit has yet to complain anyways.
Laura-Jane - Whimfield
Jul 20th, 2010
(PS: We had some hardware problems and I lost the last five days of data. But I think everything is okay now.)
Kim
Aug 13th, 2010
Ahh, so late in reading posts. Martin & I just watched your garden video – thanks for the smiles first thing in the morning!
Pretty soon you’ll be swamped with lovely, fresh produce!
Trevor
Feb 11th, 2011
Agriculture, Horticulture, Counterculture
Permaculture, Permaculture, Permaculture.
Your big squiggly snail picture just reminded me of a great farming video you have to find called
An Introduction to Permaculture.
The spiral you are using to mark your life journey with is surprisingly similar to how you should plan your gardening. You can also check out a short series by Bill Mollison called (Global Gardener) it is a 4 part series . I wish The whole world could step out of their shoes for a moment and watch these videos. We will end world Hunger using these methods with out doubt! I also recommend (A Farm For The Future) this one you can find on YouTube
Best of luck