Resiliency and Community

This journey, what this blog is all about, is an attempt at creating a better lifestyle for myself and my family. I started with a pretty clear idea of what this might look like. I was going to be the guy that could and would do everything. Grow all our food, hunt, fish and extract food from the hedgerows with ease as we walked on the road to a healthier, better lifestyle. An independent, self reliant path. What an ego! But I like the ambition.

If nothing changes though, perhaps nothing is learned.

And loads of things have changed and lessons have been learned along the way. In fact I would say that the biggest changes have been in my thinking about independence, self sufficiency and happiness. I think its normal, at least for idiots like me, to want to do all this stuff. As I've said before, it gives you a degree of resiliency. And who doesn’t want to be more resilient, right?

When we began, creating resiliency was a goal. As we progress, it becomes clear that firstly, resiliency is not an absolute, but rather a sliding value. It is a nuanced idea, and so can't really be a goal as such. Am I resilient to losing my job? My house? Breaking a leg? Dying? I might be a little more resilient to some of this stuff (not dying though) if I grow a percentage of my food, burn firewood, catch fish and understand how not to poison myself with mushrooms. It won't keep us alive in a true disaster, but it saves me money, enables choices, and is probably a better, healthier way to live in a 'normal' situation. So it's a lifestyle choice, right? Pastimes with benefits.

I think I may have mentioned how the arrival of our youngest child has put a strain on any time we've got after sleep and work. Its made it hard to get out there and do much at all in the last year or so, as I said in the 'Ren test' post, you have to understand where the strains are and redesign life accordingly.

This is, it seems where community begins to step in. At least for me. A move from independent and self sufficient to interdependent and collaborative. If this happens with a hard but otherwise healthy baby, imagine how much community becomes important during disaster.....

People have been kind and supportive during this period of time. You get to know who your friends are. From issues with the girls and their schooling (they are doing great by the way thanks), to just simply holding Ren, and letting us eat a good dinner in peace, relax in the back garden. Catching the baby as he climbs out of the buggy (thanks Joe). Even the offers of help which we haven't taken up make a real difference because you know the support is there. Family have stepped in and let us do stuff like have a meal out or attend weddings. Quite simply, no amount of home grown veggies gives you that, right? We all need a break, and a sympathetic ear. Its a matter of sur thrive al versus survival.

Loose barters and favours have definitely kept me going in these months. Months where I can only really do the minimum (work, sleep, hold, work, sleep, hold) have still seen me eating bloody good sauerkrauts and drinking Kombucha despite the fact that I haven’t had the time to ferment anything thanks to the St Leonards Kraut king Scotty Garrett. We get to eat out regularly as a family because of a raw milk barter I have going on. Raw yoghurt and milk also comes our way as part of this. We get fresh eggs and good healthy produce because my work is integrated into my food designs. We have friendly plumbers and friends that happen to be builders. Friends and family, quite simply, rule. Community, more than the desire to do it all yourself, will trump and create true resilience.

So don't get me wrong, I'm off on a herbal forage on Sunday, will be beginning the mushroom season soon, and will definitely be shooting some rabbits as the game season approaches. Its just hard to sell this stuff (as it should be) to your better half when it feels a bit like hell to be left back home with 3 kids for a day while I'm dicking about on a boat. As I've always said, its an incremental process.

So when time unfolds in front of me at some point in the future, I can afford myself the resources needed to forge ahead once again. Independence, and self sufficiency (at least in the strictest sense) however won't necessarily return as a main driver. True resiliency lies in the lap of community, friendship and family. Real progress in creating a better lifestyle for me and my family can only really happen when those around us are involved. Family, St Leonards and Hastings has looked after us this past year, I appreciate that.

Quit or Die

So the Autism work didn't pan out. Bottom line was the fit wasn't right and the time wasn't right. The project felt under resourced and I made a quick decision to try other stuff rather than continue to invest time and energy in a project that didn't suit me.

 

It's liberating, to be able to make those decisions, and even with my guilt ridden, people pleasing persona, I know it was the right one. But society is riddled with messages like 'winners never quit', 'never give up' etc... which makes these things harder. I prefer the analogy of the fly that never quits trying to fly out of a closed window. It inevitably ends up dead on the windowsill, exhausted from pointless activity. Its a pretty shit way to die – head butting an invisible barrier until you depart this mortal coil from exhaustion. Something like 'quit or die' might be a good way of phrasing it....

We took our kids out of their school the other week because they were not flourishing. It wasn't easy to do so, it's a bit of a wrench to resettle, half of our best friends kids are there and WE were happy, but when the environment is affecting your kid negatively, you have to do something, and it was the right decision for them. As parents you have to trust your instincts and 'Just do it' (Damn those clever marketing departments!). The environment was not allowing her to express herself, and as a result her confidence had been eroded, which is heartbreaking, so she's going elsewhere, where I hope she'll be happier. It's all you can do right? Make the correct decisions at the correct time. Easier said than done, none of it, however, is failure.

I talk about failure a lot – mainly because its practically inevitable if we are to push ourselves to do anything worthwhile, and also because it is something I am very good at. This, however wasn't failure, and it's important to understand the difference between simply giving up, and making the correct decisions for the individual. The idea behind doing the Autism work was to function stack the working week, to get some projects under way with the help and resources of a larger charity organisation. The reality felt very different and perhaps naively, I was surprised by the difference between the hope and the reality.

 

What was supposed to be a springboard felt more like a bog. When you have 3 demanding children, you don't want to be stuck in a bog. When you don't have 3 children you still don't want to be stuck in a bog, although to be fair, you might have a better chance of getting out.

 

I look at patterns, especially the natural ones, and take a lesson or two from them. In times of stress, a deciduous tree will drop leaves, and enter full dormancy as winter approaches. Vital functions continue, and the tree is still alive of course, but exposure to the elements is dramatically cut. When it's too hot, too, leaves are dropped to avoid excessive transpiration, and the dormancy period allows the tree to get through the more extreme months.

Its good to know that right? That even a great old Oak has to take a breather. It has to protect itself in order to function, and whilst it does that, everything else goes on hold. It hasn't quit – even though it looks like it has, but instead performing the most natural of functions. SELF PRESERVATION. So I had to leave my blog for a bit, even though I gain a lot of pleasure from it (I do post pictures on facebook when too busy to blog – feel free to friend request). I haven't been able to get drunk to the levels I would like recently, and I certainly have needed to be in attendance for child care. Work, most importantly needs to facilitate life, not the other way around.

 

And this all becomes more important as we take on board the multitude of species that both rely upon and support each element in an ecosystem. Nothing exists in isolation, without interactions with another element. A mature Oak can support around 284 species of insect and 324 types of lichen. It offers support. Without that support, stuff begins to go a bit wrong, habitats and food disappears. Likewise, if we begin to falter from not listening to the signs around us, so our children begin to suffer, as do friends, family and colleagues – all our relationships. In short we have to be strong to support them. Both mental and physical health rely on our ability to read situations, and if the environment is wrong, we simply can't function as we ought to. We beat ourselves up if something is not quite right. Instead, we should be addressing either how to change the situation, or leave it.

 

So, like a tree in the wrong place, or at times of stress, things sometimes simply need to be changed. Like a tree, its also good to know what environment galvanises and maximises our health and vitality. Like a fly at a window, things can suffer if we are just taught to keep on keeping on, blindly ignoring signs of stress. By changing our environment, what we do, who we surround ourselves with, we can optimise our lifestyles. By taking a breather, we can carry on. None of it is wrong. None of it is failure.

And you know what they say (now) – if it ain't right – Quit or die.

Going Shopping

I'm going to the shops – Anyone want anything?

20 years ago that meant a shopping list of large rizla, pot noodles and beer. Times move on though. And those heady days are behind me. The little people moved in and took over. Nappies, fruity flakes, and milk. And the kids need stuff too.

The Autism thing didn't work out. The vision of the charity and my own ideas didn't tally. Lack of resources meant that instead of function stacking the working week into a permaculture portfolio, I had instead walked into a scenario that demanded more of me than I had ever imagined.

It was unfortunate. But it was unsustainable. With so much going on at home, work needs to operate smoothly and demand less. Resources like time are always finite and have to be spent effectively. I don't regret making a swift decision. It was a tactical withdrawal. This was not my mountain.

That said, it freed up time to find my next project. I like the permaculture saying 'The problem is the solution.' It got me thinking....

Like most PDC graduates, I obsess on my food. How it's farmed, what it does to me, what the supply chain looks like, who benefits, and how it affects the environment. Like most normal people, I also find myself sheepishly perusing the isles of the local supermarket at the weekend. This diet is only supported in part by the local producer, the home grown and the foraged.

Its a problem because I have no interest in bolstering supermarket profits or industrial agriculture. Its a problem because every pound spent in these places disappears form my local economy. And it happens because I run out of time.

To go to the local Butcher or baker entails time to be spent. All very well unless you have kids, jobs or stuff to do. I get it.

I live it. Every. Day

So I'm going to the shops. And anyone local who wants anything, let me know. The idea here is if I have a big enough shopping list we can make it more efficient. If I have a bunch of shopping to get, and people relying on me, it'll get done. If its a large enough order, we can get the producer to help with the process.

I'm starting with my favourite butchers. Park Farm of Hawkhurst. A quality Farm, and a quality Butcher. It uses a local abattoir, and they specialise in grass fed and free range livestock, which makes it a far healthier product . Andy the farmer just had a conversation with me with regards to the way the herds are managed. You obviously wouldn't get that at tescos, and he is open to groups coming to the farm. As far as I can make out, its the best in our area. By using these suppliers, not only is the meat going to be a better quality, but the money stays in the local area, and good practice is rewarded.

So if you have the same problem I've got, this might be the solution.

I'll be driving out every Thursday from now on. If anyone wants anything picked up, drop me a text, email or DM me on facebook. I can get prices before I go if you give me notice.

This is one way to wrestle back power from the large shops and poor food production. By acting more directly, we can empower our food producers, have more control into how our meat is reared, and create more resilience in our whole food system. Its up to us. The large producers and Supermarkets do not share our values.

Now – who wants anything?

Stacking functions: Making stuff happen

Its never felt so tough. Ren has pushed us to the limit and on top of being sick more times in the last month than I have been in the previous 24, forgetting my pin number (Never done that before) and being generally doo-lally, the only spare bits of time after sleeping and working are between the hours of 5 and 7, both ends of the day, only differentiated by the choice of refreshment (coffee or wine, breakfast or dinner). This time generally consists of holding the boy, whilst in reciprocation he generally screams at me. I am, quite literally exhausted. Michelle is worse. I feel like I have been taken prisoner by a tyrant. To make matters worse he is very charming in public, and generally, of course, nobody really believes me.

I looked up Stockholm syndrome on wikipedia. It says this:

 

 

Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other”

Yep.

But I love him, so I need to think a bit differently to get anything done.

Here's some cool thinking; Each function must have more than one element, and each element must have more than one function. A shed should not only house the bikes, but should also collect rainwater, support a plant or two, maybe collect some solar power whilst it's at it. 'Function stacking' is a method of realising these principles, and a great example of function stacking in the physical design process is forest gardening.

Forest gardening takes advantage of all spaces to maximise yields by mimicking, surprise, surprise, a forest system. The concept of seven layers (canopy, sub canopy, shrub layer, herbacious layer, ground cover layer, climbers, and roots) are first recognised and then utilised to maximise the use of a limited space. By including these layers, we obtain a yield from multiple elements. Mimicking the forest system to create symbiotic, perennial systems that mature and thus limit maintanence and the need for intervention. I've started this process, albeit on a small scale in the back garden. Using perennial herbs (comfrey, sage, lovage, rosemary), dwarf trees (apples and pears), fruit bushes (Blackcurrants, redcurrants, goji berries) and perennial veg such as artichokes. The hope being that a degree of neglect won't kill them but the synergies and cooperative elements of the system will make them stronger over time. (Minimum inputs, maximum outputs (which, funnily enough tends to be the exact opposite of having a baby!)

If you've read most of the posts on this blog, you'll know by now that I regard the use of permaculture in lifestyle design as importantly as any physical design, and the lessons we learn from using these principles physically can almost always be transferred to social and economic designs. Function stacking is one of those simple ideas. When you have limiting factors, like time, or money or space, like we all have, function stacking becomes the ideal path to follow to maximise yields.

So when I look at my own limiting factors – a lack of time or money then function stacking to maximise the resources I do have becomes another way of enriching my life. I was offered the opportunity to work with the local autism group this year. To build and maintain some gardens, to grow food and sensory aspects through the use of permaculture and its various methods. It was an opportunity for me to function stack my work schedule. Whilst I always seek interesting projects, this was the first that offered me the opportunity to be paid and make inroads into the community work I want to undertake, and start the Permaculture diploma I really want to get going on. The diploma which requires spare time I simply don't have. The opportunity to work within a group, the fact that the work will be recorded by somebody more organised and capable than me only makes it a more tempting offer.

I already regard some of my work as function stacked. I collect eggs, firewood and produce from work (In leiu of holiday and pension). The ongoing focus of this process is to install as many of my permaculture aspirations into my paid work as possible.

A few months back I received an email telling me that this was all common sense, I think they were being derogitory, but they were right, permaculture really is just that. Its one of the reasons it can be so life changing for students and practioners. As far as I'm concerned there really is nothing better. Common sense, joined up thinking, design – it is possibly the thing we need most to dig us out of our collective hole. And Function stacking – killing two birds with one stone is so common sense. It really works when resources are dwindling, and it makes stuff more effective, productive and resiliant when resources are plentiful. So whilst I look at the ever lengthening list of the things I need or want to do; all the courses, the planting, the building and look down at the little fella, at least I know he has driven me in this direction, a more efficient use of the time I have left over. I guess thats one thing I can thank him for, that and all the free labour he'll be doing in sixteen years time.

Its all gone fermental!

I started back on the fermenting this weekend, with a session with Scotty G – one straight red cabbage and one mix of white cabbage, onion, carrot and garlic. Its got to be one of the easiest things in the world to do, and what with having a mate that likes doing the same sort of stuff, we've managed to make it into a bit of a social too (permaculture principle – each element has two or more functions). I like the aftermath. Listening to these mason jars whining and fizzing away as bacterial life begins to 'happen' – it's kind of immense in these days of sterile, homogenised food production that these little jars are bucking the trend. Shell keeps telling me I should do something about my guts – not sure if upping my intake of these bad boys is going to change things. I guess its a matter of eat it and see.....

So, while I aim to at least rebalance my food intake, my sights rest on another unhealthy consumption in my life. It can make me feel lethargic, hopeless, anxious and worried. It fucks with my mind, and renders me, often apoplectic with rage. Rolling news.

The aftermath of the Paris massacres have been strewn with opinion and debate – and what happened was of course horrendous, as are the stories from any terrorist activity anywhere at any time. I watch now, however, and shudder at how misinformed at best, how manipulative at worst the news machine is. Seeing Steve Emerson on Fox News say that the UK's 2^nd city is a Muslim only, no go area, would have been funny if it wasn't so serious. People are gonna take that 'information' seriously. This in turn forms public opinion, which politicians and media will pander to in order to be re-elected, and entrench their positions. Forget life imitating art, lets look at mass media forming public opinion. And before we go on by the way, the most likely thing to happen on a visit to Birmingham, UK is you'll get a great chicken Balti – it ain’t the new Fallujah.

The only thing that will come of these latest terrorist attacks will be the further erosion of civil liberties. If we look at the NSA, phone tapping scandals and identity card schemes, our great leaders are hardly without form. It is something that government is keen on as gives even more control, and power to the elites, which includes those at the top in the media. The inevitable horror that follows our misadventures in the Middle East simply solidifies and entrenches the belief that we need to carry on as we are. A bit of terrorism on mainland Europe suits government. We'll be begging for further security measures here, and further interaction over there, and it seems to me, the spiral of death and destruction will simply continue, along with the fringe benefits. Put simply, most Muslims aren't psychopaths, most politicians and media corporation owners are.

So fear, and the way the news spreads it through sensationalism and sheer volume will always push it's own agenda, what suits the elites, owners and stakeholders. We are given opinion everyday from a completely skewed angle, and it only reinforces a designed viewpoint. Unfortunately those that do the pushing of these agendas appear to be tyrants and lunatics themselves, the disenfranchised and weak suffer for their ambitions. The 'story' is written by those in power and gives the disenfranchised and the desperate a hymn sheet to sing from, a hopeless purpose and one that keeps this whole circus going.

So, I'll try not to ponder on this stuff too long, and instead I'll let you know how the ferments go. The purple one is really making a racket, and a mess as the life forming within pushes forth. In the meantime, I'll turn that news off, or at least select my news sources as carefully as possible. Who knows, maybe a diet of less nonsense and more joy will help my mind as much as these jars of kraut help my gut. I think Shell just wants me to stop farting so much...

Empowerment and 2015

Well I'm sorry about the last few months of silence. It appears that the 'Ren test' was harder than I thought and getting stuff done with a new baby, 2 other sprogs and a new student settling in does impact after all.....

Well it certainly impacts this. Sitting down, reflecting, writing something legible and readable and collecting my thoughts, adventures and aspirations. Its therapy for me, it just takes time I haven't always got. Bit of a catch 22, that.

I have been doing stuff though, mainly holding the baby, changing nappies and going to bed as early as we can. Other than that fermenting, hunting and foraging to some extent have all been squeezed in since I last wrote on here, and it all feels pretty life changing.

My first kill, prep and cook of a bird makes me look at things very differently. I wasn't sure if I could do it if I'm being honest. I'm squeamish with blood and guts and never thought I'd take to hunting. Quite frankly I struggle to watch Casualty, let alone undertake basic butchery....



Pigeon sandwich with sauerkraut on the side!

It was something I wanted to do to see if I could do it, to see if it'd turn me vegetarian, whether I could cope with taking life to feed me and my family. I never had a moral issue with it. As a meat eater it seems to me that to shoot a bird out of the sky, one that was never farmed, taken to an abattoir or kept in captivity. One that quite literally didn't know what hit it, seems to me to be the kindest way to eat meat. The prep, (plucking, and cutting out the meat) was not as hard as I'd thought as there was no gutting involved. That will be another time, when rabbits and ducks are on the menu. But this was a great start for me and it tasted bloody lovely. So shotguns and Wood pigeons turn out to be something I actually enjoy. Who'd have thought?

Me and blogger Scott went on a fermentation workshop the other day. I didn't know much about it before the session, but it turned out to be pretty cool stuff. Held at the local Vegan cafe, a guy from Octopus workshops giving us the low down on the history and uses of fermentation, and as Scott mentions on his blog – it kind of got a bit political, which always goes down well with me , a spot of radical, subversive sauerkraut production! It turns out to be quick and easy too – not too much messing around with sterilising which is definitely a weakness of mine (I'm just not a clean freak). A bit of pink himalayan salt, an organic cabbage and you're away. Anyhow, the kraut I made tasted pretty good – Scott's been running with it a bit more so I'm going to get him to disseminate some of his new found wisdom when he gets a chance. It seems to be heavily linked with Eastern ideas of health and the gut, the fact that we need a good population of bacteria to operate effectively . I love this thinking. It seems to make sense, and it fits in with using food as medicine, a preventative approach vs curing symptoms. Something that links heavily into eating natural foods, herbs and spices and home grown produce. Taking it further into the territories of fermentation, preservation and herbalism will only help energy levels and health.

Foraged mushrooms - Brede High Woods

And Foraging with the local mushroom man, Geoff Dann and the chefs of Hastings and St Leonard's. Winter Chanterelles, Amethyst and Birch Boletus all gathered from local woods. Hunting for mushrooms in a wood incorporates so much. The fact that mycellium links with the roots of specific tree species, the way that brush can encourage a flush of growth or aspect can affect the fruiting. It is an enormous subject, and as with the other two activities, you've got to look at it with a lifelong learning hat on. The more we do this stuff, it seems, the more we realise we don't know.

And that's the thing, as I'm on this course of gaining life skills like foraging, hunting, or fermenting, two things become clearer to me. One is a realisation that this is truly a lifelong learning experience – that nature harbours so many intricacies and surprises it would be foolish to ever declare yourself an expert or master . The eternal student, constantly engaging with mother nature, learning to ask the right questions, learning to critically think because the subject matter is eternally vast. It becomes not about knowing every single species, but instead reading the forest floor, or treating each batch of fermenting cabbage as its own little universe, rather than running to recipes. Its a bit 'out there' but if we look at the natural world as our spiritual environment, then we perhaps can begin to have a conversation with it, and develop understanding. It sounds a bit like the 1^st permaculture principle – 'Observe and interact' – funny how that one keeps popping up eh?

And then – almost perversely, once you get to grips with the fact you'll never fully master it all, this on going conversation, the other realisation becomes a sense of empowerment. I know I can, at least to some extent shoot, grow and gather my own food. I can prepare food that is good for body and mind, and because of the life skills I am building, I can begin to look after myself and my family more effectively without relying so heavily on questionable external, human created systems.

To feel disempowered can create anxiety, stress and unhappiness. I know because I have suffered for years.  This blog - the adventures I'm going on and the people who I meet as a result begin to help me make sense of the world. Its a long slog, and I'm right at the beginning of my journey but I've never been happier or more motivated. Last year was a crazy ride – thanks 2014, its really been a ball.

'Ren Test' - Babies and Permaculture

I have invented, no created, quite literally, a new test. Conceived in late 2013 and launched about a month ago, it is unforgiving, incessent, and highlights problems and weaknesses in any design. It will weadle out anything that would fail in times of hardship, and it subjects every aspect of my lifesytyle to a stern examination. He is 4 weeks old and never stops. It appears that we make beautiful and well behaved children and terrible, unforgiving babies.

I had a load of posts lines up for this update, but this  'little bundle of joy' has reduced me to a jibbering wreck on a number of occasions, so this is about how a seismic event can change stuff, whatever it is, and a true test of permaculture design.

Permaculture is full of sects and groups ranging from yoga vegan hippies to survivalist hunting gun nuts. The ethics mean that you have to care about other people, the planet and not being a greedy shit, but after that, as far as I'm concerned its predominantly a set of principles, techniques and ideas to hang a design on.  its the art of clever design, both virtual and physical which aims to go beyond sustainable and into the realms of regenerational. The cleverest of designs aim to make the designer obsolete, producing maximum outputs with minimum inputs. A baby should not blow my designs off course.

Its a bit grand to suggest I'll reach this stage after 1 busy year. It's a lifetimes work, full of incremental change, but as a benchmark,  the 'Ren test' shows me how far away I am from my goals. 

I have to admit I was feeling a bit pleased with myself in the run up to the baby. The lifestyle changes I was putting in place were beginning to feel normalised, I was getting out to do my foraging and at least a bit of fishing, as well as getting stuff done in the house and the garden. We were eating well, and life was good. Its all interesting, and I will write it all up. When he stops screaming, and thats the situation, as lovely as he is, if I were a car, I was 5^th gear and cruising, it now feels as if someone stuck a potato up the exhaust and poured sugar in the tank.I feel like the engine just blew up. 

Now dont get me wrong, I'm not moaning ( maybe a bit! ) and I wouldnt change anything (apart from the screaming! ) but what Ren has done in all his baby glory is subjected our lives to a stress test. The beautiful thing about this particular stress test is that rather than a major illness, or losing a job, or a natural disaster, it will pass, it's wanted, and it'll get better. It has highlighted the glitches in our lifestyle design though. As much as parts of the garden will get stronger and more productive over the years, pots and troughs, neglected for even a week in a hot dry Septmember will flop and fail without irrigation or better planning. A workload  that relies on me being out of the door by 7 and back by 7 are unfair on everyone, mainly Michelle, and being unable to take holiday easily means that even if I dont actually fall over one day, I feel like I might.

None of us are Superman, we have to be able to listen to ourselves in order to facilitate others needs. I have learned that my workload was too much. My inputs in this lifestyle design were unsustainable. I have had to relieve myself of a couple of the smaller jobs I do simply because the working day was too long ( I am now jiggling a baby at 7.30 in the morning rather than being on a job ). It was nice to take the money, but sometimes it just isnt worth it. The thing is, I'm not getting any younger, and to blindly continue physically working is short sighted, and definitely not sustainable. So hand in hand with lightening the physical workload has to come another income stream. This includes a lodger, which is a method of extracting an income from the house, our major expense. It also means further concentrating efforts on design and permaculture for clients, a more cerebral approach to making an income.

The garden, because of Ren has been subjected to neglect. Whilst this isn't perfect, in many ways it is helpful. Everything that has struggled, been eaten or suffered from pest and disease has to go onto a re-examination list. I need stuff out there that thrives without pampering. 

It looks like the fruit trees, artichokes, tomatoes and many herbs. might stay. Strawberries and  potatoes in pots  didn't do so well. Yields were low, but I might have some plans – watch this space, we will be constantly reviewing and there is more than one way to skin a cat. Slugs and snails have a lot of fun out there. Hand picking and dispatching is the only way of really controlling them ethically in my experience. It will be a major project next year to research, and select edibles and medicinals which are not of any interest to the critters. Lessons here can be learned from self seeders, wilder foods, maybe, and whisper it, even weeds!

And whilst I am sooo in love with all my family, and I get so much out of them, I was also gaining a lot from foraging forays, fishing trips and my permaculture adventures. This can't happen for the next couple of months. For now, everything needs to be reigned in. Even further!

Learning needs to be done as a family activity. This will most likely be youtube, TV, book and kitchen based. The kids like the cooking, and lotions and potions are always learning experiences. Any forays further afield will have to be built into the working week. It boils down to money, time and my own sanity! A tricky equation, but one I'm sure we can square.

A contraction of work should also allow me to reflect better and make better decisions. It has become clear to me that reflection is incredibly key to making sensible decisions. Ploughing on regardless in the way we are encouraged to do by societal pressure is often the wrong thing to do. Exhaustion leads to frustration and is only bad for the soul. When we look at things cyclically, taking in different events that change our situations, the adjustments we incrementally make, especially when they are concious decisions are actually empowering because YOU decided what to do, and YOU took responsibility. If those decisions help your systems and subsequent lifestyle then they begin to feed back in and make things easier in the longer term even if right now feels hard. So the thing is that we can all learn from unexpected changes in our plans, and the solutions are all there, we just have to learn to see them, and permaculture design with a little imagination enables that.

For Ren,

Please stop crying now...... 

Gluts, Gluttony, Greed

I was thinking about my gluts the other day, as you do. I know, I know, I'm a bit weird, but they just never stopped coming this year and it was hard to stop thinking about them. This was mainly because I was either picking them or filling the kitchen counter with them. Gluts will take over when you start growing. Be warned, you could be as weird as me!

It led me to think about gluttony, and the fact that it was a deadly sin. I'd never made the connection of the two words before. I think we tend to look at gluttony nowadays purely as greed, it conjures up images of eating a whole tub of ice cream in front of the TV, or the Christmas tin of quality street in one go (guilty, I'm afraid). But when I think of gluts, I don't think of that sort of greed.

In the past few years, gluts for me have led to wastage, the fruit and veg coming in, life taking over and the inevitable walk  of shame to the compost heap. Its not good. The swing from excited Spring through to overwhelmed late Summer is kind of messed up, and I have been guilty of waste in the last few years. But THIS year has been a bit different. Aided by the pressure I have put on myself with this blog, a PDC still fresh in my brains and the fact that the last few weeks have been kept clear due to an imminent arrival, I have been canning, juicing, preserving and cooking up all the produce coming my way. There ain’t no raspberry gonna turn on me!

Eggs by the dozen, cucumbers, gherkins, beans, and tomatoes have just kept coming. Obtain a yield is a permaculture principle, but it is only realised when that yield becomes a useful one. Having a kitchen full of produce slowly rotting does not count.

So I made tomato sauce, and put it into sterilised jars ( thanks to big sister Debs for pointing that one out!), I made pickled gherkins, quiches to use up the eggs because quiches are very manly. I juiced cucumbers like they were going out of fashion, and now I’m going to live forever because I’m so alkaline. The apples from the garden have all been used, and whilst the meagre amount of sauce and pickles done this year won't save a great deal on the grocery budget, the process of learning to pickle, process and use stuff began. 

Learning these skills and using them is empowering. The most important part of my lifestyle design – it gives me the skills to take advantage of random opportunities like other peoples gluts or forage, to experiment, to feed us healthily, save a bit of money and extract me ever so slightly further from shitty food manufacturers. Next year, when the shack is up and running, and the perennials are another year older, we will have more to use and play with. My shift to freedom will accelerate.

There is a theory that a lot of the man made stuff we eat ( the ice cream, cheesecake, doughnuts etc...) the processed crap that tastes soooo good, does not trigger a 'full' response in our brains the way that a more natural food would. It's why Atkins or paleo diets work, because they split carbs and fats. The body will not want to continually eat a food that does not contain one or other of those, whereas a cheesecake, which contains about 50 50 fats to carbs ratios, produces a craving response. You don't get this from cucumbers. Or eggs. Or tomatoes. You can't physically eat too much of any of this stuff on its own, and I'm struggling to think of anything in its natural state that produces a response in me like a tub of strawberry cheesecake ice cream. 

So pickling, canning, etc..  is the way to really obtain a yield, minimising that walk of shame. So too is sharing and gifting. You ain’t gonna eat a massive bowl of tomatoes while you watch game of thrones. 

Gluttony in my mind then,  becomes the failure to take advantage of gluts, and avoiding wastage, stretching your yield, eating seasonally, and growing the right amount of the right stuff become the tenets to live by. It makes us healthier, happier and richer to live within these natural cycles, so be kind to yourself, avoid gluttony, and be as greedy as you can.

Hello Ren

Just a quick post. We had a baby boy last night and we called him Ren. I feel blessed and have fallen in love all over again, not just with him, but all of my beautiful family. Michelle especially has been simply incredible; brave and compassionate. I didn't want to bang on too much in this post, but this is just about the best advice I could impart to him. I hope when he is old enough he will live by it. I try to, but it is sometimes hard. It goes for everyone I know, especially my amazing  daughters. There are many truths here.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence,

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. 

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. 

But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass.

Take kindly to the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here and whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy

Max Ehrmann

I hope you like this as much as I do, I think it's a really helpful way of looking at stuff, I'm not a religious man, and personally I think this kicks the lords prayer's ass. Something I was made to recite for large swathes of my childhood. 

Just a quick note – posts might be shorter for the next few weeks, there's a lot going on which is annoying because there is a lot to write about. I'll try and punch through the sleepless nights and continual rocking. Also it is much easier to write comments on here now that my lovely friend Scott has sorted out some glitches, he has also made it easier to read on mobiles, so you can read wherever you like! Accepting feedback and self regulation is important in the permaculture world. I would LOVE as much feedback as possible, especially specific stuff. It helps me hone the ideas I write about. I also have a page on facebook called hisown2feet, please like it, or friend me under mark furmston. It means I can see you guys, which is lovely for me and makes it a two way process.

(Scott, is also the one loading/posting this post for Mark and typing this bit ; ) "hello readers"... and so would like to sneakily congratulate Mark and Michelle… and wish them, the girls and Ren all the happiness in the World! they're certainly adding more than their fair share.) X

From Patterns to Details

This is all about seeing the wood for the trees. In a physical project it is imperative to look at how the land behaves in order to carry out any design. The usual stuff, like slopes, species, climate etc... guides a design. These factors should be aiding the sustainability of the design, not fighting it.So when we have a dominant species we should be designing to take advantage of the soil and climatic conditions that species enjoys, as well as the benefits that that species brings, be it the way it interacts with the natural environment or the yield it brings. 

The glamour in permaculture, or self sufficiency is often stuff like hugelkulture, designing guilds, food forests or keeping chickens. Its these ideas that appeal to people because there is a physical, clever way of producing food, and lets face it, if you're that way inclined, its cool and interesting.

But the art of looking for patterns... well that is a bit like the cinderella in the rush for the over made up hugel/herbspiral sister. And it is a rush. I am guilty of doing this. If I look back at my ideas for the back garden and how to design my life, the patterns were ignored in the desire to get things done.

So I start again. Not completely, but as part of a critical analysis of what went before. The beginning is the Survey bit in SADIM (Survey, Analysis, Design, Implement, Maintain). After maintaing the elements I have put into my life, we go full circle. We re-evaluate, accept feedback, we build and tinker.

From the very top. If I was to be allowed a wish list? I would be travelling to all the people and places that inspire me. From Geoff Lawton to Joel Saladin. Ben Falk to Jack Spirko. I would be doing a second 2 week intensive course with Patrick Whitefield, and a 10 week internship with Ridgedale permaculture farm in Sweden. Then I'd come back to Hastings and set up a city farm with an educational growing hub for the unemployed youth of the town, probably receive an OBE, get the freedom of the city (Town) and just schlep around drinking in coffee shops, swimming in the sea and fishing. Oh yeah, and I'd spend the Winter somewhere warm.

That sounds good. Heres the reality. I have a family, I have a mortgage, I have debts. I have a job that requires me to be physically present and doesn't pay holiday. These are all limitations. Some which I wouldn't change, beautiful and charming, some I definitely would. But none the less, they all mean that disappearing to do this stuff is out of the question. This rather stark example shows us that by looking at the patterns, we can ascertain what is and isn't sustainable

When I finished the PDC, one of the first things I did was to volunteer at the community garden. It was good. I met good people and helped a worthy project. It wasn't sustainable because I did it despite having to work every other weekend and losing money we needed as a family. I wouldn't change what I did, but when the garden closed it was a relief as it meant I had more time and money for myself. It wasn't sustainable within my current pattern. 

Now I bring eggs and cucumbers (right now its cucs, next week probably courgettes!)for my neighbours and friends, and i'm getting the same hit from it, without having to volunteer time I haven't got.

And whilst 10 weeks in Sweden at Ridgdale does sound great, I decided to build my learning around my limitations. Cue Michael White, Lucia Stuart and Ben Fairlight Edwards, local(ish) foragers. All with different specialities covering herbalism, sea shore and everything else. It has become clear to me that foraging is definitely a passion, makes me happy and is one solution in feeding ourselves. It also has the effect of curbing to a small extent the limitations of money (food for free as Richard Mabey says) These guys are all amazing by the way – well worth checking out if you are in the area.

I will be getting out on the boats and learning as much as I can about sea fishing from my friend, Russell Field. This should be both social and educational for me, and again, a big step towards free, sustainable, healthy food. Just – got – to – find – the – time! 

The other thing I've been doing is making stuff with the kids. They are naturally predisposed to making potions and lotions, so this summer so far we've pickled gherkins, made bread, salves and oven dried tomatoes. Next up is tomato sauces and quiche. We are all learning. Together, and they seem to like it.

Finally, once it all settles after the arrival of the baby, I will explore the Permaculture diploma with as local as possible tutors. 

The point being that the patterns of my life, at least for now, limit my options. The beauty of those limitations, however, result in a beautiful solution. One that boils down to local learning, deeper connections with local people and the local environment, and one that sates my appetite without taking me away from my family or taking up more of my precious time. In fact, it brings us all together, eating, drinking and enjoying the things we bring into our lives.

Design For Life

'If you don't design your life, they will design it for you' – Jack Spirko, July 2014.

The premise of the above being that unless you take control, really take control, then governments and corporations will step in and make decisions that will directly affect your lifestyle.

I heard Spirko talking about this and it really struck a cord with me. We are all following a path designed to serve others, mostly those running large corporations and governments. From an early

age we are trained and encouraged to form part of a larger machine, one which is sold to us as the 'right path' – study, get a career, save for a pension, consume, retire. As long as you work hard, you can do what you want. But as always, its more nuanced than that. I wanted to merge this thinking with a psychological model I was familiar with. 

I came across Maslows hierarchy of needs at University. Its a model in psychology, showing base needs right up to self actualisation. The theory being that the basic needs have to be met in order to achieve stuff like love, respect, etc... If you look at Maslows hierarchy of needs, there are 5 levels; 

A Physiological level – Food, water, warmth – In order to fulfil these needs, its never been easier (at least in our comfortable western world) Most of us would supermarket shop, turn the tap or hit the thermostat. I do, but less and less. If there is no design or movement towards self sufficiency ( at least a bit more of it ), then we are constantly in the hands of enormous corpotocracies, companies enmeshed within governments, just doing what they want. One thing is clear from the constant scandal, criminality and subsequently the enormous power they hold - these people and their machines do not care about you. The fact that it is so easy to carry on using their services is the dangerous part. If you don't think about it, then life is easier, at least in the short term. Think about what happens if you carry on using the same provider. Your gas and electric prices will RISE, you are actually paying THEM for not shifting supplier. Same goes for all utilities, loyalty is not respected, the exact opposite to when you are using a local, small supplier. Think about what happens if all you do is eat cheap food from the supermarket for 30 years. Yeah, you'll have some clubcard points, but you will have fuelled and been a part of the industrialisation of the food chain, the marginalisation of small suppliers and the subsequent health risks. I remember when we used to say 'one day we'll wake up and it'll only be supermarkets left' – well we're there folks, and we overslept, most of us are still asleep and even you and me are hitting snooze. They are ALL like hypnotists. 'Shhhh now, sit back, you don’t want to think about this boring old stuff, we'll auto renew you/do your shopping for you/give you our best deal (delete as appropriate) so you just sit back and relax. Go baaaaack to sleep'. 

It takes an effort to find local, ethical alternatives, to extract at least a portion of your physiological needs from the hands of these vast corporations, but plan. Find a butcher, swap your energy supplier, put in a water butt. It takes energy to do these things, but its part one of your design, and once in place it'll afford you more time, money and quality of life.

It took around a month for the BBC to report that extra fracking licenses were being granted, and that a major reason was the Russian/Ukrainian war. Greater energy security was needed because of  the horrendous skirmishes on the edge of Europe – its a home run for our great leaders.  Our war machines (The UK are world leaders in selling arms to horrendous regimes throughout the world – what a great bunch of guys!) helping to create a new common enemy AND an excuse to make lots of money with fracking. A questionable at best technology. Security is very interesting at the moment. The current situation feels just like Orwell's 1984 – Eastasia and Eurasia – the two interchangeable enemies designed to keep the people in fear, and thus, controllable. Isn't this Iran, and ISIS, Mujahadin and Al Qaeda. The freedom fighters we nearly waded in to help in Syria are now ISIS. Iran are now potential allies. You aren’t meant to understand – it is designed that way – so that governments can be the only ones to provide you security, and hence you vote for them again and again. 

Shelter is also at stage 4. I'm not sure about the US or the rest of the world, but here in the UK, a shortage of housing has made it near impossible for anyone to get on the housing ladder. If you want to live in London, you have to be seriously wealthy. The system is broken for anyone under 30 and if I was 20 again? I would learn how to sustainably build. To take on a mortgage (death pledge is what that word actually means)  means you are paying vast sums back to the bank for around 25 or 30 years. You are the banks bitch! Your shelter is in the hands of the banks. I don’t need to expand on how worrying this is surely, suffice to say the guys that design and run the banking systems will be alright, always were and actually control the politicians. Still. Even after the last 6 or 7 years. I don't know what the answer for me is here, but if I ever make any money, or find a sugar daddy (open to offers, my mum says I'm pretty) then I would be overpaying that mortgage. The sooner we are free the better. If you are never going to be free, the sooner you square that in your head the better.

So once you've realised that you are a cog in the design, you are halfway to freedom, and you need to make that step to get to stage 3 – belongingness, affection, love from workgroup, family, friends, and romantic relationships. Surely they have no hold on this right? Well it depends on how you look at it. If we shop at monster shops, check out in those little self service things, order from Amazon for everything, overspend, and consequently overwork (I am guilty of the last one) then you are jeopardising stage 3. The system sends out messages. It advertises to you stuff that you don't need. It supplies you with easy credit (again), it allows you to carry on spending without any human contact whatsoever. It has never been easier to enslave yourself to stuff. If you find yourself here there can be a problem. I have spent years overworking, seeing too little of my family and friends and am designing myself out of that trap by minimising our exposure to debt, not by working harder, but by using all available resources (permaculture principle klaxon!) and renting out the spare room. Pay it off, walk away and give yourself a chance at actually having disposable income and a life. 

Esteem needs – Achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self respect and respect from others. Holy moly – its as if Maslow was  a self sufficiency guru!

Now please don’t get me wrong – I am not preaching as some sort of expert here – all I am is a fella on a journey to greater self sufficiency – and believe me I am nowhere near my goal, but I have been fired up by a few people, a PDC (Permaculture Design Course) and some good friends. I do know that to be a generalist, to try the new stuff, to build, grow, understand, gives you an enormous amount of satisfaction, and therefore self respect. Foraging and growing as opposed to simply buying, making as opposed to simply buying, building as opposed....... you get the picture. Gives you self respect. That ALWAYS (unless you are a knob about it) leads to respect from others.

Self actualisation needs – realising personal potential, self fulfilment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences – Now I'm sure there are ways of getting here without doing what I've been talking about, but I cant think of a better way. To go on this journey, to wrestle back control, to know yourself intimately – your strengths, weaknesses, capabilities. To have helped others on your way and thus created a real community on the journey, and to know that its been YOUR design, not theirs. To know that you did it despite them, to give yourself the power to design the unwanted from your life and support the wanted – holy shit - that’s a design for life.

Build it and they will come

Probably not always true, at least when it comes to East London Stadiums and West Ham, but I'm talking about the garden here, and the thing with wildlife in the garden, it takes little more than piling some logs in the corner to give some bug or another a home. These are ideas from one garden I've been working on....

I think this is a dragonfly nymph - St Leonards Spring 2014 

A pond. Probably the ultimate in habitat creation. Deep central zones, shallow edges, water margins, crevices, basking stones, drinking water. The watering hole on an African plain brings together all forms of Wildlife, a pond emulates just that. Dragonflies, water boatmen, pond skaters, freshwater hoglice, newts and frogs all appear as if by magic, but its not – its nature in all its awesomeness moving in to use a resource.

Teaming with different species, its hard to take your eyes off it. Predators, prey, life, death, birth and development. Its all here, because there's water and all its benefits. Larger animals will visit too. Foxes, badgers and birds. Its no wonder its top of the list.

In this pond

Wildflower meadows. Another way to create a beautiful habitat. They have a low carbon footprint as all you need is a patch of ground and a bunch of seed. It can be a bit hit and miss with the germination, but when it works.... you get this. Humming with insects, overwhelmed with colour and movement. This meadow was given a structure beneath it to both protect and support from Rocky the dog. Last year it came up and was quickly flattened – not this time. Often these stands of flowers are the show stoppers of the gardens I create or tend. They are always busy with bees and other pollinators.

Using existing resources to create habitat is a common sense approach. This garden is full of trees. Reusing this resource as part of the infrastructure is definitely a permaculture principle. The logs go in as a retaining wall, and the gaps (inevitably there will be gaps) are backfilled with brush and twigs. We have created a wall that is a genuine one off, has cost little in materials, a carbon footprint of almost zero (wood from 10 Metres away), and a habitat for insects.

With the excessive amount of brush and logs, we not only have wood piles in every possible corner, but our first hugel mound. Basically wood of various sizes and types (make sure the wood you are using is not alliopathic, like black walnut) buried in a pit and mounded up over the surface, then buried with topsoil and compost. The wood breaks down over time, creating nutrition, mycellium and heat. It also soaks up water, keeping the mound moister in the Summer, and as its a mound, and higher than existing ground, it won't flood in the winter. It appears to be working already, and the expected optimum time (when the wood has sufficiently broken down) is probably 1 or 2 years from now. The spinach and lettuce are not bolting, despite a lack of watering and a hot Summer so far (Bolting is caused by stress, often lack of moisture or excessive heat).

 

So we can build to attract insects, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. We can even build to attract mycorrhizal funghi, and just like a good festival – they will come. It is however, good to understand what we are building, and why. It is great putting together habitat projects, creating microclimates and niches but it is also possible to create problems for ourselves. Collecting pots together, as I have done on the deck in my own garden does conserve moisture for the veggies. It also gives a good home for snails. Moist, cool and food on tap. It means a sweep most nights and the inevitable cull. The lip at the top of large tubs tend to house the most molluscs, but also check under pots, any trays or old pots you have lying around, and go out at night if you can to pick them off. Its necessary – theyll eat it all if you let em!

And the shack – it's happening. It's slow – and I keep changing my mind about stuff, but the shell is there. Once this is built, it'll be beers on the deck and banjos on the rocking chair. Me and Michelle can hide from children and students, and Scotty Garret, master and Commander of BADASS (Bohemia Area Dad's Association.) will be popping round to tinker with rocket stoves and talk permaculture. And just like a pond for habitat creation, a shack will create a habitat for me and mine.



 

 

Triumph and Disaster

If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same – If,  Rudyard Kipling

Its a beautiful passage in a beautiful poem, and it is never more apt than when wrestling with anything horticultural. The possibilities for disaster are endless, the triumph we are presented with is fortuitous in many ways and to believe your own hype is to set yourself up for an almighty fall.

I'm getting slightly obsessed with the ideas behind failure and success right now. Its a subject we can all identify with, and at this time, it appears to be more and more commonplace to label life's little ups and downs with excessive gusto and hysteria.

TV especially appears to be shoving the ideas of success and failure down our throats by attaching a competitive edge to lots of things that should be fun, exciting and anxiety free – see Master chef, Britain's best allotment (or whatever the hell its called), The X Factor. In fact it feels like I could go on forever – all formats that either make the participants look silly or attach anxiety and failure. Failure that is to be avoided at all cost, failure that is the end of the world (If you fail you're out). Judges sit and (funnily enough) judge. Success at any cost? That is what seems to be peddled. The questions we have to ask is success or failure by who's standards? And what does failure really mean? Its certainly not the end of the road.

And I know these programmes and the other stuff we are bombarded with are classed as entertainment, and maybe I've got to chill out a bit, but what a double whammy – taking a pastime that always existed for its own sake and sucking anything good from it by attaching negative formats. What's wrong with having a sing and a dance (badly) if it makes you happy without some po-faced judge telling you you're not good enough. What's the big deal if the cake you bake doesn't impress some TV personality? Who are they to judge? I mean really, most of them are just bullies. I try not to watch this stuff, Simon Cowell especially upsets me – mean and nasty, pushing the idea of kids lives being over if they don't impress (or more accurately, conform to a bland formula of success).  You might think I'm over egging this, and maybe I am, but its important in my opinion to not take this version of reality to our hearts. It promotes anxiety, and a 'not good enough, you've failed' attitude – its also very often unkind and inhumane. Rant over, but it pisses me off and always will.

Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of success, but failure arrives when we attempt the new stuff and challenge the status quo. Failure is glorious, laced with lessons, helping us to be better at what we do. To never fail, is to never learn, and while success is nice, like the man said – treat it as an imposter. Believing anything else can turn people into assholes!

 

This blog is becoming more and more,  a why to garden as apposed to how to. Its because I think its a powerful tool for reconnection, yes with the land, but just as importantly for human healing and development. The most experienced gardeners and growers will be able to tell you many stories of failure, and will still make mistakes. This is what makes them experienced. To take failure and use it to achieve success, to not fear failure and experimentation and see it as a tool for future success. Once you have worked that out you will never fail in the Simon Cowell sense ever again.

So I want to be the anti Simon Cowell! not particularly in bank balance, but certainly in spirit. It is never the end of the road, simply a blip in the ephemeral nature of life. Be nice, be supportive, chase the extraordinary - don't be Simon Cowell!

And its funny, my favourite people are the flawed, imperfect, self deprecating ones. Able to admit to their faults and accept themselves as they are. Rather that than someone who believes they have no flaws. Very dull.

 

Level heads are required.  Often, especially with growing annuals, you have one shot, maybe a few depending on how organised you are! Disasters can always happen, inclement weather, pests and disease. Good growing weather can fool you into believing you've got it sussed, only for the following year to kick you in the nuts. We have to assume that failure will happen, and legislate through insurances. Experience is a great ally in this respect. I will sow more than I need, plant in different locations, try different varieties, and plant and sow throughout he growing season - all ways of mitigating the effect of failure whilst still being able to learn from it. Its been a good year so far. We have had a Spring (which is a bonus the last few years). Mild and recently wet, enables germination, all over the garden we have lush growth. On the other side of the coin, slugs and snails are having a field day, black spot, a fungal disease is popping up on the roses and Asparagus beetle has had a very nice time this year.

 

Daisy with the first Strawberry of the year! 

 

Failure in the garden is as perennial as the trees. If you are practising a more natural style of gardening, you are accepting a degree of failure. No quick fix solutions here - a softer, more nuanced thinking is required, and failures more often than not present us with solutions (the problem is the solution) More traditionally there is a 'quick fix' available in forms of herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, enabling a solution in a bottle. The problem with this is you aren't addressing the cause of the problem, instead unbalancing the natural systems already in place to deal with it, and the baby goes out with the bath water.

So nothing is as it seems in the moment. A failure can feel insurmountable, like you're on your own, as if no one ever did the same, but the truth is that both success and failure are the same thing, a coming together of many random elements, culminating in different outcomes. Experience, both in horticulture and life at large is the thing that enables us to recognise and understand. Triumph is nice, but we learn more from disaster, those little lessons that enrich us and our future adventures, and the sweetest of all? Triumph through disaster, the ultimate learning curve.

So it is a inherently human condition to fail, make mistakes, overlook the infinite trip hazards, and even more human to accept, move on and learn from those failures. It makes you a better person to realise you can't control it all. A gardener will have to cope with this conundrum on an almost daily basis.

The Cherry in the front, despite the praying, begging and love sent its way, went south pretty sharpish after being planted – my afformentioned 'edge' – replaced with Rosemary, some currants, and a fig, to be pruned hard. The Cherry on the other hand is in intensive care, throwing out a few new shoots so at least its stable and not critical. Lessons from this failure? The front is a great big wind tunnel, bringing great gusts charging up the street and treating anything in its way to a large dash of hostility, the open, south facing aspect bringing a great pendulum of year round weather – hot to cold, dry to wet. The soil also held within a concrete pit, not particularly deep or wide – perfect for a Fig. The Cherry simply didn't cope. Its successors, selected to deal with a bit more weather – look at the leaves of Rosemary – waxy and tough, as apposed to the soft growth of a cherry tree. I should have known – in fact I think I did know in my heart of hearts, but I wanted to see how it coped. Now it will go to its sheltered spot out back.

So my mistakes form the basis on how we move on, and my successes should present me with an informed satisfaction. Informed and treated with the caution it deserves. Just because one year we have a bumper crop of peas or potatoes, never believe you've got it sussed. Nature presents us with infentissimal possibilities – weather, pests, diseases and human interference. Without getting too zen on you, stage one, in my opinion is to be aware of the external influences – or observe with as little commentary in your mind as possible. Look and see, don't analyse – which paths does the dog take? what's in the air? What grows where? Where is dry/wet? This information guides us to understand the environment we are in. How many players there are in our space, what the land does. Only from there can we build. See, don't judge. Learn, don't capitulate. DON'T BE SIMON COWELL!

Why Bez is a weed

Wisdom is knowing what you have to accept - Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose

Seeds and weeds - these words will conjure up images of an unending battle between human and nature. Weeds, the gate crashers, the unwanted, the uninvited thugs, rolling in to spoil the party. Seeds, the method of dispersal for so many of them. Sitting, waiting for an opportunity to grab life from the soil, one day not there, the next popping up amongst the geraniums in the herbaceous border when the conditions suit.

It can be enough to make the most well balanced gardener go crazy if the attitude is all wrong. The traditional weapons of war in this ongoing skirmish will range from the use of hand tools to all out chemical warfare. Constant weeding can be thankless, and chemicals are not desirable for most sensitive horticulturalists, both methods can easily exascerbate the problem if we are not careful. Whilst there are few of us who would argue that it is less than ideal to have a border full of uninvited visitors, it is wise to arm ourselves with more than just methods of simple eradication. To fight without any knowledge is to pick a fight we are unlikely to win, a thankless and uninspiring task.

Weeds - by their nature are highly evolved, pernicious species that step into a situation when the opportunity arises. Often, we create those opportunities. Freshly dug over soil of a vegetable bed or ornamental border is a common one. I understand why we do it. It symbolises a good days work, it also enables new planting, and just as other traditional images creep into our collective mindset as wholesome and productive (fields of wheat and corn), a nicely dug over piece of land is indeed viewed by many as beautiful and good.

But it also suggests a scar on the earth, a waste of land and resources, a fertile soil with nothing in it will be colonised often by species specifically for those situations very quickly.  In this case weeds are natures elastoplast, healing a bare patch of soil.

It is also the case that digging in this way will both bring dormant seeds to the surface and break up roots of perennial species such as the dreaded ground elder or bindweed, thus your digging can become a very efficient propagation method (especially when rotovators are concerned - please don't use the rotovator!)

Weeds are purely uninvited visitors, often native, and always incredibly successful, that's why they are weeds. When we tune in to the natural systems we look after, these plants take on more nuanced meaning. This is where knowledge leads to acceptance

Just as a patch of bare soil will be colonised quickly, slopes will be stabilised, compacted soils will be loosened and habitats are created. Clovers fix nitrogen, and tap rooted individuals such as Comfrey and Dandelion bring nutrients up to the surface, aiding and abetting the plants around them.

Spring comes quickly, and often flatters to deceive. Here in the UK Spring does not arrive gently or reliably. It is a rollercoaster of a season, warm and cold, dry and wet and everything in between. Frost can arrive late and snow is not unusual. The temperature of the soil takes some time to catch up and a common mistake is to get carried away with the expectation of a new season on the first warm day. But when the annual weeds begin to get going, we have a good idea that direct sowing can begin. Reading and observing these seedlings can give us job prompts - and its a better way of gauging soil temperature than sticking your bare ass in the soil.

As you delve deeper, we can learn to identify what our interlopers are - many weeds are edible - nettles, chickweed, cleavers and dandelion being just a few. We can also tell what is going on within the soil - indicator weeds can tell us whether a soil is:

Acid ( Ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), curly dock (Rumex crispus) wild strawberries (Fragaria species), plantain (Plantago major) rough cinquefoil (Potentilla monspeliensis), silvery cinquefoil (Potentilla argentea), hawkweeds (Hieracium aurantiacum and pratense), knapweeds (Centaurea species).

Alkaline (true chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), bladder campion (Silene latifolia)

Wet (horsetail (Equisetum arvense) joe-pye weed (Eupatorium purpureum), silvery cinquefoil (Potentilla argentea), curly dock (Rumex crispus), mosses, creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis)

Dry rough cinquefoil (Potentilla monspeliensis)

When we start to understand this sort of information, weeds become part of a dialogue between the garden and the gardener. They are conduits of communication, food and job prompts. Far from being species which drive a gardener to madness in the race to elimination, they can be used, and even in some cases, appreciated. A group of plants arriving to help, just sometimes maybe too much.

So weeds, not so much all bad and more like, as with all things, a group of plants with a complex set of characteristics. I like to think that more understanding allows us to design our gardens in the most sensitive way. By tuning in, we waste less time and money on plants that will never fit in, on jobs that are nonsensical and we glean the more positive aspects of our uninvited guests.

The characteristics that all weeds DO share however are some of their coolest. They are pernicious, born survivors. Hard to kill, often spiky and they more often than not, don't fit in within a strict regime. They remind me of some of my favourite people. Bill Mollison, Jack Spirko, Tony Benn (RIP), Larry Santoya and, recently, Bez (Please check him out if you aren't already aware of him). These guys are tough, not always agreeable, often hated by authority, but always passionately spreading a worthwhile message. Trying to heal ground that has been messed up by government and corporations with no goal other than profit. These are the healing, ground protecting tough bastards that colonise and prepare ground for the more delicate amongst us. And as with their herbaceous versions, it is often easy to not see the problems until these strange, often belligerent species turn up and start making a fuss.

So it wont surprise you to hear that I want to be a weed. That is my goal - to be a useful, pioneering indicator species. To shout about the wrongs (and the rights - see permaculture, Alan Savoury, Ron Finley) that are happening around us. I want to help make the ground better for my children and grandchildren, so we don't end up with some awful dystopian future, controlled by a few - homogenised and bland and instead embrace the diversity in this world. We need to listen to those who are marginalised because more often than not they have more to say than whoever is on the front cover of Heat Magazine. We need to tune in because we have been tuned out for so long. And as for the seeds waiting to burst forth and show themselves? if you've read this far - they've been sown by now.