Frankly Speaking
If it’s good enough for the hordes….
Trust me, it does not hurt to come into this world with good genes. I feel I was favoured. I nearly missed my first birthday but against odds got there. The food that saved my life was more or less that which aided Genghis Khan’s hordes to overrun and hold more land mass than any prior conquering army.
Their food was what they could get their hands on plus fermented mare’s milk. “Do horses produce milk?!’ Their horse of preference was the Alchal Tekes, refined by the herd masters of central Asia to a peak of perfection for its speed and endurance, so much so that messages could be transmitted from Vienna to Mongolia in days. Roughly six centuries before the Pony Express was popularised in North America.
The milk that saved my life came from a lesser equine species. Actually, donkey milk, with remarkable outcome: a bit under average size, often cranky and obstinate, having acquired tetanus immunity. But with a capacity to endure and thrive under exterme conditions.
Persistence and determination are also great assets in the garden and on the farm. Avoid waste at all costs, particularly that of time and opportunity. The late Henry Ford said there is scrap recovery from badly made parts but zero from wasted time. First and foremost, you need to make a pact with yourself as regards to whether you are serious or just fooling around. I meet so many who are all about having meaningful experiences, not in the least understanding that meaningful experience is gained by seeing projects through to completion, not moving on as minor difficulties manifest.
On the farm or in the garden there are 3 prime indicators of a meaningful outcome:
- you are eating the food you produced
- the food you produced is leaving your property in exchange for food grown by others
- the food you produced is leaving your property in exchange for $$$ that in time you will exchange for other goods/services.
On time, first time, everytime.
Actually difficult to achieve, but it’s amazing what happens if you strive for it Fortune does favour the brave.
I recall a few years back listening to a Korean martial arts master speaking to my son’s clas. His advice: ‘Break first time – you may not get second’.
Perhaps not that severe in the garden, but on the farm the invetment in initiating a venture is often considerable and must be recovered. Even in the garden there is expense, aside from a fair bit of physical grunt. I myself am adverse to zero outcome for effort, actually I deplore it with a passion.
So it’s basically planning, strategy, process and hanging in for the harvest. And, by the way, if somebody shows you some respect, showing you their garden, do the same, honour the respect by planning it forward.
A tirade of ‘why, why, why’ is an absolute surety to put you on the stinky poo list
Just because we garden, are often friendly, does not mean that we are an open ticket for information and tuition, and that our time is somehow less precious than anybody else’s.
If you are serious, do not be parasitic, go and pay for some courses. If you are open to inflow of information you will benefit. Remember, if you are in class be respectful of others, if you want 1:1 tuition you need to pay more. It unfortunately does cost, first hand experience is gold and, sadly, definitely cannot be gained for free.
Man up, go for it. Under no circumstance do as somebody recently did after being critiqued: ‘NOBODY told me’, she said. I must find out who this legendary Mr Nobody is and what she had paid for the advice and why she felt entitled to action without express advice.
In the beginning…
were Rea and Uranus and they begat Chronos. Chronos had a nasty habit of eating his children until Zeus put a stop to that!
Now, from Chronos comes ‘synchronos’, ‘asynchronos’ and ‘anachronos’. Literally: ‘without delay’, ‘with time delay’ and ‘out of time’…so sad.
In the garden, under best conditions we need to be synchronised with the seasons, particularly with regards to planting, because as you sow, so shall you reap, and if you don’t give your plants the time they need you will not reap much.
Avoid asynchronos and as far as anachronos, best don’t go there.
The Bard and Confucius meet in a bar…
Shakespeare said, “Life is a comedy for those that think, but a tragedy for those that feel.”
Chinese wisdom gives a ranking of degrees of happiness that can be achieved. For happiness to be achieved for:
- a day, Get drunk
- a week, kill a pig (it’ll stink after 1 week)
- 1 month, get married
- forever, plant a garden. It’s always changing and you can be the agent of some of that change.
You will be rewarded many times over: great outdoor exercise as you prepare, the joy of watching your work in progress, and lastly, the harvest and beautiful food that was lovingly grown appearing on your plate.
I recall a magazine article a few years back about a US president of whom one critic commented, “a masterpiece of the art of the embalmer”. A bit harsh perhaps. Anyway, the US Surgeon General had a different slant, “given regular exercise of walks in the garden” etc he foresaw no issues for Ronnie Raygun and there were none.
I have always approached my gardening from that serious stance and always try daily to fit in some hard yakka in the garden, being careful of course in winter when soils are sodden and heavy, as serious physical damage to your body can result.
My harvest
I was privileged and blessed to be able to raise my children on a small hobby farm. Their taste buds were fully set by this experience, so much so that they could recognized potato varietals. I have had gratitude expressed by my loved ones for this upbringing and must say this was very touching. All we can do as parents is to guide our young through their formative years as pleasantly as we possibly can. Undoubtedly if the experience is positive there is a high likelihood that it will be repeated. After all we are what we eat and many of our health issues stem from bad food: highly processed, often over-salted/sweetened or both, fruit that has been picked too early to attain its full health giving properties.
So what to do? GROW YOUR OWN, even is it is only few herbs J
Lasting impact
It is a long time since I first read Masanobu Fukuoka’s “The One Straw Revolution”. I must say it remains a great book and an excellent treatise on non-interventionist gardening. Open yourself to new concepts but hasten slowly!
Sum is only as goods as the parts
In recent years we have been bombarded with reality TV shows of all manner including many to do with food. Some with a lot of aggressive and demeaning people, a guaranteed recipe for indigestion
The networks have hit on a winner, they get ratings and a great vehicle to push advertisements. The sponsors get a rapt audience to receive their ads plus much gratuitous product placement.
It does not make food any better. Notwithstanding the hype of the programs the food can only be as good as the worst ingredient used in its preparation.
The food, if it is of quality, must speak of ‘Terroir’, a French wine term that indicates where, how, by whom it is was grown and importantly, what bio-chemical agents it was subjected to.
Between producer and consumer there is frequently some processing but this needs to be kept to a bare minimum. The simplicity of Italian regional and Japanese cuisines are fine examples of this. Note: if food is sub-standard the classic indication is the presence of masking agents: sugar, salt, garlic, spices etc. Quality food needs sparing quantities of these, if any. In fact, a good graze in the garden is a great thing for your health. How delicious is fruit off the tree and the flavour of new snap fresh snow peas, asparagus etc?
Networks
In this day and age it is most unlikely to no thave been approached for involvement in some multilevel marketing scheme. Funny that the same principles apply in the garden.Focus on the end result and work back to the starting point.
Build a network and share and receive from the same. It’s amazing how much there is out there and how close it all is. There are evil forces out there trying to exert control over us. Keeping a bit of control by saving and sharing a few seeds is a very good start to a bit of recalcitrance!! And health giving too.
Equinox
In Greek Mythology there is but one Goddess of gardening, Zeus’s daughter Demeter and her one and only child, Persephone, Spring herself. And she is almost back with us. She was promised to Hades, the God of the underworld, by her Father.
Demeter cracked it, how dare Zeus do this without her consultation! If a compromise was not reached Demeter would freeze the Earth. So compromise was reached and Persephone was to dwell half the year below in Hades and half on Earth. Roughly half our major cold/hot seasons or more correctly Vernal to Spring Equinox and the opposite which we are now entering.
The Celts celebrated the Sping Equinox with the feast of Ostara or Eostre.
Easter for Plebs
On Life
Arguably the most eloquent Prime Minister that Australia has had in the modern era (I’ll let you work it out), when pressured as to why he would not call an early election replied thus:
“I want to do you slowly”
Know this, whether you choose to accept or not, you are a child of the universe, what’s more Mother Nature or as my friend Janie insists Father Time will do you for free. You do not have to be a willing actor in the process:)
Garden gently and be much more gentle with yourself and those you impact on.
On the Council
I was amused to overview a recent intiative by the local council supposed to teach those with an interest in how to garden. Hello!!
Half a forest was cut down for the planting boxes, contractors hired to complete works, soil bought and what was previously green lawn was subsumed. All for a few spindly plants going to seed and not a leaf harvested for culinary use.
So when presented with all this work, expense and no return what are the learnings –precious little or actually negative. Potentially a conspiracy to show people the folly of gardening at rate payers’ expense!!
For a new project, get a mentor, be respectful, don’t give up at the the first signs of failure, seek wide opinion, share your success and failure.
On Education
The education system – to which the young in our society are subjected, pass through or humour – goes to great lengths to teach concepts like humility, timing, a belief that reward is consistent with effort, and how to accept delayed gratification to name a few.
Gardening does this in a snap, we must prepare in advance and be ready to take advantage of climatic opportunity presented by the seasons, then follow through on crop maintenance and then, if we are lucky, we can harvest the rewards.
