Sisters and brothers, cousins and second cousins, grandmas and great aunts. Nineteen of us this time and missing just a few for the annual (most years) few days at the beach. It was nice this time feeling the change in the generations. My sister and I firmly in the great aunt’s generation, our daughters stepping firmly into the mothers’ roles, wrangling great gangs of kids.
There is a huge amount of skill and knowledge in living a simple, green,, frugal life. This is not peasant unskilled labour. This is application of intelligence, design, creative thinking, experimentation, research and practice to deeply held values. Simplicity is often deceptive. Simplicity is elegant, refined, efficient, beautifully designed, and highly skilled.
Madagascar beans are a tropical semi-perennial bean – they kinda take the niche occupied by seven-year beans (aka scarlett runner beans) in more temperate climates. Reliable, prolilfic, versatile.
Sequential planting is such a lifesaver! This whole year seems to have been routines-out-the-window so far. I love routines. Once you have worked a system down to the point where it just works and you turn it into a habit, it just gets done in incidental time, and incidental time doesn’t count.
One of the things I like about planting advanced seedlings is the instant gratification of it. This is the garden bed I planted out today – advanced seedlings of lettuce, raddichio, parsley, chinese cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks, silver beet, spinach, celery, red cabbage, broccoli, kailan, plus some parsnips, broad beans, peas, and snow peas.
Most times I do my picking walk first thing in the morning before breakfast. It usually takes about half an hour, and its the most productive garden work I do. I walk with a bucket and a basket.
This year, I’m going to grow enough onions. I’ve never yet grown enough onions. I’ve got close-ish, with leeks and spring onions and chives as the support team, but never quite enough to last the whole year.