• Facebook
  • Twitter

Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

  • Home
  • My Books
  • Essays
  • Contact
  • About Me

Bees, Blessing and Permaculture

By Anita Mathias

Chives in full bloom in our herb garden

We have a hive of Buckland bees, a mild, docile breed at the bottom of our garden.
A hive of bees in the garden apparently “blesses” the entire garden. The flowers pollinated are bigger and brighter. Vegetables pollinated by bees are bigger. The harvests of fruit increases exponentially, tempting to me since our garden includes a small orchard.
Bigger vegetables, brighter flowers, bountiful harvests of fruit. Introducing bees to one’s garden certainly resembles the blessing of God.
Carol Wimber, in her amusing book The Way it Was, writes lyrically of the joyous years after she and John Wimber first became Christians. Joy filled their hearts, the songs flowed, lyrics flowed. “Even our gardens were more brighter, more lush and verdant.”
                                          * * * 
The honey from local bees–and how can one get something more local than from the bottom of the garden?–is meant to protect one from hayfever. My hayfever hits in June/early July and is probably an allergy to the grass pollen and mould spores in the garden and orchard. 
We are also experimenting with permaculture, using perennial vegetables and fruit, and sustainable techniques. Our garden/orchard is a really large one–1.5 acre, and I could like to plant it intensively–fruit, veggies and flowers, but spend no more than 1 an hour a day in the garden on weekdays, 2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday, with Roy (who has more time and strength and gardening passion) spending 2 hours a day in the garden.
So I am learning permaculture techniques to minimize labour in the garden. People estimate that, if one uses the techniques of permaculture, one can grow enough fruit and veggies to feed one’s family as well as having a pretty flower-filled garden with no more than a few hours a week in the garden (which I need for the exercise, tranquillity, and the opportunity for clear thinking and praying it affords.) 
Permaculture involves minimizing human labour with techniques such as chipping all garden waste to make thick mulches which dramatically decrease the amount of watering and weeding. Roy really enjoys this–turning our unruly hedges, prunings and garden waste into mulches, which will soon become nutritious compost and increase the soil’s fertility for future years
Another permaculture technique we are adopting is focusing on perennial vegetables. We’ve planted 40 asparagus crowns, rows of strawberries, perennial Welsh onions, and some old English traditional vegetables–lovage, good King Henry etc. 
                                      * * *
Another permaculture idea which is interesting me is creating a tight ecosystem in the home and garden in which nothing is wasted. Our ducks eat our table scraps. We eat their eggs. Their waste and the egg shells go into the compost. The rabbits eat the garden waste (well, the things they love, apple branches, hawthorn, willow, all fruit tree branches, twigs); their nitrogen rich droppings go into the compost. All paper and cardboard–and about a third of our household waste–goes into the compost.
Compost itself is magic–all this waste becoming black, rich, nutritious soil.
Our garden is all organic, of course, and we are learning as much as we can of natural methods of pest control, using, for instance, the birds who come to our five feeders, who are, of course, sheer delight!
                                                                  ~ ~ ~
One of my dreams–and this is a long-range dream!–is to grow the vast majority of the fruit and vegetables we eat. We were lucky to have inherited an orchard planted by previous owners with several apple trees, pear trees, plum, mulberry, quince, medlar, fig, grape, peach, blackberry and raspberry bushes. 
We are using a Rocket Garden for the second year in a row which sends you plug plants at the right time to plant, so (if it works) we’ll be growing all our vegetables this year. And are slowing expanding our flower beds.
We got addicted to gardening when we lived in America and went out with the girls after school spending 3 hours or more in the garden, even on weekday evenings.
And I do love gardening–but I go into the garden with my timer on my iPhone set for an hour, so that with the pleasures of being out with the birds–and now the bees!!– I do not entirely lose track of time.

Incidentally, if you are interested in permaculture, and sustainable time-efficient, human energy-saving gardening, please read Robert Hart’s Forest Gardening. It’s inspirational!

More from my site

  • St Paul’s Within the Walls, one of the loveliest churches in RomeSt Paul’s Within the Walls, one of the loveliest churches in Rome
  • 365 Project–The Beautiful Windchimes that Irene Made365 Project–The Beautiful Windchimes that Irene Made
  • A fifty percent chance of cockiness!A fifty percent chance of cockiness!
  • G.K. Chesterton on Joy (from Orthodoxy)G.K. Chesterton on Joy (from Orthodoxy)
  • The Writing ProcessThe Writing Process
Share this...
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter

Filed Under: In which I dream in my garden

« Previous Post
Next Post »

Comments

  1. Anita Mathias says

    July 5, 2012 at 6:21 pm

    We bought a large beehive, and a colony (since we want honey). But we bought it last spring, so this is really our first year as beekeepers, and I hope we do nothing wrong, and everything right!! 🙂

  2. LA says

    July 5, 2012 at 5:41 am

    Where we live EVERYTHING grows…allergy capital of the country. It's a very fertile area. But bees have been a challenge here. Even in this bee-friendly area, we are suffering from CCD (colony collapse disorder) and so I have to order my bees in the mail. They're really cute – they come all hibernated in this little tubes. I just drill out a block of wood and put the tubes in and when they're ready, the come out.

    Anaerobic digesting is hard on the small scale. Which is why our city raised money through bond measures to build this wonderful food waste recycling center. I love living in an area that supports this kind of sustainable living.

  3. Anita Mathias says

    July 4, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    Funny, I only learnt about permaculture when we were house-hunting in 2006, and I learned that one could feed a family of 4 on .25 acre if one practised permaculture techniques–planting in 7 layers, underground, ground cover of herbs, vegetables shrubs, trees, climbers. In the end, we were able to buy 1.5 acre, so will never have the energy or necessity to plant it extensively, but am still interested in the energy saving, in perennial vegetables and herbs, and in its potential for the third world.

    LA, that's amazing. I don't compost meat, fish, bones, table scraps or dairy. I would like to, but haven't learnt about anaerobic composting.

    Joanna, my husband's dad was a bee-keeper, and so I just hope he remembers something about extracting honey. We've had the bees for a year, but haven't taken any honey yet. Would like to get a bottle or so at some time.

    Do you know Robert Hart's Forest Gardening? It's inspirational!!

  4. Joanna says

    July 4, 2012 at 11:02 am

    Oh how I would love to keep bees! Good for you looking at permaculture – I think it really is the way to go if we want to live in a way that respects creation and preserves it for future generations.

  5. LA says

    July 4, 2012 at 1:56 am

    Permaculture is a huge thing here in the Pacific Northwest of America. In fact, one of my friends teaches permaculture at the local community college.

    Luckily, we got a really amazing thing in our small town here – an anaerobic digester that turns ALL our table scraps into compost. Instead of everyone having their own compost bin, all of us put all our table scraps including meat, bones, napkins, compostable plates, etc. into our yard waste bin, the trash folks pick it up and take it to the digester plant. As a participant in the program, you get free composted dirt from them and it's a win-win for everyone! And because it's all sealed and high temperature, you can put all your non-vegetable scraps in there without worry.

    How strong it is when your whole community works together in sustainable living!

    Thanks for the idyllic post…makes me want to come out and just hang out in your garden!

Sign Up and Get a Free eBook!

Sign up to be emailed my blog posts (one a week) and get the ebook of "Holy Ground," my account of working with Mother Teresa.

Join 642 Other Readers

Follow me on Twitter

Follow @anitamathias1

Anita Mathias: About Me

Anita Mathias

Read my blog on Facebook

My Books

Wandering Between Two Worlds: Essays on Faith and Art

Wandering Between Two Worlds - Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Francesco, Artist of Florence: The Man Who Gave Too Much

Francesco, Artist of Florence - Amazom.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

The Story of Dirk Willems

The Story of Dirk Willems - Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk
Premier Digital Awards 2015 - Finalist - Blogger of the year
Runner Up Christian Media Awards 2014 - Tweeter of the year

Recent Posts

  •  On Not Wasting a Desert Experience
  • A Mind of Life and Peace in the Middle of a Global Pandemic
  • On Yoga and Following Jesus
  • Silver and Gold Linings in the Storm Clouds of Coronavirus
  • Trust: A Message of Christmas
  • Life- Changing Journaling: A Gratitude Journal, and Habit-Tracker, with Food and Exercise Logs, Time Sheets, a Bullet Journal, Goal Sheets and a Planner
  • On Loving That Which Love You Back
  • “An Autobiography in Five Chapters” and Avoiding Habitual Holes  
  • Shining Faith in Action: Dirk Willems on the Ice
  • The Story of Dirk Willems: The Man who Died to Save His Enemy

Categories

What I’m Reading

Childhood, Youth, Dependency: The Copenhagen Trilogy
Tove Ditlevsen

  The Copenhagen Trilogy  - Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Amazing Faith: The Authorized Biography of Bill Bright
Michael Richardson

Amazing Faith -- Bill Bright -- Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Stephen King

On Writing --  Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Acedia & me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life
Kathleen Norris

KATHLEEN NORRIS --  Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk


Andrew Marr


A History of the World
Amazon.com
https://amzn.to/3cC2uSl

Amazon.co.uk

Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-96
Seamus Heaney


Opened Ground: Poems, 1966-96 
Amazon.com
Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk

Archive by month

INSTAGRAM

anita.mathias

Writer, Blogger, Reader, Mum. Christian. Instaing Oxford, travel, gardens and healthy meals. Oxford English alum. Writing memoir. Lives in Oxford, UK

Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford # Images from walks around Oxford. #beauty #oxford #walking #tranquility #naturephotography #nature
So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And h So we had a lovely holiday in the Southwest. And here we are at one of the world’s most famous and easily recognisable sites.
#stonehenge #travel #england #prehistoric England #family #druids
And I’ve blogged https://anitamathias.com/2020/09/13/on-not-wasting-a-desert-experience/
So, after Paul the Apostle's lightning bolt encounter with the Risen Christ on the road to Damascus, he went into the desert, he tells us...
And there, he received revelation, visions, and had divine encounters. The same Judean desert, where Jesus fasted for forty days before starting his active ministry. Where Moses encountered God. Where David turned from a shepherd to a leader and a King, and more, a man after God’s own heart.  Where Elijah in the throes of a nervous breakdown hears God in a gentle whisper. 
England, where I live, like most of the world is going through a desert experience of continuing partial lockdowns. Covid-19 spreads through human contact and social life, and so we must refrain from those great pleasures. We are invited to the desert, a harsh place where pruning can occur, and spiritual fruitfulness.
A plague like this has not been known for a hundred years... John Piper, after his cancer diagnosis, exhorted people, “Don’t Waste Your Cancer”—since this was the experience God permitted you to have, and He can bring gold from it. Pandemics and plagues are permitted (though not willed or desired) by a Sovereign God, and he can bring life-change out of them. 
Let us not waste this unwanted, unchosen pandemic, this opportunity for silence, solitude and reflection. Let’s not squander on endless Zoom calls—or on the internet, which, if not used wisely, will only raise anxiety levels. Let’s instead accept the invitation to increased silence and reflection
Let's use the extra free time that many of us have long coveted and which has now been given us by Covid-19 restrictions to seek the face of God. To seek revelation. To pray. 
And to work on those projects of our hearts which have been smothered by noise, busyness, and the tumult of people and parties. To nurture the fragile dreams still alive in our hearts. The long-deferred duty or vocation
So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I So, we are about eight weeks into lockdown, and I have totally sunk into the rhythm of it, and have got quiet, very quiet, the quietest spell of time I have had as an adult.
I like it. I will find going back to the sometimes frenetic merry-go-round of my old life rather hard. Well, I doubt I will go back to it. I will prune some activities, and generally live more intentionally and mindfully.
I have started blocking internet of my phone and laptop for longer periods of time, and that has brought a lot of internal quiet and peace.
Some of the things I have enjoyed during lockdown have been my daily long walks, and gardening. Well, and reading and working on a longer piece of work.
Here are some images from my walks.
And if you missed it, a blog about maintaining peace in the middle of the storm of a global pandemic
https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/  #walking #contemplating #beauty #oxford #pandemic
A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine. A few walks in Oxford in the time of quarantine.  We can maintain a mind of life and peace during this period of lockdown by being mindful of our minds, and regulating them through meditation; being mindful of our bodies and keeping them happy by exercise and yoga; and being mindful of our emotions in this uncertain time, and trusting God who remains in charge. A new blog on maintaining a mind of life and peace during lockdown https://anitamathias.com/2020/05/04/a-mind-of-life-and-peace/
In the days when one could still travel, i.e. Janu In the days when one could still travel, i.e. January 2020, which seems like another life, all four of us spent 10 days in Malta. I unplugged, and logged off social media, so here are some belated iphone photos of a day in Valetta.
Today, of course, there’s a lockdown, and the country’s leader is in intensive care.
When the world is too much with us, and the news stresses us, moving one’s body, as in yoga or walking, calms the mind. I am doing some Yoga with Adriene, and again seeing the similarities between the practice of Yoga and the practice of following Christ.
https://anitamathias.com/2020/04/06/on-yoga-and-following-jesus/
#valleta #valletamalta #travel #travelgram #uncagedbird
Images from some recent walks in Oxford. I am copi Images from some recent walks in Oxford.
I am coping with lockdown by really, really enjoying my daily 4 mile walk. By savouring the peace of wild things. By trusting that God will bring good out of this. With a bit of yoga, and weights. And by working a fair amount in my garden. And reading.
How are you doing?
#oxford #oxfordinlockdown #lockdown #walk #lockdownwalks #peace #beauty #happiness #joy #thepeaceofwildthings
Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social d Images of walks in Oxford in this time of social distancing. The first two are my own garden.  And I’ve https://anitamathias.com/2020/03/28/silver-and-gold-linings-in-the-storm-clouds-of-coronavirus/ #corona #socialdistancing #silverlinings #silence #solitude #peace
Trust: A Message of Christmas He came to earth in Trust: A Message of Christmas  He came to earth in a  splash of energy
And gentleness and humility.
That homeless baby in the barn
Would be the lynchpin on which history would ever after turn
Who would have thought it?
But perhaps those attuned to God’s way of surprises would not be surprised.
He was already at the centre of all things, connecting all things. * * *
Augustus Caesar issued a decree which brought him to Bethlehem,
The oppressions of colonialism and conquest brought the Messiah exactly where he was meant to be, the place prophesied eight hundred years before his birth by the Prophet Micah.
And he was already redeeming all things. The shame of unwed motherhood; the powerlessness of poverty.
He was born among animals in a barn, animals enjoying the sweetness of life, animals he created, animals precious to him.
For he created all things, and in him all things hold together
Including stars in the sky, of which a new one heralded his birth
Drawing astronomers to him.
And drawing him to the attention of an angry King
As angelic song drew shepherds to him.
An Emperor, a King, scholars, shepherds, angels, animals, stars, an unwed mother
All things in heaven and earth connected
By a homeless baby
The still point on which the world still turns. The powerful centre. The only true power.
The One who makes connections. * * *
And there is no end to the wisdom, the crystal glints of the Message that birth brings.
To me, today, it says, “Fear not, trust me, I will make a way.” The baby lay gentle in the barn
And God arranges for new stars, angelic song, wise visitors with needed finances for his sustenance in the swiftly-coming exile, shepherds to underline the anointing and reassure his parents. “Trust me in your dilemmas,” the baby still says, “I will make a way. I will show it to you.” Happy Christmas everyone.  https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/24/trust-a-message-of-christmas/ #christmas #gemalderieberlin #trust #godwillmakeaway
Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Look, I’ve designed a journal. It’s an omnibus Gratitude journal, habit tracker, food and exercise journal, bullet journal, with time sheets, goal sheets and a Planner. Everything you’d like to track.  Here’s a post about it with ISBNs https://anitamathias.com/2019/12/23/life-changing-journalling/. Check it out. I hope you and your kids like it!
Load More… Follow on Instagram

© 2021 Dreaming Beneath the Spires · All Rights Reserved. · Cookie Policy · Privacy Policy

»
«