 |
| 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!
Read my new memoir: Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India (US) or UK.
Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anitamathiaswriter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anita.mathias/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnitaMathias1
My book of essays: Wandering Between Two Worlds (US) or UK
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!! 🙂
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.
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!!
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.
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!