agriculture

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National Herbalist Day

Hail Brave Hearts

Enjoy the nutrition of the land and the many medical marvels that it reveals.  It’s a new day dawning for the Herbalist.  A day of worthy mention.  National Herbalist Day!  Wow!

The subject matter is superb.  Now that spring is here, the welcome backyard medicine cabinet is opening it’s doors.  New spring teas from fresh shoots, leaves and plants.  Lovely.  Fit for any larder, the beautiful abundance of natural goodness is in your yard.

The most obvious, killer weed, that notorious Dandelion.  Awesome!  The nutritional value of this plant is a keeper.

Plantain, St John’s Wort, Daisy and many more.   A special day for those of us, who seek natural remedies for those aches and pains.  I’ve been lucky with Nettle, Red Currant, Apple Leaf and Rose Hips, but these are just a few of the many natural wonders of the wild world.  Home made salves and soaps, fragrance and tea.  Natural healers to boost energy, to calm, to induce sleep, to improve circulation and help achy joints and achy pains.  Your garden is an Earthly delight.  Those pesky weeds, so hard to get rid of , might freshen your breath, improve your eyesight, add luster to your hair and make it shine.  The self indulgent gardener might even find a cure for what ails themselves.  There are many good gardening books which will help to plant an herbalist garden.

But are natural remedies important?  They are, if you want them to be.  Do they actually provide cures?  Yes, they do.

To quote Chris Dalziel at Jobillee Farm.  who has a  book Growing Abundance, the Garden You Harvest in a Week.

Monday is National Herbalist Day!  It’s a day to acknowledge the herbs that keep us well, help our gardens grow better, make our food taste better, and give us abundance.  Its also a day to recognize the herbal mentors in our life.

Who taught you about using herbs in the kitchen, the garden, and the apothecary?  Did you learn from a mother, a grand parent, a neighbor? Are you self-taught from books and the internet? Did you take a class? Or are you just beginning to learn about herbs as an adult?

Learn about Plantago major — Plantain

I love teaching children about herbs.  My 2 year old granddaughter knows to look for plantain (Plantago major) if she gets a bee sting or a mosquito bite.  “Plantain” comes from an old French word meaning “sole of the foot”.  It grows in compacted areas, where the footprint of humans or animals have compacted the soil.  Its a healing plant for the soil as much as it is a healing plant for us.

Often plantain is the first herb that people learn to use.  It can be an “a-ha” moment, when you hand them a leaf and tell them to put it on the “ouch”.  Relief is fast.

I’ve had the privilege of introducing plantain to tough motorcyclists, stung on the hand while riding, hikers, farmers, beekeepers, wee toddlers, and grumpy teens, mowing a lawn. Plantain is just one of the many gifts that God gives us to nourish and heal us.
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A Treasure Trove

Hail Brave hearts

This spit of land that you call home is now your sanctuary in the wild.  A place of whatever contentment you can make of it.  Be it a small shack or a home for a larger family, these dwellings in the bush were a paradise to those who had no other place to call home.

The ardent adventurer, tough, skilled, a mind set on survival.  A hunter, a trapper, a woodsman.  Trained in survival skills to surpass the perils of cold, drought, hunger, hardship and the persistent diseases.  The people of the outdoors, of the woods and plains, but newcomers just the same.  Some of whom lived alone in an isolated place, apart from society, willing to live their lives off the land, from hunting, trapping and fishing.   An interesting and unusual difference from the life of bustling Europe, where this kind of existence was unheard of.  The hunter and trapper were a new kind of man, far different from the civilized person who was left behind in the cities.

A call to adventure, the need to explore, the will to gamble all of your possible potential in a game of chance which was for some, too large to play.  A new world.   An unheard-of life.  Was this properly explained?  The fur trade was booming. Furs and the call for furs filled the air, the ears and the brain.  The cry of fortune, the call of fame, the money, the land the freedom.  Now, it’s survival.

A twist of fate and the money’s not there.  A mistake in the route and the land vanishes.  Great brave heart, find your way!  The life of a hunter and trapper is filled with danger.  A life of perilous uncertainty awaits those who are unprepared.   The harsh land in the cold of winter.  A necessary fur coat, fur pants and mitts.  Fur!  The sound of the word is money in your pocket or survival on your back.  The much needed and so much desired, fur!

An exciting world of harsh possibilities.  Friend or foe might find you out there.  As remote and hidden as your selected place might be, strangers still might enter your life. Strangers with a map like yours, looking for refuge as well.  A sanctuary in the storm of life.  A cabin with a fire and a food cache close by.  Comfortable and warm, with a hot coffee on the fire, bread in the oven and a pot of stew.  The mouthwatering delicacies of life on the land.

A pregnancy is a delicate part of life.  The struggling embryo fighting to survive.  The will of this precarious life, demanding attention, demanding an existence, demanding to survive.  Joy!  Joy for the parents, joy for the offspring, a new generation brings hope for a family.  Hope for creation, for community for that blessed gift of life and eternity.

Now, above all else, that decision to embark on this challenge, becomes the dream of procreation, of fulfillment of care.  The dare that was accepted is now in fruition.

Dare!  I dare you to go there!

Now the hands of the clock have turned.  The hour is upon us.  Live or die, oh child of mine.

A Homesteaders Food Cache

HIDE YOUR FOOD. You Better Be Prepared. | Secret Homestead of Survival | MMNP Farm Series S1 E4 – YouTube

Written by Dr Louise Hayes

November 6, 20

 

 

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Need More Gardens?

Good Day Brave Hearts

During the cold and dark days of winter, we rise to the challenge of a nutritious food supply.  The fall canning season filled the larder with a precious stock of daily living that will take away the winter chills and stave off the winter flues.  A nutrient packed diet from your organic garden to save you all winter long.  It saves the pangs of hunger, it warms the body, it cures the winter chills.

Your food supply is your health and wellness which feeds your mighty brain and helps to cure your aches and pains.  Food to cure the common cold, food for the brain, food for aches and pains, food for your social happiness.

There is a  long list of comfort food that nourishes the mind, heart and soul.  It’s divine and the time is now.

Those special little seeds that were stowed away last fall, come to the forefront of the mind.  Each little one, packed with the energy to produce a bountiful crop of fruit, vegetables, flowers, herbs or spices.  That decadent nasturtium, so showy and bright in the garden, yielding a powerful pack of seeds full of earthly delight.  Those spunky little violets, such a gorgeous floral treat decorating those cupcakes.  Winter is gone, bring on the harvest!

Bring on the watercress, the chocolate mint, the sunflower, the basil.  This year’s garden will be a splash of colour and dietary indulgence.  Oh the yellows!  Nasturtium, sunflower, pumpkin, squash (flowers) and tomato.   The reds of rose, dainty cherry blossoms, and olive.  Purple violets, blueberry and saskatoon.  White of potato and apple blossom.  The garden comes alive with colour and nutrition.  The food supply is back!

15 Brain Foods to Boost Focus and Memory – Dr. Axe (draxe.com)

Plant your pallet of garden colour.  A pallet of herbs, vegetables, fruit, flowers and spices.  The choices of fragrance to add to the show.  Musky black current, fragrant rose.   The garden of earthly delights is as aromatic as it is healthy.  Enjoy a sip of summertime wine, made for last years wild rose petals.  Indulge in sorbets of fruits from the vine, sip that delectable apple leaf tea.

We are blessed.

From our small properties, filled with natures harvest, we dine.  Dine with fine delicacies from our own backyard.  This oasis of healthy bliss to indulge ourselves in.  Choose your flavour, choose your colour, choose your diet, it’s just divine.  That backyard of ours, so pretty and colourful, so full of natures wonderful diet.  Enzymes, and nutrient, vitamins and minerals, all from carefully selected plants, flowers, herbs and spices.  The garden cure all.  It cures your senses, so fragrant and welcoming, the garden tantalizes us with beckoning gestures.  Come in, come in, it calls us to indulge.  Plant the seed, plant for what cures you.  This organic garden could save your life.   Plant with anti-oxidants to stave off cancer, plant with brain power to retain your fine mind, plant with cures for heart disease and arthritis.  Yes, your garden is heavenly.

The backyard is not just a playing field.  That land has a useful life.  Not just the trampoline, but also the garden of earthly delight.  Pick your flowers, pick your colours, plant away and enjoy the benefits of a well planned garden. Plant, enjoy, harvest, enjoy, this is a stellar room with a view.  That room which pulls us out of the house.  Out to the great outdoors.  To till the soil, to enjoy the land, to mix and meddle with the array of botanical inspiration.  Not just a flower garden, not just weeds, those are precious edibles that garnish soups, mix with salads, add colour to the plate and surprise us with yet another flavour.  Something nutty, something spicy, a bit peppery, maybe sweet.  Your internal chef might be inspired.

It’s time to plant, forage on.  This is spring and it’s time to garden.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

March 23, 2022

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The Power of your Garden

Hail Brave Hearts

Good health to you.  It’s all around us, in the food we eat, the daily exercise that we do, our social and spiritual interactions, education, work and play.  Heal us.

In the past centuries of homesteading natural healing was common sense.  To find the elements of medicine in our natural world, to relieve us from the threats of  common illnesses.  The day’s work must be done.  The days work cannot be left unattended.  A day off with illness was appalling for people who relied on the land for their survival.  Day after day after day, toil and work.  A days work was never done.  Plant your crops, tend to the animals, forage in the forest, sheer the sheep, knit your blankets, chop the wood, stoke the fire, day after day after day.

Salves and ointments sooth sore muscles.  Extracts and tinctures to ingest for your health.  Medicines from the great wild, from flowers, trees and grasses.  The soothing forest, the healing plains, find your medicines in the wildlands, there are cures out there.  A fine flower like Lungwort, a pretty daisy to ingest, a mighty spruce for your winter tea.  Plant your garden with healing remedies, to bolster the immune system against the constant threat of life threatening illness.

Plant your garden well, with vitamins, minerals, essential enzymes, herbal remedies.  Plant your garden to keep yourself healthy and to make you well.  A prized patch of Queen Anne’s Lace, showy Chicory for breakfast tea or coffee,  The careful selection of medicinal plants.

7 Evidence-Based Benefits of Wheatgrass (healthline.com)

The life of a homesteader in early Canada was filled with trials and tribulations.  A community of people, reliant on their courage and expertise to survive in a harsh, sparsely populated land where wildlife and livestock, collide.  The peace of the people, although essential, is not enough.  The forest and the land are filled with deadly surprises.  The forest and the lands are filled with healing and cures.  Venture out into the land, for it’s remedies that will save you.  Care and caution every day of your life, for what lurks in the shadows of the trees and tall grasses.

Hunting for wildlife is shared between wild predators and hungry humans. Livestock must be saved.

It’s an interesting life of essential skills and education.  How to build a house, how to build a fence, how to forage in the forest, what to plant, where to plant it.  Soil conditions, weather patterns, cold, stocking up for the winter, how to dry food, prepare meat, basic first aid,  sewing.  The list of requirements for homesteading goes on and on.  Build your cabin in the woods, beside cool waters, on fertile land.  A society of far flung people, a few kilometers apart, being the next door neighbour.  A neighbour right there, right beside, to help out if necessary.

In our minds that neighbour lives a long way off, but to an early homesteader, it was close by.  Their health and vitality was different from ours.  Cure yourself, you awesome human.  Plant your garden well.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

December 6, 2021

 

 

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Your Backyard Holiday

Hail Brave Hearts

Survive we must! In this blistering heat of summer with the quiet lakes to ourselves. The calm, the serene, the peace, the solitude. An unusual turn of the times. In this fine scenario of beach, less is more. Fewer beach goers to take over the sand, fewer families to splash and play in the water, fewer pets to avoid. Instead, it’s all for us. The Canadian holiday tourist is the new normal.

During a season which is constantly full of international guests filling every room for rent in the community, the chance for a Canadian summer holiday has been hard to come by for some. Last minute cancellations are rare.

The highways are quiet, we own the road. Drive to those scenic locations, there’s no one in sight. Easily find a table at the restaurant, there’s room for us. It has it’s beauty. We have our own special places to explore, unhindered. It has it’s beast. Finance.  It has another beast.  The bustling, busy beach scene is anything but quiet.  Our thoughts that this is for us is true, but so many of us!  

The quiet, the solitude, the peaceful Canadian get away, so special, so serene, so back to nature, so much to ourselves.  The jam packed tourist industry is all us.  All us!  The rush to save our relaxing and serene holidaying selves drives us to vacation madness on Canadian beaches.  Every inch is claimed.  Save us almighty dollar.  Spend your money at home this year.  The economic crisis of a pandemic virus has curtailed all of our luxurious international travel.  The resort haven of an idylic tropical getaway, forsaken for the vast remoteness of our own Canadian dreamland.  

https://www.parklandcounty.com/en/index.aspx

The food is divine.  Culinary delights abound.  There are endless opportunities for the sports enthusiast.  We meet and exceed international standards in so many ways.  Run  the trails, climb those mountains, paddle the lakes.  This year has been a pasttime of recreation and leisure, for those who were able to go out.  The great Canadian get away has been a pleasure, right outside your own back door.

A drive along a remote country road to a surprising little shop in nowhere.  A clean, immaculate hamlet way off the beaten path with surprising prosperity.  The endless recreation of lakes, parks and adventure.  The thrill of discovery of the history of this land, of who we are, who settled this place, who comes here.  The discovery of diversity, a mixture of agriculture beside industry, of recreation beside a bustling city, of unique culture  and diverse peoples all occupying the same land. The mixture of wilderness and sport, of wildlands and human populations.  This is us.  We planned it this way.  We planned this fun and enjoyment, we planned for the relaxation, we planned this unusual adventure.  A drive along a dusty gravel road to a restaurant in an unheard of village.  The pleasure of the local cuisine and the local people.  There are so many places to go, so many roads to travel, rails to ride, people to visit.  To spend our hard earned dollars in this magnificent country that has so many delightful treats for us to find.  

The pandemic has given many of us time.  Time to explore.  Discover it for yourselves.

Written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 26, 2020

 

 

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Some Luxury

 

Hail Bravehearts

Hail and hearty the adventure awaits the bold and daring and the ambitious ones.  Skills to survive, to conquer it all, to bring peace and prosperity to a fragile new colony.

The great wild awaits, with it’s luring call.  Venture forth, oh great human.  Come into this great wild land and reap the rewards of this new world.  Come, entices the forest, come to this viewpoint and see my wondrous beauty.  Come, calls the wind and I will show you how to live.  Come to the new colony, to this brave new world.

The sun shines in glory and golden rays sparkle through the trees.  It is springtime and the air is filled with the cheerful song of nesting birds, thriving insects and birthing animals.  Fragrant flowers fill the forests and meadows and the spectacular colour of their beautiful petals brings smiles.  Hope.  It is upon us again.  Hope for success this time.  It is spring.  Hard work and toil should pay off with success this time.

The sap is running, it’s maple sugar time.  The sap of the maple sugar tree can be boiled into a delicious product of sweet tasting syrup.  Syrup, candy, cookies, butter.   A new tradition, a new culinary delight, a new culture in cuisine.  Come, calls the wild land, fill your buckets with this sweet tasting goo.  The sap of the tree is honey or sugar to the new settlers.  Joy  from the wild, since this is a delight that is easy to harvest and delicious to eat.  Maple syrup eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits.  A whole new cuisine based on the sweet delight of the maple sugar tree.  Now the joy of cooking is ours, in the great new land.   A treasure, a gold mine, a product of tasteful delight that gives the new settlers an item for trade.  Food, prosperity, luxury.  Oh brave new world, there is real wealth here.  Live and thrive in the great new land.

http://wildblueberries.net/maplehistory.html  a history of maple syrup

Harvest the riches, the abundance and the gold.  Tap the stream of sap, of the maple sugar tree and be rich.  A prized product from the forest, maple sap, maple syrup, maple sugar.  This centuries old industry developed another uniqueness in the new world.  Unique fur traders, unique sugar maple.  An identity is being born.  A connection to the land and to it’s people.  A connection of trade and business.  Something new to send back to the old world of France. There is nothing like it in Europe.  Interesting.  Curiosity and intrigue develops.  What of that great land across the ocean.  What else is there in that vast frontier?

Slowly, but slowly, the colony increases.  Slowly, but slowly, it ignites the fire of imagination.  Yes, they will come to Canada, even if forced by royal decree, they will come.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

May 31, 2016

 

A Simple Country Life
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A Simple Country Life

Hail Oh Brilliant Ones

Muscle and brawn, determination and might.  The power of the body and the mind in a challenge for victory for us all. Strength and will, focus and mindset, the power of the objective is a lure of contentment.  Bring on the bull, bring on the market, bring on the challenge that proves the might of this power.

Ride for your lives, oh glorious ones, a challenge unusual, but necessary for a culture of unique bravery and unique courage.  The fight between man and beast in a contest of wills to tame the savagery out of the wild.  Bring on the bull, the market is waiting, for this is an animal of fierce power and fierce mindset.

As in all wild things, the thought of taming it,  is an exciting interest to some of us.  The challenge to ride an unusual animal, who’s interests are for protection and preservation of it’s own kind.  Bought and paid for, the bull is owned, but not really tame.  A bull is a powerhouse of strength and musculature, with a brain focused on survival.  He is the fittest, the rightful, the protector of the herd and his temper and adrenalin flair with anger.  From intruders and strangers, the bull protects it’s land with seething contempt for outsiders.  Nostrils flair, stomping and pounding, steely gaze and snorting breath, the bull challenges.  Run, you cowards, save yourselves!  This animal will not allow a trespasser.

A mild farm animal, to the unwitting and unknowing, this is an animal of unpredictable nature and immense girth.  Stay away, stay out of the paddock, don’t go near the bull.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocX5EXgHmGU  bull riding in Canada

Hop on board, you daring cowboy.  Ride the vicious bull.  Tame the wild beast of farmyard passivity.  The quiet country way, the rolling landscape, the picturesque farm nestled into a hillside, the pastures dotted with grazing animals, all tame and well fed, all quiet and calm in the peaceful countryside.

A challenge is upon us, to beat a vicious and untameable foe, an animal of fierceness and endurance, power and meanness.  The bull will fight for it’s life and kill it’s adversary.  Stomping and flailing, sharpened horns and massive body, who will ride the bull?

An interesting and exciting diversion from quiet country life.  The birds sing in the trees and nature plays out it’s everyday fascination.  Ponds filled with ducks and waterfowl dot the landscape, marshland is preserved for it’s own sake and the wild encroaches with timid apprehension.  Sometimes foxes, sometimes deer, the pastures in the farm attract the more daring of the wild, who linger along it’s fringes.  A simple co-existence, usually without distress.

But the bull is an adversary.  A wild and difficult animal.  He exists for himself. For his powerful genetics win the show ribbons and he’s the champion of them all.

Ride on, oh cowboys.  Laughing and daring, rope in hand.  Farm life is not for simple minded folk.  Your own  strong, agile bodies, tested against the steel of a bull headed animal. Determined and stubborn, willful and massive, ride on, you cowboys, to glory and courage and to conquer the wild of the farm.  The massive bull.

written by Dr. Louise Hayes

September 20, 2015

The Fishing Hole

Food. Fill your stomachs and ease the pangs of poverty. Cast your nets and fill your boats with the precious catch of the day.
For thousands of years the oceans have filled our plates with free food, a commodity of substance and wealth from the planet. The nets cast into the seas, to draw the needed food source from its home in the high water. The oceans provide and the human soars with the advantage of free food for the hungry. No starvation, no poverty. The seas give up their glorious catch and the evils of hunger subside.
An expectation of success fills our minds. The ocean has always provided for us, this is our right and our lifestyle. Our livelihood and our culture. Many nations survive from the oceans and the plunder of the deep waters reduces the catch to a fragment of what it once was. The crisis for the oceans rises and the plight of the wildlife within it, screams for the efforts of conservationist around the world. Oil spills, contamination, pollutants, over fishing. The perils of the oceans calls to us as the human mind reels in the wake of yet another catastrophe that leaves our planet dead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxacxShp3LY overfishing – the consequences.

The rights to fish the oceans have been undenied since mankind cast his nets and lines into the sea and returned triumphant with yet another tasty meal. So easy, so little effort, a hook, a line and bait and then to the fishing hole. Young and old remember their days, drifting in easy summer weather, with baited hook and happy smiles, as the waters reveal a dinner or two, to the patient fisherman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDAC33InIHs ending overfishing

Fishing the deep has been an easy joy for us. The lakes and oceans produce an amazing number of fish and other water inhabitants. Crustaceans and eels, fish and whale, shellfish and turtles. The water is fun and filled with life. For a day at the beach and a day on the water nurture us with sun and summer care. The carefree days of endless sunshine, the powerful waves as they crest and splash and entice us into the water for summer play. The life and the living that the oceans bring us, not only back from the brink of starvation, but to a new purpose in sport, leisure, games and holidaying. The oceans and lakes give us undeniable joy.
Bountiful great waters, our cups overflow with gladness, for the discovery of the mysteries of the deep. Ocean songs and ocean conquest, ships and adventure, the great seas call to all of us as sailors and fishermen and the marvel of our days on the decks of sailboats, casting our lines and unfurling the sails, gives us freedom and the thrill of adventure.
Four hundred years ago, at the dawn of European time in Canada, came an expedition to the coast of Canada, to fish the great waters of the grand banks of Newfoundland.  The fishing was superb!  Cast your nets and take home a catch of fishes to save the starving peasants back home.  Cast your nets and be saved.  The catch is your income, your food source, your work and your daily bread. The fishing was superb and from this came the endless voyages of fishermen bound for a harvest of ocean gold.  Food!  Made from the planet, where no one shall starve. 
7 billion. 
To traverse the great Atlantic ocean in search of a food source out fished in Europe, was the means to an end of hunger and poverty.  400  years ago the population of Europe was substantially smaller, but the need to traverse the ocean for food was already a pressing concern.  Feed the hungry.  The ocean is called upon to provide.  Fishes for the ever climbing hungry of the world.  Food.
Still the demand is upon the ocean, to fill the needs of the hungry as our population climbs and soars. Still, the ocean, with it’s free and bountiful harvest of fish. Still the human calls to the planet, feed us!
Written by Dr. Louise Hayes
June 21, 2014

Spring Beauty
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Spring Beauty

Good morning Brave hearts

The slow passing of winter, when the earth sheds its cover of the protecting layer of snow, to reveal the tiny shoots of green below. The generation of life, of another season of promise, of hope that the earth will care for us again and fulfill its duty to feed us.
Dutiful planet, the demands of mankind are high. Climate change encroaches and what once was, has become the unknown. Weather patterns interupt our plans, the cycle of change is no longer so predictable. The earth is moving more slowly to sheds its winter garments and to thaw its freezing soils. Tiny seeds, put into the ground, promise of a food source for healthy living. The garden is the source of organic vegetables, fruit bearing trees and shrubs providing healthy, nutritious food. The garden is the source of food production, of an escape to the quiet of your own making. Centuries old man has cultivated his garden for food, pleasure, entertainment and quiet. The garden is a joy! That one small plot of well tended, well cared for space, is an enhancement to our lives.
The joy of the green grass, the tiny buds of leaves and flowers, getting ready to bedazzle us with their showy finery. A jewel of precious colour, the flower competes for the attention of the pollinators. Showy cloaks of marvelous design, fabulous colour, an array of height, size and fragrance. A dazzling performance of non stop delight, as the earth introduces its beautiful performers. Early spring flowers, nodding and waving, in the cool spring breezes, greet us with colour and charm. The earth sends us its shoots of promise and the early flowers, dance and wave and greet us with their nodding heads.
“Hail mankind!” calls the planet. “The spring is late, but it is here! Behold, my dazzling beauties, with their freshly painted gowns, their sensual perfumes and their welcoming waving. I’ve sent my early troops to provide a paradise for you. A paradise of colour, fragrance and spring music.”
“Hail mankind, sighs the aging planet, spring has come! For I am weary and aging, but I still live and love and reproduce, and send my offspring to the surface for your comfort and joy!”
“Yes!”, calls the planet, “I will save you again!”
The deep chill of winter is passing and the warmth of the sun has cast its heat to the earth and the land creeps out from under it’s warm, winters’ blanket. The hibernating animals come forth, seeking the fresh spring air and the fresh new produce. Food! Organic, nutritious food, for the hungry wildlife, prepared and served by the planet. Organic delights of greening grasses, new shoots of tender spring growth. The great wild is coming forth, and it is with relief that we count their presence.
The calling birds sing and flock to us, their melody of song ringing in our ears. Fortunate human, to hear the music of the planet, to taste the wonderful produce of the garden. Spring is upon us and the joy of living resounds throughout the world.

www/thesustainabilityplanforfood.com

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
May 6, 2014

The Happy Place
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The Happy Place

Good morning Brave hearts.

It is spring and soon you’ll be planting your garden. Cultivating the soil, choosing the seeds, selecting plants which will flourish in your temperate zone. The garden, an oasis of nourishment and organic delight. The pesticide free produce of your own dedicated labour.
Food! We take is so much for granted. It will be on grocery store shelves in a timely manner, someone else’s job to provide and protect us. Someone else’s occupation, to nourish and negotiate for us. Someone to stock shelves, to intermediate for us, between the wholesaler and the grower. Someone to bargain and to provide nutrient rich product every day. We take it so much for granted. There will always be grocery stores. There will always be food. Our international negotiations are secure.
Why the need for a garden then? Is it just a past time, just a labour of love, just a hobby, a romantic spot, a place to socialize and a place to concentrate on food production. A space where your favourite tree grows and reminds us of happy times, of memories of childhood and growing years. A garden! That special sanctuary of your home, where the lives of plants live, and fulfill their own duty to the planet.
The plants fulfill a destiny of their own. Nurtured and cared for, they will provide for you, in sickness and in health. Specialized plants for herbology, teas, food and fragrance, stimulating your senses, cleaning your air and nourishing your body.
The lives of plants, create their own environments, for insects, birds, animals and us. A planting for flowers, a planting for food, a planting for scent, scenery, self-indulgence. The garden is the oasis of special splendor, that creates that time-honored happy place.
Luscious plantings of medicinal herbs, of toxin free organic produce, of edible flowers and heady perfumes. The scent, the sound, the relaxation, the view. To stand in the garden and smell the aromatic scents. To relax the mind in peace and tranquility. To restore the balance of hectic living, to calm and balance.
Soon mother nature will shed her winters skin, of snow and ice, and open her door of warmth and sunshine. Soon the far away rays of winters sun will melt the frozen waters and heat the frozen ground. The earth will shed her blanket of snow and reveal the eager, early life below.
Soon, you will plant your garden. As you do so, take a moment of your time to think about food, to find a portion of your garden for food production, and to help to support the earth, in it’s duty to try to feed the growing human population, of the planet.

http://foodrevolution.org/summit2/?orid=98788&opid=4, summit of world food from April 26 to May 4, 2014

written by Dr. Louise Hayes
April 18, 2014