early this morning I was out in the garden, digging up roots and rocks, to get the beds ready for over-wintering. On top of the brick wall that runs along the laneway, is a cascading rosemary growing in a pot and today, for the first time since I moved here, I noticed bees.
I had been concerned about the lack of bees and wondered if the wasp plague had actually affected bee colonies here. As I gardened, I was alerted by buzzing, coming from the mauve haze that is the rosemary at the moment. At first, thinking it was wasps, I stood back, wary. But as I peered into the rosemary bush, I saw a lazy buzzing bee and there was more than one! Bees are so calm compared to these introduced pests the European wasps, which dart all over the place.
I am very excited about the bees being in my garden. {I have actually decided to become a bee keeper and get my very own bees, but first my bee man, Albert is going to loan me a hive and teach me how to keep my own}
I continued to hoe, and a louder buzzing noise caught my attention, a very large brown and black beetle, another plus. It means that my garden is welcoming to all the beneficial insects and also becoming healthy.
As I hoed, weeded and dug up rocks, bees continued to buzz. Even a blue banded native bee, wiggling its little bottom as it foraged among the self seeded tomatoes. And a dragonfly flew around me, wings shimmering in the sun. magic!
It is such a lovely time, that laziness of autumn insects, it is almost as if the insects are moving in slow motion, in that golden light of autumn.
a gentle breeze kept me cool-ish in the warm sun. I planned gardens for beans and sweet peas.
Nana always planted her sweet peas on St. Patricks Day even though she wasn't a Catholic, so I will follow suit. I adore the perfume of those first sweet peas in early spring.
I plan to add flowers to my garden but they must be plants that are loved by bees and insects, beneficial plants.
The blueberries are looking healthy and there are still a few berries on them, lemons are growing well with a few nice sized lemons developing.
Apple trees will be planted on Autumn Equinox.
Today, I planted yarrow *such a favourite of mine as a healing herb,
and I planted Roman Wormwood [artemis pontica], which is different to the Artemis Powys that I planted the other day. I also planted Artemisia absinthium, or true wormwood. I am planting wormwood for the chooks to nibble on as an insecticide, to strew in their nesting boxes and because I love the silvery foliage and the aroma when brushed past.
I also planted a Washington navel orange tree [I must research what companion herbs to plant around citrus].
I have so many ideas for this garden, lots of work! But the garden has a soul. And honestly, it is so much like my garden in Woodford, albeit smaller. I quite often see myself in the future, a little old lady, cardi on, pottering in the garden, cooking in the kitchen. It is almost like a vision of my future self.
A friend gave me a fig tree which I will plant in a rather large pot sometime this week. I have been reading about figs and they do very well in pots.
I must admit that over the past few years, of moving and trying to find 'home', I have been unsettled, ungrounded, a shadow of myself, of who I was back then. It is almost as if I had lost those parts of me that CAN grow vegies and CAN cook. But slowly, they are returning, I am slowly getting my confidence back. I have a lot of knowledge from reading and learning from others. In past years, I have grown so much produce, I experimented with growing all kinds of things, had 17 chickens at one time and often cooked for family and friends. I do miss those days, I really do. But I find myself in a different life than I had back then, and it is here that I must create the life that I wish for. *and of course, I am still finding out, just what that is.
On St Luke’s Day, take marigold flowers, a sprig of marjoram, thyme, and a little wormwood; dry them before a fire, rub them to powder; then sift it through a fine piece of lawn, and simmer it over a slow fire, adding a small quantity of virgin honey, and vinegar. Anoint yourself with this when you go to bed, saying the following lines three times, and you will dream of your partner “that is to be.”
“St. Luke, St. Luke, be kind to me,
In dreams let me my true love see.” An Olde Proverbe
the Full Moon came and went without a herbal brew, although, I did sip rose petal tea. It was a very odd energy this Full Moon, leaving me with a feeling of apprehension almost. But I sat with it, did a card reading and it has passed. Over the next Moon month, I plan on creating my private contemplation sanctuary in the garden, a place where I can sit at night under the Moon. Maybe a Moon garden.. we shall see.
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