The news is still filled with loads of doom and gloom. Had to go pick up a few things at the grocery store today – the cost of food is alarming. I’m glad I have a lot of food stocked up already, but I plan to continue stocking up.
Small things can help you weather all of these trials and challenges, that’s what I believe.
With spending so much time working on my garden and yard, I’ve spent a lot less time perusing social media. That has had a very beneficial effect on my attitude. Sure, I am still following the news, still aware of the political and cultural chaos swirling, but despite that I feel more positive and upbeat. Over the years, as my late husband’s health declined, I stopped sitting outside and being outside regularly. Besides the gardening effort, I decided to spend some time sitting outside each day, weather permitting. I carry my coffee to a small table on my patio in the morning and some days eat meals outside too. It seems such a small thing, but it uplifts my spirit.
Each day I try to learn something new. Today I learned about florida betony and I realized that this weed grows profusely in my backyard. When I was getting my containers for my container garden ready, I dumped the soil from my containers into the wheelbarrow and pulled out the weeds, added some compost and refilled my containers. I had a big pile of weeds with loads of these tuberous roots. Today, I learned that weed is florida betony, it’s edible, including all those roots I threw away. This weed also has medicinal uses. Right in front of me was a “weed” that I was working hard to get rid of, that is probably as beneficial as the vegetables I’ve been planting. Learning about this weed gave me pause, as I thought about how hard I worked to get rid of it.
All around us there are likely hidden treasures, that with a bit of information and know-how could become a blessing. Along with learning about this prolific weed, I learned that sharing information can help people too. I gave extra tomato plants and other veggies, that I had too many started, to a friend. She was happy to have these plants, but she was not set-up or prepared for a vegetable gardening effort. I tried to offer her advice on how to go about this in the most economical way, because any way you go with buying bagged soil can add up quickly, not to mention other supplies. I’m still learning as I go along with this container gardening effort and for me it’s working. I don’t want to try to go back to planting an in-ground garden and all the effort that went into tilling and composting (which my late husband turned into his effort). I added four small metal raised beds this spring.
You’ve got to grow a lot of food consistently to recoup the cost of supplies. I garden mainly because I love it, but with the cost of food at the grocery store showing no sign of easing, being able to produce some of my own food feels like a tiny bit of extra security. Realizing how many weeds and things growing around me are edible has been an eye-opener, as I’ve been trying to learn more about foraging and wild plants. As I googled florida betony, I even found recipes for pickling it and how to incorporate it into curries and stir-fries. This information seemed like it might be more important to know than all the latest details of our partisan political soap operas.
The photo at the top is a handbook I found at my local Goodwill long ago. It’s a 2004 copyright and a local person whited out their name and address inside the front cover. I am not a master gardener, nor have I taken a master gardener’s course, although I’ve thought about applying many times. That said, this handbook is one of my most valuable resources for gardening information for my area. UGA has loads of online information for GA gardeners and farmers too.
I’m beginning to think that knowing all the latest happenings that people on social media blab about won’t matter at all in a real crisis, but knowing more about my own area and especially my own backyard definitely might be vital.
I gave extra vegetable plants to two other people and that’s a personal goal I’m focusing on in my life- to pass on extra things to help others. I always start more seeds than I need. I keep a few to have as replacements, in case some meet an untimely end, but I try to give away the others.
Small things matter.
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