Allotment Update

I spent four hours on the allotment on Thursday.  It felt great.  I worked a little, then I rested; I worked and then I rested again.  Nothing too strenuous, one task at a time, just enjoying the space and the open air.  I got a lot done.

I set to work on the shadier edge of the plot, where I discovered a "ready made" bed marked off about six feet wide of the fence, which had been covered in the black plastic "weed-suppressing" material I keep finding all over.  I pulled off the overgrowth and some of the other junk as I found it to liberate the soil underneath.

Many, many blackberries.  As I lifted wood and plastic, I snacked.

It's interesting to watch how they seem to ripen at random, in their own sweet time.

 Spiders are welcome here, keeping watch over the flies that congregate around the wormery.

There was more black plastic, covered in layers of wood chips, along the edge of the bed by the path, which I diligently scooped up into a wheelbarrow, to free more growing space.  Should make a nice flower bed.

I understand you do this to stop weeds growing.  I'm sure woodchips have other uses, such as for "mulching" plants over winter, so I've moved any I've found into a pile for later use.  After much scooping, tugging and and cutting, the flower bed to be was free:

Snails are plentiful. Some have abandoned their shells for the next life.  Some have not, though you can't always tell straight away.  I gather them together and let them go about their business.

It's hard to convey the space in words and pictures though, so I made a video.  Comments and suggestions, as always, most welcome.

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Twenty Milligrams

Just over a year ago, I lowered my daily dose of Prozac from 60 to 40 milligrams a day. This was with the doctor's permission, following a terrible mistake I made in 2012 when I decided to stop taking the medication altogether, which felt great for a couple of months and then - disaster.

I've been taking Prozac now for twelve years and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say it saved my life. It's for a form of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder known colloquially as "Pure O" or more formally as Primarily Obsessional Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  Simply put, left to its own devices, my brain devises the most appalling, terrifying thoughts about the sorts of things I could do to myself, and loops them indefinitely to the point where I can think of nothing else but how to stop thinking them.  Unlike with more typical forms of OCD, I haven't developed ritual behaviours that act as temporary relief from the thoughts (this is the standard obsessive-compulsive cycle, stereotyped in such memes as the hand-washing, doorknob touching, crack-in-the-pavement avoiding neurotics of lazy Hollywood scripts and insensitive internet memes.  Tip: if you ever hear anyone say "I'm so OCD", that means they're almost certainly not).  The compulsive element takes place almost entirely inside my head.  It's an "invisible" illness, probably just because it isn't as easy to ridicule.

I first developed the condition in my last year at university, when it became so severe that continuing my studies became impossible, and I had to take a leave of absence.  After about six months of (excellent, and increasingly unavailable on the NHS in these conservative times) psychiatric treatment, involving a certain degree of guinea-piggery as I popped the pills they told me to, which provided little actual relief apart from excessive sleep it emerged that Prozac was the drug for me.  I started on 20mg, moved on to 40, and finally to 60, by which time life became liveable again, and on which I stayed ever since.

More or less, that is, until I decided like an idiot in 2012 that I didn't need it any more, and stopped taking it; and then, as I said, disaster.  Prozac stays in your system for a long time, but as it worked its way out the dark thoughts came flooding back again.  That was that, back on the Prozac again.  And so it was.

Eighteen months ago I made the decision to try and start living my life, which is where this blog began.  After working and working and working a job that became a kind of life all of its own - a managerial position, working mostly at night for an out of hours crisis service (empathy, and all that) I came to the obvious realisation that this was no way to be (obvious things are often too obvious to see) and gave up.  From now on it would categorically be work to live, not live to work.  I've had some success with this approach, fairly limited so far, but it's rarely been less than a joy.

Part of the process was finding out if I could "get by" on a lower dose of medication.  Although as I said, Prozac saved me, it took a lot away from me, too.  Creativity, energy, the intangible joy of being young and present and alive.  I hoped some compromise might be possible.

It was.  I felt better, overall, on 40mg than I did on 60mg.  A few dark thoughts surface from time to time, but they're nothing I can't handle.  So last week I took another step and asked the doctor if it might be OK to drop down to 20mg.  And here I am.  I'm recording this here to keep myself accountable, focused and perhaps even sane.  If it doesn't work, it doesn't work, and it'll be back up to 40mg again.  But so far, so good.

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Over the edge of the map
Brain
On Getting a Life
A Smaller World (Part One)

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Going Organic

Little and often, is the thing.  I've been nipping over to the allotment on average for about an hour a day, doing some weeding here and there, planting a few things, but not exerting myself.  I find this to be a much more satisfying experience than to attempt any kind of 'blitz' of the area over the course of a single day or weekend.  Slowly, some kind of order is emerging.  I have decided I want the space to be as much a work of art - as beautiful, as it is productive.  That doesn't happen if you do things too quickly.  Here are some things I've done the past two weeks.

I moved all the rose bushes to one end of the bed, opening up more space for other things (as yet undecided)

I've weeded out most of the bed along the edge of the plot, and planted my bay tree (previously an occupant of the kitchen) and a number of other shrubs I haven't identified.  This bed will be 'experimental' - I've no idea yet if these are plants that go well together, but at least they look nice.

The herb patch is coming along nicely, sage in particular, which just seems to love being outdoors.

I'm especially pleased to see the onions I found show signs of life

One squash plant remains, defiant.

I also decided to plant some of the lavender at one edge of the herb patch, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

Meanwhile, I happened to wander into the British Heart Foundation in Bury the other day, when I came across this:

That's right.  A fully functional organ (or 'electone' as it likes to be called) for a mere £25.  It immediately became mine.

That's right.  Mine.  I've gone organic.  Hur hur hur.







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Bootstrappin' It

Oh no I've sold out! I was dropping off some more books I've read already or am never going to read at a charity shop the other day, when I came across these two booties:

You're bootiful.

As you know, I've been experimenting with owning only one pair of shoes for some time now.  It has become a challenge I may not be able to rise to: after a slew of exceptionally wet weather, even for Lancashire, my shoes have started to leak, and the soles have worn beyond the capacity of mere glue to cover. So I concluded that sighting this pair of boots for sale at the enticing price of £20 must be some kind of serendipity. 

They're in excellent condition, but made of leather, and therefore not vegan. I would never consider buying new pair of leather boots, because leather is made from other persons' skin, which is appalling. However, to use already created leather causes no further harm, and is therefore acceptable. Am I a hypocrite? Discuss.

The allotment is another consideration. There's much digging to be done, and this requires a sturdy pair of footwear. No getting around that.

The boots are a size 10, whereas my feet are only a size 9, which makes them roomy and clunky, and causes me to walk around with the grace of a spaz. So it goes. They are very comfortable, and can be worn in any context.  Now my thoughts turn to what I could do with my trusty pair of battered old shoes. These boots are going to get me through the winter, and hopefully far beyond that. Perhaps it might be interesting to learn more about how to repair shoes, and Thesus' ship my way to a whole new footwear experience.

It's ok to change your mind sometimes, and your shoes.

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Microgreens and Soup Conudrums

I've not been impressed with the yield from my mung bean microgreens recently.

Another problem is how many flies they seem to attract, even when covered and grown in the dark.  Adzuki beans continue to impress me, and peas are making a solid contribution, but I think it's time to move on to other seeds, to see what they might be capable of.  I had excellent results with one large tray of Rambo radish last month, so they're worth another shot, and red cabbage performed adequately too (so well, in fact, I might be able to let some of these grow into actual cabbages over on the allotment).

So anyway, Sunday means soup for some reason.  Previous success can be seen here and here.  The latest tray of adzuki beans became the base.

Along with the few mung beans I could salvage, I sweated these down in some oil before adding broccoli.  I got this from the Co-op last night, and as you can see it's going a little yellow, but that's nothing to worry about.  Chuck it in there.

Then I added water, dried sage, fresh basil and a splash of flaxseed oil for that extra vegan kick.  Flaxseed oil is recommended for vegans who may be lacking in the Omega 3 oils you hear a lot about, as a reason for eating fish (but don't eat fish, please) which is fine but let's be honest: flaxseed oil is disgusting.  So only ever use it sparingly, and in things where its vile taste can easily be obscured by other things.

I also threw in a couple of walnuts, because why not?  They have omega 3, too.  A very omega-heavy soup, this one.  Science tells us that if we eat broccoli and walnuts we will all live for millions of years.

After a good 25-30 minute simmer, and a blend, I had this:

It had a creamy, less earthy taste than previous soups.  Thoroughly enjoyable.  Adzuki bean sprouts tend to get stuck in the blender though, all stringy-like.

I think the next soup I make could be composed entirely of microgreens.  That would be an interesting experience.

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Sun Day

It's a glorious sunny morning here in Bury, and while soon we may come to fear such things, in the meantime, let's immerse ourselves in the nature (or what's left of it).  Turmeric and orange peels have proved themselves excellent natural pesticides for my pepper plants:

Three plants have made their presence felt, and aren't going anywhere any time soon.  As for the butternut squash, these have not shared the peppers' enthusiasm for being alive.  I took another one over this morning, and planted it anyway.  I'm not giving up so easily on them.  Butternut squash are enormous vegetables, and last a long time when picked, which makes them ideal for the fridgeless.

I added some chives to the herb patch.

There's a box of discarded gardening junk in shed I've started to rummage through, and this morning I came across these:

Onions!  They've gone straight into the bed next to the peppers.  I'm confident this was the right thing to do, though now I'll need to find out how to make them last over the winter.  Most other people with allotments seem to be digging up their onions just now.  The cycle of life.

I did a bit more weeding, and came across what I assume are strawberries:

They've put out some runners, so this after I think I'll find a spot for these; again, in preparation for the winter.

I don't know what this is:

This, however, is a ladybird:

This is lavender:

I took this over last week, and one of the plants flowered almost immediately, having refused to do so indoors.  I rewarded the three of them with spacious new pots.

Sarah's coming over this afternoon, and we're going to get to work on the bindweed.

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Get On My Land
My First Weekend on the Allotment
Orange is the New Green

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Orange is the New Green

This morning I had to experience a tenancy inspection, as a representative of my landlord came to visit in order to assess whether it would be acceptable for me to continue living in this little flat for another twelve months.  I was up early, to cart two buckets of potatoes over to the allotment, as I wondered whether they might not take too kindly to how I've been growing a forest in my front room over the summer.  As it turned out they didn't much care.  I think they probably just wanted to check the kittens were gone, which is indeed the case.  Rent will go up by another £20 from September, however, assuming permission is granted.  So it goes.

Some pepper plants are stronger than others.

Something's been snacking.  I looked into it, and several sites recommend orange peel and/or turmeric as a pesticide alternative.  I want to keep things as "organic" as possible, although I'm still not entirely sure what that means.  Wandering over from my flat to the plot, I came across an orange peel on the road.  This immediately became mine, and by this evening, this:

I've staked up the plants that look as though they're going to make it, and sprinkled turmeric powder all over the place.  As you can see, I've also been bringing over various potted plants and herbs (lavender, sage, and rosemary) and some of these have now gone into the soil.

Herbs also have some pest-deterring properties, or so I've read.

I admire the way that several other allotmentiers have divided up their plots for specific plants: onions here, cabbages there, and there are some obvious advantages to doing so.  It's something I'll have to look at in the spring but for now I'm going for a kind of orgy of companion planting in this bed, to see what lasts the winter and what does not.  Over the weekend I'll set to work on some more wedding of the second bed, and find some appropriate seeds to sow.  Any suggestions?

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Related posts

Allotment Update (and some brief morning whimsy)
My First Weekend on the Allotment

See all posts labelled 'allotment'

Allotment Update (and some brief morning whimsy)

I popped over to the allotment this morning to see what was what. I took with me a cherry tomato plant I've had indoors and put it in the greenhouse.  It looked sad all on its own on the weedy floor like that. I will find him some friends.

The thermometer I've left in there was showing 12.1 centigrade. This was at 7:00am. Not really tomato weather. There's been another few days of heavy rain, and not all the pepper plants approve of this either, though one stands defiant.

Another needed propping up, so I found a stick, and stuck it.

A few glimmers of blue sky among the grey herald a few sunnier days, I hope.

I visited my parents on Monday/Tuesday, where we visited the magnificent work of art that is the gardens of Newby Hall, North Yorkshire. The diveristy and beauty of the natural world continues to astound me. I thought a lot about how nature has taken millions upon countless millions of years designing the eco-system, an impeccably efficient arrangement of relationships between prey and predator, animal and plant, organism and cell, in which nothing ever goes to waste. And how we, the human species, the only part of that system who claims to consciously understand it, have also been the unconscious element of so much of its destruction. You have to laugh at the horrible irony.

Later, I was leafing through a battered vegetarian recipe book of my mother's, which begins:

It was originally published in 1969. This edition is from 1980. You have to laugh at the language used - the types of meat referred to that almost nobody eats anymore, the description of vegans "strict vegetarians" and (my favourite part) the allusion to the "healthy races". How things have changed for the better in a short space of time. This is worth speculating about, too. 

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