It is Time to Plan Your Garden

HOW TO GET STARTED IN THE GARDEN

One of the best things that you can do for yourself, your health, your sustainability, and your resiliency is to grow your own food. If you have never gardened before, don’t try to grow all of your own vegetables in the first year. Instead, plan your full dream garden on paper and implement one small part of it. Start either in the fall or spring if you can. As someone studying permaculture, I’m going to walk you through some simple steps to get you started in your first year. If you have never analyzed your property, a full assessment takes a year, but this abbreviated process will give you a good start.

Cost: Free if you have a good space available.

Time: One or two weeks for a rough starting plan

PROCESS

1) Assess your space - Take a good look with the big picture in mind. Sketch it out. Where s everything? Take measurements and note those measurements on your sketch.

2) Draw it out to scale - Note anything important for the growing space.

3) What do you want in your garden? Create a prioritized list. 1. Must Have, 2. Important, 3. Would be nice

4) Create cut outs at the same scale as your map to reflect the items in step 3.

5) Play garden chess - Move the pieces around to create a design you like.

6) Create a 3 to 5 year staged plan - Choose one small garden project for the first year. This small gardenia what you will implement as soon as it is feasible.

7) Document the plans and focus your energy on stage 1.

8) Dream a bit! What do you want to see form the first garden. Choose a few of your favorite annual plants for the first year in stage 1. Choose no more that 5 plants.

9) Study time - Study your chosen plants. Many of them are in the Plant Profiles found at The Phoenix’s Nest.

A more complete write up can be found at Buy Me A Coffee

The Garden Planner Workshop starts on October 11, 2025. Available at Delectable Tiny Gardens.

The Meditation Garden - The 9th Garden

As we plant and care for a garden, we are tending to tomorrow’s dreams. When we save seeds and embark on breeding programs and plant trees, we are benefiting from the knowledge and wisdom of the past, and working for the benefit of the future generations. As I interact with the garden, I live in the truth that in everything that we do, we have benefited from the past. Everything that we do has an effect on the future. Wisdom is in using that knowledge and the resources in a sustainable way that ensures that our descendants live in a beautiful and abundant environment.

As I contemplate the garden of my dreams, I take note of my desires for the next year, The next 5 years, and the next 20 years. What can I dream into being for the next 7 generations?

As you contemplate the world around you ask yourself: How has the actions of you parents and grandparents affected you? What about the last 7 generations? Do you even know? How is it that your life is affected by what they experienced and accomplished? How many generations do you have to go back to be related to your neighbor? To the child in a war torn country?

When you bite into a fruit and feel its juice in your mouth, do you consider how many generations it took to create that luscious experience? Where did that fruit have its beginnings? Where was it first domesticated?

Turn this around and look to the future. What are you doing to sustain the gifts that were hand to you by our ancestors? How will you hand these gifts to the future generations?

In this season of the equinox, it is time for introspection. As you wind down your gardens, it is time to draw on that which you instinctively know. The gifts of our ancestors flow through us to be shaped and handed to the future. What gift do you give?

Rags

There was a box in the close. It was a big box set off to the side. It had been there for years, set out of the way, but easy to get to. She had spent the last week working on the design, then the patterns. The actual work on her project would take weeks, so she had a space cleared so she could work. This morning, she went to the closet and pulled out the big box and carried it to the work space. This old box was heavy with memories thrown in one at a time through the years of life and distraction. She placed the box in the middle of the floor, opened it up, and started sorting.

Her daughter’s Easter dress, periwinkle with pink flowers started the first pile. The red party punch spilled down the front wouldn’t come out. Then two matching red shirts with blue pin stripes went in the next pile. The boys had often into a wrestling match and both shirts were grass stained and ripped. Maternity shirts were next, burgundy, teal,forest green and navy. Different children, different times, different challenges and joys. A green shirt with a ripped sleeve from climbing a tree. A yellow pair of pants with chocolate ice cream stains. One at a time, a minute each, the hours passed as the memories came out. Sometimes they came out with tears, sometimes with smiles. They all came out to be sorted by color. Piles of blue, red, pink, green, black, yellow, white. The piles grew on the floor.

Piece by piece, rag by rag, one at a time. She laid out her life in piles. A blue pile of joy and sadness. A red pile of sunsets and skinned knees. A pink pile of sunburns and embarrassed teenagers. A white pile of sunny days and emergency rooms. A black pile of puppies and adolescent angst. By the time she was done sorting, the light was beginning to fade. Exhausted, she turned of the light and left the piles where they were and closed the door behind her. Tomorrow, she would start cutting the diamonds, triangles,and squares that her pattern would require. Months from now, the quilt of memories will cradle her to sleep. A quilt that would hold a wealth of memories of a life well lived.

And for a little bit more

Events

October 1 - International Coffee Day

October 4 - National Taco Day

October 7 - Full Moon

October 9 - Fire prevention Day

October 11 - Garden Planning Workshop at Delectable Tiny Gardens

October 13 - Indigenous Peoples Day

October 21 - New Moon - Next Newsletter

October 26 - National Pumpkin Day

October 31 - Halloween

Mint

Peppermint and spearmint are closely related species of the Mentha genus. This genus has over 200 species that easily cross pollinate and hybridize to the point that it can be difficult to pinpoint the exact species when foraging for mints. Peppermint is a prime example;e of this. It is a naturally occurring cross between spearmint and water mint.

In general, members of the Mentha genus are very aggressive spreaders to the point that they can take over an area if the conditions are favorable. They primarily spread from runners that grow at or just below ground level. Because of this aggressive nature, it is generally advised to grow mints in a place where they will be contained, or grow them in a container.

These beautiful herbs are an excellent addition to your herb Gardening if you have a way to keep them contained. Mint has a crisp, refreshing flavor that is beautiful in candies and desserts. It makes a wonderful tea and a delicious flavoring in a number of drinks and cocktails. I like to add a bit of mint to sweet corn or peas. A mint sauce goes beautifully with most meats.

Both peppermint and spearmint are used as gentle medicinal herbs for a number of complaints. A mint tun has long been used to clear congestion and ease the discomfort from colds. A mint tea can help soothe an upset stomach. I use peppermint oil in an ointment for sore muscles and joints.

Mint has such a broad range of uses, that you should consult with your medicinal professional or a certified herbalist for advice before you start using mint therapeutically.

To grow your own mint, go on a sampling trip, but make sure that the mint that you are sampling is edible. When you find one that you like, either purchase or grab a cutting or runner with permission. Grow this start in a 12 inch pot where it can be contained. Mint does need a dormancy period, so keep the container in a cold but protected location for the winter.

Check out the full plant profile on The Phoenix’s Nest.

This one of the 13 herbs that I keep on hand for my own first aid and is a good herb to get to know. A PDF of my first aid list is available at the new gathering place Delectable Tiny Gardens: https://www.skool.com/delectable-tiny-gardens-4555/about?ref=7cfc2411ec7243189b60edc4b3ff7ce9

For an article on the metaphysical properties of mint check out the article at Manitu Okahas Studio

Seven Generations

In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.

This quote is most often attributed to the Great Law of the Haudenosaunee. To me this is a mature understanding of a basic truth of life. It is only by taking the long view that we can achieve sustainability and resiliency. It is a basic statement of respect for the earth, for our children, and for our grandchildren. In reality, most cultures have a Seven Generations statement of some sort. Even modern science is recognizing the truth of seven generations philosophy.

It is finally being recognized by modern science that your very being, your health, and your genetics are affected by the experience of the generations that came before you. Wow! What a statement! It is not just the physical genetic material that gets passed into your body from your ancestors. The emotional experiences and the physical experiences also get pass through the generations through epigenetics. You are affected by the trauma and the glory of the previous seven generations.

The same is true of the future generations. Everything you experience, every emotion, every decision sends ripples through time and space that impact the next seen generations. That is 150 years. Whether we like it or not, we, today, right now, are speaking for the next seven generations. The choices we make today determines the life our descendants will live.

To me, this means that I have an ethical and moral obligation to those generations. It is my responsibility to hear what they would say, to feel the life that they life. I believe that I have a responsibility to act and speak in a way that respects the next seven generations, the past seven generations, and myself.

And this is the true heart of love.

And I'm Not The Only One

Here are a couple of places to find more information.

For information on the Seven Generations principle check out these websites:

theindigenousfoundation.org

thesevengeneration.org

For information on permaculture check these out:

permies.com

permacultureapprentice.com

For an online gathering place to support resiliency gardening in tiny spaces with workshops and support materials, check out Delectable Tiny Gardens. https://www.skool.com/delectable-tiny-gardens-4555/about?ref=7cfc2411ec7243189b60edc4b3ff7ce9