The season journeys…
Hello everyone
I invite you to join me for a MORNING in the KITCHEN GARDEN on SATURDAY 18 MARCH.
It occurs to me (given all my recent excitement about the Field of Flowers and Botanical Waters) that you might be thinking my interest in the seasonal cycle of the Kitchen Garden has waned. But I can assure you that no…it hasn‘t! I still call the kitchen garden the beating heart of the garden; and its ongoing care, nurture and planning are still at the very core of my daily routine; its produce the bulk of our diet. It’s the epicentre of all the other activities that occur here at Glenmore House and I’m as enthralled as ever!
If I talk about it less…it’s because kitchen gardening is quite simply by now, a way of life. In truth, its cycle centres me, in an otherwise frantic and frenetic daily life. I like the surety of its routine guiding my routine: the morning water gives me time to think and plan my day; the evening pick a moment to breathe and rejoice in the beauty and bounty. It brings me daily joy…and of course plenty of daily frustration too!
These days, I don’t think I could live without a kitchen garden. Our diet has changed to a point where not even a farmer’s market could yield the treasures a gardener can take forgranted. And whilst I acknowledge it does require work…I’ve been doing the work for long enough now to know that the rewards more than make up for the input required.
Myhope is that all those who have participated in kitchen gardening days here over the years also feel that growingand seasonal, organic garden-to-plate eating underpins their way of life.
But on the topic of KITCHEN GARDENING DAYS, I thought I might change the model this year…to a MORNING in the KITCHEN GARDEN: in part to make them more accessible from a cost perspective, but also because I included so much of the fundamental information in the podcast. I’m astonished at the number of peeps who tell me they continue to listen monthly because it keeps them on track! In reality, as I said at the time, the information hasn’t changed…if I continued I’d just be repeating myself over and over again! But I am contemplating a little update episode – perhaps in the winter. (Here’s a link to podcast on the website where you can both listen and access the accompanying notes).
Nothing though, I believe, equals a real-life immersive inspection of the garden; accompanied by explanation and with plenty of time for questions. I’m always delighted to meet those at the beginning of their gardening journey (and old hands too of course!) and more than happy to answer those questions that may be perceived as naive. “Thank you for taking away the fear” – a comment from a new kitchen gardener last year. I couldn’t be more delighted. The ability to grow food is fundamental knowledge we all ought innately to know. It isn’t rocket science, but I recognise that growing can be daunting to those who haven’t had the opportunity in life, to try. Although a long time ago now, that once was me…I get it and am here to encourage.
A topic so close to my heart, the kitchen garden is about so much more than gardening and indeed about so much more than food…or even the glorious vision a productive garden in full flight can make. It’s also a gateway to physical and mental health, nutrition and wellbeing; providing connection with and to the wider environment and cycle of life; to stimulation and…fulfilment. Another attendee once called a kitchen gardening day here empowering. You know I could write about this all day, but enough now to say...I’d love to see you here on SATURDAY 18 MARCH and very much hope you will join me!
Rain, hail or shine…there will be a refreshing herbal tisane when you arrive at 10.00am and then off to the garden we’ll go! I will share as much information as I possibly can before sending you on your way. We’ll talk through it all…design, aesthetic, structures, companions, seasonal veg, successional sowing, seed, pests, soil, compost…and food!
No doubt you will leave with a bounty of seed to sow…and fired up for the season ahead, for the garden will be mid-crop-rotation…so you will see a garden still much devoted to late summer produce alongside prep and new planting…one of the most exciting moments of all in a productive kitchen garden! It’s the garden itself that teaches, and you will see it just the way it is…no cover up tricks for a camera, but warts and all. It’s an honest garden with much to reveal.
If you have any questions, as ever, please don’t hesitate to contact me. All the details and the booking form are….here!
With very best wishes as always,
Mickey
