Yoga and Connection

I'm constantly surprised by how the practice of yoga brings about connections that were not previously possible. Connections between people, the connection of a person to their body, our connection to the earth. My wife and I joke at times that when something coincidental happened it was somehow "Yoga". This running joke was present long before either of us had discovered yoga. It was just a thing we said. I believe the practice of Yoga creates connections that were not previously possible, but now they exist, seem as though they have always been present. 

The other day I grew mindful of how the practice of some afternoon Yoga and awareness put me squarely in the moment as I watered some plants out in the garden. As a one time guerrilla gardener, who has since grown far too busy for his own good, this reconnection to a joy, long forgotten, was inspiring. 

When we feel connected to the earth around us, there is no threat, no need for defensive postures of mind or body, the world greets us with abundance and embrace.

First Yield of the Season with Bok Choy Recipe (virtually free)

I just harvested my first bok choy from the garden and we cooked it up for a delicious Monday night starter. I bought the plants as seedlings from the East Bentleigh Market and they have been growing along nicely for about 2 months. I harvested this plant when I noticed that one of the others had gone to seed, while another seemed to be separating and forming clumps. I wanted to savour it as closely as possible to its original so I made a starter dish using pretty much only the Bok Choy itself. The rest of the plants seem to have bolted to seed and I will need to dig them out and remove them from the patch, as there are Brocoli in amongst them and as far as I know they are likely to cross polinate and produce seeds that are either sterile, or that resemble some fast bolting broc choi or bocoli. I guess its disapointing that for the $2,50 I paid for the punnet of seedlings, I have only produced 500g of edible produce. The upside is that if I follow the permaculture principle of "obtain a yield", I can harvest a lot more than the 500g we ate. Firstly, I have harvested the knowledge that:
1. I should not grow brassicas together, or at least not at the same time.
2. Buying seedlings that may be stressed or root bound can lead to fast bolting (to seed).
3. A recipe for savouring a harvest of Bok Choy.
More than that, I am able to harvest the seed from the plants and grow more in future, so even if it just cost me $2,50 for 500g of the vegetable, I will be able to grow another batch and if I get 10 plants, then they will all have cost me less than 25 cents.
So here's the recipe:
1. 500 grams of coarsely chopped organic Bok Choy grown no more than 10 steps from the back or front door
2. 2 cloves of garlic chopped finely
3. half a teaspoon of dried chili or chilli paste
4. A splash each of Soy sauce and rice wine vinegar
5. 1 tablespoon of cooking oil and a splash of sesame oil
Start with Chilli and garlic in hot oil on a flat pan or wok. Add the Bok Choy and mix it all up for half a minute. Steam a little longer on a low heat. Garnish with Coriander and serve.

Chook Tractor Test

So the chook tractor tested out fin last Sunday. I placed it on the bed after hammering in the final mesh long after it was dark on Saturday. I had a little trouble getting them in. The first followed in with the food scraps I threw, while I had to pick the second up and put her in with the last putting up a scramble round the veggie patch before finally succumbing to some herding with stakes (no chooks were harmed during this test run). The munched on a few scraps before looking around bewildered at their new environment and standing still for a few minutes. The spinach that had failed to grow significantly proved irresistible and provided a few more minutes of entertainment before it was time for the dog test. The dogs(and chooks) were surprisingly calm about the whole experience and both species gazed wearily at each other as they risk assessed the thin mesh barrier separating them. I had not yet cut a space for the door so after a couple of hours and a trip to the Bentleigh market for some veggies I let them back in while the dogs peered through the French doors in their typical fashion. I cut the door before growing distracted and set about interplanting lettuce and carrots, bok choi and existing broccoli in the adjacent beds.
The remainder of the day was spent setting up the bird netting over the other beds, washing the dogs and visiting the chinese grocer. I realised a couple of things that afternoon. The door on the pen is too small. Also I need a way of accessing the pen that is easy and quick. I am thinking that a few square holes in the top covered by wood would suffice for chucking in some scraps and attaching a hanging waterier. Also I need a laying box in case the urge arises during the day and also so that I dont have to cancel on going for a climb after work because I have to get home to put the chooks to bed(a covered roost would also help). In addition, the dogs need far more baths than what we have been giving them and beer is neat for sitting and evaluating a hard weekends work.

Chook Tractor

This is my chook tractor under construction today. I made it out of the wood I found under the house I am renting, some screws I had from the dog kennel, a few dozen nails and some chicken wire that cost me 24 dollars on Friday. Tomorrow after I fit the door I will test it out with my 3 chooks, all named Tula. After that it's veggie production all through the end of winter, spring and summer. O have been waiting a very long time to be able to try something like this. The first time I heard about chook tractors was out of a book called the permaculture home garden. This was back in 2005 when I was living with Nicky's parent's house on a half acre block of lawn. Back then I was able to convince the parents to be that it would be a good idea to let me build a herb spiral out of rocks gained from a road building site up the road. It took me several car loads and a painful back before I had a perfectly crafted spiral of parsley, mint and rocket. The rocket went wild and the mint took over, while the parsley went to seed. After we moved out dad removed the bed in a couple of hours. Between then and now I have had several gardening projects on the go in various houses which should soon be detailed in this blog. Right now I await the trialing. Of the chook tractor...