How does my garden grow....
Ok this morning I have awoken with an itch to get in the soil. I even had dreams last night of being out in my garden and planting as well as designing my new Aquaponics system. Needless to say I am an Itchy Witchy. Now I am not a witch in the common sense - black hat, pointy chin, warts... but I do consider myself a steward of the land which is really what a real pagan is. Someone in tuned with the land, working with it harmoniously to reap the benefits of what gifts it offers... That being said I do own a black cat :)
It is actually quite interesting to know where the root word of Wicca actually came from and how Wic means alive, green, bendable or so I have learned. If you have ever read the book "A Secret Garden" (movie is good too) - the character Mary shows Dickon the garden she has found but thinks is dead. He goes over to a rose bush I believe (in the movie) scrapes the side of a branch which shows green and proclaims it is Wic. She repeats back, "Wic what does Wic mean?" He answers, "Alive... alive like you or me." I love old English literature... so sappy but still shows the old ties to their Pagan heritage! So there you go, you have your lesson on Paganism for the day... and anyone who knows the witches Reade "And if it harms none, do what you will", knows that any good witch will not want to have bad come back at them three fold they would rather have the blessings of good!
That is how I really came up with the idea for my garden. I had been researching again - trying to find oneself is a laborious chore when the knowledge of the world presents itself so easily on the web. I also started looking into my herbalism again which is something I lost touch of for many years now. I used to always have something drying in the kitchen, jarred on the windowsill or even pressed in some book. My library expands years from collecting books on perennials, drying flowers, medicinal plants, and of course what to eat... anyone who has ever gone for a walk with me knows I never take a walk without eating along the way :) .
It all started years ago when I used to go camping with my grandparents in Northeast Connecticut at Natchaug camp ground. I think it is something else now if it even still exists. But there was an older gentleman who used to take a bunch of us kids for "nature walks" showing us plants to eat, which to use for different cuts, sores, even poison ivy. This has stayed with me. All these years later I still remember most of them and I think I only was 5 or 6 at the time.
So when I had the blank canvas of a yard last year I wanted to create something different, something structured but tying in with the Earth. Then I saw a pattern in a book - it was of Celtic design. I took this design and transposed it into my garden. I call it an Elemental garden as each of the garden plots are facing a true direction as in North, South, East and West. I compassed it out (in hindsight I should have done this on a solstice to get the exact alignment correct) started breaking ground and came up with a 4 section circle - with paths crossing in the middle. My fire pit would be the center - this is the Spirit section - East is for Wind - South is Fire - West is for Water and last but not least is North which is Earth. I have even gone so far as to arrange my plantings in the gardens that coordinate with their element. An example of this is in East (Wind) I have Sage which is burned as an incense or used as an aromatic herb in cooking. So in other words it smells - it is in the air. Can you see the symbolism there? That is all it takes - interpretation of what something feels to you - all my gardening is done using some inner guidance that I just sort of follow. I know there are some books on gardening which has plants listed in their corresponding directions, and at first I followed this. But then I just let it go and now I just plant a plant where ever it just feels right. Kind of like sun flowers in the South - it just fits!
It is actually quite interesting to know where the root word of Wicca actually came from and how Wic means alive, green, bendable or so I have learned. If you have ever read the book "A Secret Garden" (movie is good too) - the character Mary shows Dickon the garden she has found but thinks is dead. He goes over to a rose bush I believe (in the movie) scrapes the side of a branch which shows green and proclaims it is Wic. She repeats back, "Wic what does Wic mean?" He answers, "Alive... alive like you or me." I love old English literature... so sappy but still shows the old ties to their Pagan heritage! So there you go, you have your lesson on Paganism for the day... and anyone who knows the witches Reade "And if it harms none, do what you will", knows that any good witch will not want to have bad come back at them three fold they would rather have the blessings of good!
That is how I really came up with the idea for my garden. I had been researching again - trying to find oneself is a laborious chore when the knowledge of the world presents itself so easily on the web. I also started looking into my herbalism again which is something I lost touch of for many years now. I used to always have something drying in the kitchen, jarred on the windowsill or even pressed in some book. My library expands years from collecting books on perennials, drying flowers, medicinal plants, and of course what to eat... anyone who has ever gone for a walk with me knows I never take a walk without eating along the way :) .
It all started years ago when I used to go camping with my grandparents in Northeast Connecticut at Natchaug camp ground. I think it is something else now if it even still exists. But there was an older gentleman who used to take a bunch of us kids for "nature walks" showing us plants to eat, which to use for different cuts, sores, even poison ivy. This has stayed with me. All these years later I still remember most of them and I think I only was 5 or 6 at the time.
So when I had the blank canvas of a yard last year I wanted to create something different, something structured but tying in with the Earth. Then I saw a pattern in a book - it was of Celtic design. I took this design and transposed it into my garden. I call it an Elemental garden as each of the garden plots are facing a true direction as in North, South, East and West. I compassed it out (in hindsight I should have done this on a solstice to get the exact alignment correct) started breaking ground and came up with a 4 section circle - with paths crossing in the middle. My fire pit would be the center - this is the Spirit section - East is for Wind - South is Fire - West is for Water and last but not least is North which is Earth. I have even gone so far as to arrange my plantings in the gardens that coordinate with their element. An example of this is in East (Wind) I have Sage which is burned as an incense or used as an aromatic herb in cooking. So in other words it smells - it is in the air. Can you see the symbolism there? That is all it takes - interpretation of what something feels to you - all my gardening is done using some inner guidance that I just sort of follow. I know there are some books on gardening which has plants listed in their corresponding directions, and at first I followed this. But then I just let it go and now I just plant a plant where ever it just feels right. Kind of like sun flowers in the South - it just fits!
My Garden Evolves...
Once I had the basic garden done and started to plant, It occurred to both Jonathan and I that we would never be able to keep the animals out of the garden. Hmmm what to do? Ok this is why Jonathan and I work so well together - we complete each other. I can share with him a thought and together we expand on this and can come up with a plan or idea that usually (I can't say always) works out. This was one of those times because the next thing I know Jonathan is over to the pile of birch saplings that were cut down when our property was cleared and he begins making 4 foot poles out of them. Then he is having Ben bang them into the ground around the perimeter of the garden like little posts. Low and behold he is using the thinner branches of the trees and is making a weaved fencing that encircles my elemental garden. Wow we make a great team! I love you Jonathan it is so witchy!
A Friend comes from afar...
Well anyone who has followed our life knows that last spring and summer we worked at a camp in Maine. We had to live there so we did not get to spend many days or nights at home until almost the end of August. Not my first choice but we needed to catch up financially and sometimes in life you have to make sacrifices. So my garden kind of went untouched for most of the summer. I had kept up with the majority of the weeding but the paths still were not done and I had no idea how I wanted to do them. Then the unthinkable happens... we get a hurricane. Ok so Maine lucked out. We had some heavy rain (my yard was indeed a lake), some wind but nothing like what they had in other parts of New England. (Shout out to all my friends in So. Vermont my heart still goes out to you!) Well the camp we worked at had a tree come down - a very large Elm tree that had been growing in 4 sections. Here is where Jonathan can visualize what I mention... because the next thing I know he has a truck load of wood circles in the back of his truck to use as my stepping stones in my circle! I had mentioned them to him at one point and walla he brings them home.
Every summer I am visited by a dear friend from England, Rebecca who spends a few weeks with us in between working at a camp in the Adirondacks and her annual trip to Disney World. Last summer she happened to be with us during the time of the hurricane. Poor Rebecca - she was stuck with me and my garden :) So without complaint (as she actually helped keep me motivated) we recut the paths and began laying the wood pavers. We had quite a bit of excavation going on as we ended up removing quite a bit of the Earth to accommodate the thicknesses of the wood. Once done I had the ingenious idea of filling in the gaps with mulch - in two tone so it would still keep the paths different then the inner circle area. The result looks like one of those Compass Gardens you see all over the world... go figure. (Shout out to Rebecca I couldn't have done it without all your help! Oh and I still have your garden gloves ready for your next visit!)
Every summer I am visited by a dear friend from England, Rebecca who spends a few weeks with us in between working at a camp in the Adirondacks and her annual trip to Disney World. Last summer she happened to be with us during the time of the hurricane. Poor Rebecca - she was stuck with me and my garden :) So without complaint (as she actually helped keep me motivated) we recut the paths and began laying the wood pavers. We had quite a bit of excavation going on as we ended up removing quite a bit of the Earth to accommodate the thicknesses of the wood. Once done I had the ingenious idea of filling in the gaps with mulch - in two tone so it would still keep the paths different then the inner circle area. The result looks like one of those Compass Gardens you see all over the world... go figure. (Shout out to Rebecca I couldn't have done it without all your help! Oh and I still have your garden gloves ready for your next visit!)
Medicine Wheel
Once Rebecca left to continue with her travels, we had other guests who came for a working weekend in September. Anthony, Ian and Roxy who we have known since our days of working at a camp in Northern Pennsylvania - actually the same camp that we met Rebecca at too. Our goal that weekend was indeed to build our porch roof and mudroom (which by the way we did and you can read about in the Building a house update section). We hadn't seen Roxy in some years and the first thing he said to me when he saw my garden was - Oh you have a Medicine Wheel. Now I had never heard that term and after his visit I started looking into it as me being me, I had a know what it was all about. Low and behold, my garden definitely fit into the Medicine Wheel Genre! What is a Medicine Wheel you may ask - and here it is in the simplest of terms:
Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone(s), and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Some ancient types of sacred architecture were built by laying stones on the surface of the ground in particular patterns common to aboriginal peoples. Originally, and still today, medicine wheels are stone structures constructed by certain indigenous peoples of North America for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in Native American spirituality where they are more often referred to as "sacred hoops", which is the favored English rendering by some. There are various native words to describe the ancient forms and types of rock alignments. One teaching involves the description of the four directions. More recently, syncretic, hybridized uses of medicine wheels, magic circles, and mandala sacred technology are employed in New Age, Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritual discourse throughout the World. The rite of the sacred hoop and medicine wheel differed and differs amongst indigenous traditions, as it now does between non-indigenous peoples, and between traditional and modernist variations. The essential nature of the rite common to these divergent traditions deserves further anthropological exploration as does an exegesis of their valence.
I love Wikipedia! Makes explaining things easy. But you can see my astonishment when I started researching. This is what I am referring to when I say I let my inner self go and just kind of went with it. This tied in with everything I was doing subconsciously and brought it to reality. We really are an amazing species! Scary sometimes, but amazing!
So there you have it... how my garden came alive - how my thought was Wic and just needed to be tended to produce the most amazing things...this is my quiet spot, my reflection pool and most of all my sanity as this is where I go when I need to just let go...
Medicine wheels, or sacred hoops, were constructed by laying stones in a particular pattern on the ground. Most medicine wheels follow the basic pattern of having a center of stone(s), and surrounding that is an outer ring of stones with "spokes", or lines of rocks radiating from the center. Some ancient types of sacred architecture were built by laying stones on the surface of the ground in particular patterns common to aboriginal peoples. Originally, and still today, medicine wheels are stone structures constructed by certain indigenous peoples of North America for various astronomical, ritual, healing, and teaching purposes. Medicine wheels are still "opened" or inaugurated in Native American spirituality where they are more often referred to as "sacred hoops", which is the favored English rendering by some. There are various native words to describe the ancient forms and types of rock alignments. One teaching involves the description of the four directions. More recently, syncretic, hybridized uses of medicine wheels, magic circles, and mandala sacred technology are employed in New Age, Wiccan, Pagan and other spiritual discourse throughout the World. The rite of the sacred hoop and medicine wheel differed and differs amongst indigenous traditions, as it now does between non-indigenous peoples, and between traditional and modernist variations. The essential nature of the rite common to these divergent traditions deserves further anthropological exploration as does an exegesis of their valence.
I love Wikipedia! Makes explaining things easy. But you can see my astonishment when I started researching. This is what I am referring to when I say I let my inner self go and just kind of went with it. This tied in with everything I was doing subconsciously and brought it to reality. We really are an amazing species! Scary sometimes, but amazing!
So there you have it... how my garden came alive - how my thought was Wic and just needed to be tended to produce the most amazing things...this is my quiet spot, my reflection pool and most of all my sanity as this is where I go when I need to just let go...