Envisioning the More Beautiful World

Winter is a wonderful time to dream and plan (oh and rest) in anticipation of spring. Those of us who enjoy gardening may have started planning that out. If you're new to gardening and don't know where to start, I'd like to make a suggestion that was given to me during a course I took on permaculture food forests: start with your vision.

Whether it be a sidewalk pallet garden, an acre of land in the country, a backyard raised bed or a balcony food forest, your garden has the potential to be a source of hope, life and nutrition to many!

So, why do you want a garden? What do you hope it will bring to your life? This can be both tangibly speaking (tomatoes!) and intangibly (eg. a sense of connection to nature, or a sense of control over what I eat, or a burst of colour to brighten my day when I see it through the balcony window). 

Go ahead and write a vision, starting with "My garden is...". Keep it in the present tense and picture yourself in the middle of the garden at its peak. How do you feel? How does it impact your life and that of your loved ones? How does wildlife interact with your garden? 

If you have a little inspiration sketchbook or board in your house, place your vision there where you can see it or return to on a regular basis. If you're even more of a visual person, draw or paint your impression of how you want to feel in your garden! Use this as the motivation for getting the nitty gritty planning done.

And if you're interested, a local farm has an online organic gardening course starting soon! Check it out here.

Miriam