ORGANICGARDENING OUR gardening expert JOA GROWER suggests that a bit of gardening is a great way to manage those winter blues.
Bright dry sunny days in the garden
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I have never met any body who T’S time to put your feet up and relax. Surely there is nothing has regretted having beds. to do in the vegetable patch at When constructing your raised this time of year is there? beds avoid making them no In fact I always seem to be just as wider than 4ft (120cm) so that busy especially as the days are you can easily reach the middle so short. from both sides and don’t make There’s nothing nicer than a them so long (8ft to 10ft is ideal) bright dry sunny day in the that you can’t be bothered to go vegetable garden or on the around them and end up stepping allotment to across them. take away the Of course there’s winter blues. things to do on What about the rainy days that area of soil too. You could that you were meaning to get have a flick dug over back in through all the the autumn and seed companies’ never quite got catalogues or around to it? This websites and will be fine to do plan what you’re now, as long going to grow as the ground this coming year. isn’t too wet (I Why not try know I’ve said something new? it before but if the mud sticks to These days there your boots stay are always new off the soil) or it’s varieties that Build raised beds not frozen. are becoming available in organic seed. It’s not like There are plenty of other jobs that can be done. There’s repairs years ago when you could only to compost bins or cold frames get one type of vegetables like and of course the greenhouse cabbage, sprouts, tomato etc. can always do with a wash Even if you are not planning inside and out (this increases on sowing your own seeds this the all important light levels that year and are going to be buying are essential to bring on your vegetable plug plants (of which seedlings in early Spring). Try we at Growers Organics have not to leave these things until the the largest selection in the South Spring when you want to start West) its still a good idea to do a using them again. garden plan. Maybe now is the time to l SEE you all in February redesign the veg plot and build some raised beds. It can transform when we reopen the nursery at Yealmpton (next to Ben’s Farm the garden it to a much easier Shop in Yealmpton) and also space to work in and although the initial outlay can be expensive return to the market in Totnes.
Winter planting- fruit bushes LATE Winter is the best time to purchase and plant fruit bushes such as currants, gooseberry and raspberry but don’t forget to give them plenty of space. Always imagine the plants final size and room to get around it to pick all that lovely fruit when planting and you can’t go wrong. If you miss this planting opportunity don’t worry you can always buy potted organic fruit bushes right throughout the year. We carry a fairly good selection at both our nursery Growers Organics at Yealmpton or on our market stall at Totnes market from early February until late October. On the subject of fruit we had a fantastic strawberry crop again this year and January is a good time to tidy up the plants. If your bed is over 5 years old you will probably be better of replacing them with new plants. If you just want to increase the size of your strawberry bed now is a great time to remove and pot up some of the larger more healthier strawberry runners( the smaller plants that grow from the parent plant) place them in a cold green house or cold frame and plant out in their final position nearer to spring. Then cut the rest the plants down to the ground and they will come back stronger and more vigorous next year. And of coarse tastier!
Sue Blagburn and her teachers.
The therapeutic potential of horses
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OW often we find that our greatest healers and therapists are those who have been healed themselves…? Sue Blagburn of Adventures with Horses is such a therapist. Sue changed career at the age of 24, giving up her full-time work with horses to concentrate on a career in marketing communications. This is where her problems started. Skills learnt working with horses such as creativity, empathy, intuition and the ability to think on her feet and work long hours, stood her in good stead for a successful corporate career. However like many others, she had no idea how to cope with the huge personal toll of the endless pressure and overload. In 2008, after 25 years in marketing communications, Sue suffered severe burnout and eventually quit the corporate world completely to go back to working with horses, this time to eventually work in equine facilitated experiential learning and therapy. She is now launching a new equine facilitated experiential learning programme called “Well-being in the Workplace” where working experientially with horses helps individuals and groups build emotional intelligence and resilience which may help with the work related pressures and challenges we can all struggle from. She said, “Horses are wonderful gauges on how congruent or present we are, and excellent teachers of mindfulness, helping us keep a middle path between being and doing. In my past I am not aware of ever being given any information on how to look after my mental health or my well-being at work. I thought working all hours was a good thing, my horses used to scream at me that it wasn’t a good thing, but I didn’t even know how to listen to them until it was too late. As part of her healing Sue began to study and experience more deeply how her own horses were asking her to be when she was engaging with them. Linking this to the new understandings and awareness of the therapeutic and
transformational potential of horses being acknowledged worldwide, Sue has not only healed herself through working with her own horses, she now facilitates, coaches and counsels others at Adventures with Horses with those very same horses and their cousins! Adventures with Horses is a nonprofit community interest company based on Dartmoor. It aims to facilitate personal growth using the naturally-occurring therapeutic potential of horses. She works with vulnerable young people, adults looking for personal growth opportunities and businesses seeking new ways of thinking about leadership and well-being. A successful crowdfunding campaign this time last year raised £8,600 and helped 89 new clients participate in equine facilitated interventions with 44 young people benefiting from bursaries. This included 334 hours of one-to-one sessions, 304 hours of Art of Horse Whispering sessions for children and young people and 211 hours of leadership and personal development workshops for adults. Sue said: “A second crowdfunding campaign started on November 21 and will run for 8 weeks until January 9 2018. We hope to raise £5000 to launch our well-being at work programme and continue to provide bursaries for our children and young people programmes. l To donate to the crowdfunding campaign visit: www.crowdfunder. co.uk Adventures with Horses, Well-being Programmes. For more information about Adventures with Horses call 07831 865259. Or visit: www.adventureswithhorses.co.uk
Reconnect’s Organic Gardening column is written by Joa Grower of Growers Organics. Meet her at Totnes market on Fridays and Saturdays. Visit www.growersorganics.com, or call 01752 881180.
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