Home & Garden

The West Dorset Magazine, December 2, 2022 55 Homes & Gardensx Heating or Eating – do you have to make a choice?

By Dorchester Poverty Action chairman Wendy Hilton

All of us are seeing the rapidly rising costs when we go to the supermarket checkout. Most of us have been informed by our energy company how much more we are going to have to pay each month for our gas and electricity. For those on a small, fixed income or those who are working incredibly hard, but on the minimum wage, these rising costs are overwhelming. If you are already not managing to make your budget stretch where do you turn if the car breaks down and you need it for work or you have a new baby and the washing machine breaks? Dorchester Poverty Action has been here throughout the pandemic helping individuals and families living in DT1 and DT2 cope with these financial emergencies. A grant of £250 can make all the difference between being in debt and managing the emergency. Clients are referred to us by professional agencies, for example health visitors, social workers, tenancy support workers, Citizens Advice for a grant. In the last six months grants given have more than doubled to 91, compared to 41 grants over the same period last year. In just one week in August, some £2,500 in grants were given to 15 local families. Dorchester Poverty Action cannot keep helping at this rate without the generous donations of local people. Everyone is having to be more careful financially, but if you can spare just a small donation to help local people, we can continue helping as we have done for the last 30 years. To find out more go to dorchesterpovertyaction.org.uk Alternatively cheques can be made out to Dorchester Poverty Action and sent to DPA c/o United Church Dorchester 49-51 Charles Street, Dorchester DT1 1EE. Thank you.

n Research has revealed one in six adults in the south-west have no savings. Figures from the Money and pensions Service (MaPS) show 750,000 people have no savings and a further 300,000 have less than £100, leaving almost a quarter of adults in the region living without a financial safety net. Among the 74% of South West residents who use credit, almost half (47%) are now anxious about how much they owe. One in four (27%) are worried about the number of different products they have. As cost of living pressures start to hit home, MaPS says it’s more important than ever to talk about money before problems set in. However, the survey also reveals that 81% of people still avoid discussing their finances. For free guidance about money and pensions visit moneyhelper.org.uk or ring 0800 138 7777.

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Re-sited Potting Shed has right ambience

Andy Cole is a reiki healer based in Middlemarsh. He specialises in planting for healing. During the last few months, I have been writing about the energy healing of plants and their effect on our health and wellbeing. Originally, I had hoped to write about The Potting Shed and how the plant energies there had helped people. Unfortunately, the tenancy of the original Potting Shed, which was on the A37 near Holt Mill, was terminated and we then had to find an alternative site. We found the field at Middlemarsh, and the ambience of the place was just perfect for what we wanted to re-create. How time flies, six months have gone by since we

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Email: Info@quantumlocksmiths.co.uk Web: www.quantumlocksmiths.co.uk completed on the field and started to move everything over to our new site at Middlemarsh. We are recreating The Potting Shed. Providing “A special place where you can relax, unwind, and be inspired.” We have been working hard on the Wellbeing Nursery and Therapy Garden. It’s based on earth and plant energies, along with colour therapy. The placing of the plants and structures are creating positive energies which are adding to the ambiance of the site. The three therapy rooms are almost complete and the infrastructure of paths, potting sheds, polytunnel’s and flower borders is all well underway. We are aiming to open next spring but if you’re passing and the gate is open, please pop in to see the progress and say hello. We have planted a lot of the borders and have started to plant up the Zen Garden, the lovely red leaves of the Acer look stunning. The energies of the Acer help to balance the area and will re-a line your chakra’s (Energy points within your body) when you walk around the garden. With the water feature being just in front of the Acer the energies from the movement of the water and the plants in the pond will lift your spirits and relax your being, to allow the Acer to do its work. The energies from the Iris’s in the wildlife pond assist in unblocking the throat, chakra. The umbrella plant Cyperus assists in the cleansing of the crown chakra allowing the positive energies to flow from the crown down over the third eye and the throat chakras. As you can see the area is focused on the balancing and cleansing of your chakras. The continuous rain is starting to get a bit depressing now, and every dry day is a blessing. We have been weeding around the shrubs and mulching with well-rotted horse manure, which as well as a mulch is a great source of nutrition for the shrub as it will gradually feed the plants next year. Working around potentillas, pittosporum and fuchsias has helped, as the energies from these shrubs uplift your spirits. Potentilla helps to release tension, pittosporum aids in clearing the mind of negative energy and the fuchsia helps to release repressed emotions and negative energy. Some of the under planting is with ajuga and geranium. The ajuga energies bring forward the feeling of contentment and unconditional love and the geranium has a stabilising energy which helps you to adapt and change your ideas until you are ready to move forwards. Certainly, with the changeable weather we have had to adapt and change our ideas in how and what we are going to do each day.

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