Taking Stock

My Fall musings continue as the weather remains conducive to strolling through the garden. I am taking stock as I wander here and there, poking into every nook and cranny, reminiscing about how each set of vegetables and flowers performed this summer. I have compiled a list of what worked, what didn’t work and what I want to do in the next planting season. Some of the things I want to have happen next year would mean that I have to start preparing new beds and start new plantings this Fall. There is a lot of planning and organizing now, for the next planting season.

Taking stock of what happened in the past year in the garden, is an essential  part of the cycle in a gardener’s life. It helps us to stay in tune with nature’s schedule and to have a better harvest the following year. Come to think of it, there are a lot of parallels in this list for my garden as for my own life. Taking stock of  my garden is like taking stock of my own life. Here is a summary of  my list:

• Plant more seeds of the vegetables and flowers I prefer and less of the ones I am not as fond of.
• Plant companion plantings that are compatible to encourage happy, healthy plants.
• Plant vegetables amongst the flowers; a little diversity makes the garden more interesting to look at and maximizes food production.
• Next season, plan better for optimum growth by planting at the right time for each particular species of vegetable and flower.
• Build up the soil to replenish spent nutrients after the season’s harvest.

I am in the midst of reading an interesting book: Food Security for the Faint of Heart, by Robin Wheeler. She talked about how “putting up” food affects SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder.) She noticed that she was less depressed in the Winter when she started storing up food. She read somewhere that when we hear the geese flying  south for the Winter, it stimulates an ancient part of our brains that understands the need to start preparing for the cold weather. She said, “The cells in our bodies know what needs doing when the geese leave, that we need to find a warm place to prepare for the new season, to either follow our clever goose friends, or hoard some food and nestle in for the long haul. Only then will our souls quiet down.” Perhaps working at the feeling of abundance in Winter, can help to lessen SAD.

For those of us who are not gardeners we can still have that experience by stocking up on canned food we buy, or canning food from our local farmers’ market. I think the most important aspect of this practice is  the feeling of abundance and security; the feelings of satisfaction and gratitude that we get when the cupboards are full.

To take stock of our lives is an important habit to cultivate, to be able to appreciate what we have. It gives us an overview of where we have been in the last year and where we want to go. It is customary for a lot of people to do this in the last week at the end of the year and to make their new year’s resolutions based on this overview. We don’t have to wait until the end of the year when we are recuperating from overextending ourselves during the hectic holiday season. It makes a lot more sense to engage in this process of stockpiling and taking stock of our lives, when the geese are leaving for the warmer weather in the south. Then we will be in tune with nature, aligning with the correct timing, synchronizing with that ancient coding in our brain to hunker down for Winter’s rest and recuperation.