Wednesday December 15, 2021

Wednesday December 15, 2021

– Gibbous Moon Phase – trust, analyze, prepare, digest, alchemy

– Moon in  Taurus

– Planting Calendar (from the Farmer’s Almanac) –  December 14th – 15th –Fine for planting beans, peppers, cucumbers, melons, and other aboveground crops where climate is suitable.

– Aspect of the Aeon Sophia: (Wisdom): Shodashi, The Goddess Who Fulfills Highest Desire.

– Aspect of the Aeon Thelete: (Will/Desire): Elias – God of the West, God of Transformation

– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Month – New Moon in Sagittarius: “a widow’s past is brought to light” (& “a world-famous pianist giving a concert performance”)

– Sabian Symbol for the Solar-Lunar Year: –“A Woman in pastel colors carrying a heavy and valuable but veiled load”

SUN – 23 GEMINI: three fledglings in a nest high in a tree

EARTH – 23 SAGITTARIUS: immigrants entering a new country

Foodscaping

With winter in full swing (feel like at this point as actual winter is about 6 days away), I am considering what to do with my garden next year. In a perfect world I would be turning my 8th of an acre into an Urban garden with every square inch covered with food producing plants.

But the world is far from perfect. Ignoring the money aspect, I do not have all them much cultivatable space. two very large trees keep about 70 percent of the property shaded. Our front yard is such we grow crab grass, green bushes and sometimes some Impatiens – one of the few flowers that will survive.

I love seeing and reading about mass efforts to do more gardening, as shown in this meme about Switzerland. I had not noticed the term Foodscaping before, so I have been kind of obsessed with the idea ever since.

Now you have to understand. When you get into gardening magazine type articles, you are dealing with the elite of the elite gardeners. They show perfectly designed beds, evenly spaced with bougie, expensive hardscaped retaining walls. Or sectioned off, wooden raised beds. The plants are perfectly spaced, and groomed and glowing with color and blooming fruit.

My garden is much more organically designed. I originally pick-axed relatively square and rectangular areas of my back lawn (where the sun shines of course). Once the rocks were mostly removed, I had garden patches. I never thought of walls or fencing until the rabbits did in my first lettuce patch. Then I had to find metal fencing and chicken wire. Forget long straight stakes. I stick whatever I could find in the ground and tie it up with twine.

2022 Foodscaping at My House

Doing this stuff brings me joy. Astrogardens started as a challenge to grow more food in my garden and resurrect ideas that had been lost. The early parts of the 21st century brought us victory gardens. We were barely out of colonial times. In America we were creating transportation. Electricity. In the 1800’s people relied on their home gardens for their lives. In the late 20th and 21st centuries, we have big box grocery stores and products shipped in from all around the world. The food is here to purchase.

But then you ask the question, “What do we do if the shit hits the fan?” Who would be able to survive off the land. Growing your own food. Scavenging the land. Hunting for meat. I will not get into the hunting part. But I want to  see how much I can do to support my life if thigs go south.

And I like the idea of making as much of the land that I have control of produce for me. And if I can make it beautiful, then all the better.

I challenge everyone to try this as well. I will be breaking down the articles I found about adding edible plants into the landscape of my home. And offer ideas for everyone else to try. I invite everyone to offer their ideas as well and make this a group effort.

And Back to Something Happening in the Toxic Sludge of 2021