so - is gardening a hobby, she said

Is gardening a hobby or a lifestyle choice or a necessity or a luxury - what do you think? For me it was my income. Not now though. I have changed countries. So is gardening a hobby for me now? Nope.

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Is gardening just a hobby?

My suitcases are finally put to rest. After travelling between all my families for what feels like months - now I am in Melbourne - tension goes down three notches - beginning work on the city garden with the country heart - in our Sunbury back yard. The ‘compact kitchens garden’ we call it.

And now I can really garden. Vegetables and flowers.

Daughter said to me on our walk yesterday evening “is gardening a hobby?” Of course not, I spluttered with indignation, searching for something deep to say but before I could think of any clever words she says: because it will take years of saving on vegetables to make back this investment. We had been discussing hobbies so it was a natural question.

This is no hobby I have been saying to myself all day as I haul soil into the gardens. While she is off policing.

We are at the expensive end of a gardens establishment. The beginning. I have created a budget and it is not big by any garden standards but the infrastructure of a garden costs cold hard cash. I am starting from scratch, the big stuff has to be put in place first and we are in a bit of a hurry.

And - for me - the garden needs to be as beautiful as it is bountiful.

Today I will make two more raised beds. The soil is delivered.

The soil is from a business down the road and I got them to add lots of lovely mushroom compost from a local mushroom farm in Bulla, close to here. No plastic. Supporting local. Tick. Tick.

In this area there is very sandy soil so we can’t just pop a nutrient hungry plant into the ground and expect a decent crop, we need to amend the soil and as much as possible raise gardens up above ground level to maximise space. I will have five raised beds. No, six actually if you include that little one.

Today we go to the local tip shop (dump, landfill) to buy a wheelbarrow ( there is always a wheelbarrow) and any tools they have knocking about, a rake maybe. I love tip shops. My grandfather had a junk yard, remember, so all kinds of unexplored old junk piled up in one place brings me great pleasure. Though to be fair I am not that fond of junk yard dogs - I am sure the local tip where you go and tip rubbish out of your trailer yourself probably won’t have a junk yard dog on a long chain to scare us off. Pa’s junk yard dogs used to stand very still pretending their chains were not long enough to reach you then when you got closer they would take off at a run, charging at us kids, their unraveling chains clanging and banging behind them then leap at a kid who has not run far enough and try to lick it to death. Horrible. Big slathering beasts.

Pa laughed out loud - every single time.

But still, establishing a garden will cost money. So my daughter posing this question is a conundrum for me - weighing up the cost of growing vegetables vs buying them.

But is anything ever all about the money.

We can walk down the road and buy vegetables and herbs but they are never as fresh as the ones out of your own garden. And with the US sinking into a possible recession, and those tariffs don’t only affect the countries involved, the ripples will be felt even out here in the antipodes, so every family needs a victory garden AND be putting food aside for the winter of rising prices in other areas of our lives. We can’t put down jars and jars of tomato sauce or cucumber pickles and celery soup if we have to buy the produce at the going rate. We can’t buy and blanch brocolli for the freezer at the prices in the stores. I mean - we can buy it is not sensible.

We need to grow and store and share.

Storing food correctly is as important as growing your own.

I am gardening in Australia where food is generally quite expensive and the USA is on track to have super expensive veg soon, anything out of Mexico or Canada anyway. So this ‘hobby’ is going to become a necessity. And we are bringing back some critical knowledge.

And what value do you put on freshness. And chemical free food. And self sufficiency. And seed saving.

A hobby is an activity done regularly for pleasure and relaxation, typically during one’s free time, rather than for work or financial gain. Hobbies can be creative, physical, intellectual, or social, such as gardening, painting, reading, playing an instrument, or hiking.

Though - when you read the description of a hobby -many hobby boxes are ticked - gardening does bring me pleasure but ABSOLUTELY NO relaxation. And I never have free time. My time is filled with cool things to do. Though Daughter has Netflix and that might be a problem.

Gardening is creative too. I am developing a beautiful garden outside Daughters bedroom window that I call the poets window - she can feed baby in the rocking chair looking at the peaceful green garden.

Gardening is poetry.

Gardening is art.

For me gardening is like writing. It is not a question of if I garden today but when. I don’t even care whose garden it is. And in lovely weather like we have here in Melbourne I spend my days on both. When I get too hot gardening - I come inside to write. (And no, this heat is not nearly as hot as the heat in central Illinois - nothing like it).

When my mind begins to agitate itself about the political turmoil I narrate another chapter. When my back starts to ache from sitting and writing, I grab the gloves and hat and race outside into the garden again.

But - if I do not get paid for my garden produce anymore - are these only hobbies?

Our gardening feeds our bodies, our families and our souls - if that is a hobby - then hobbies rock!

Gardening is not a hobby. Writing is not a hobby. Narrating is not a hobby. Period. Keeping in touch with you is not a hobby.

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Get real with real people and look after them.

I am out of my adopted country for a time. But here on SubStack we are in the unique position of being universal. So I am not really gone. We can discuss things sensibly here across the airways. And there is the threat of a very real wobble in the US and possibly the world economies due to the irresponsible actions of increasing confusing American policies. Sadly the world seldom sees a threat as one cohort, that threat is seen as being from a country.

Which is why is is paramount for us all to continue to speak up. Write to our elected officials. And stand strong.

The political and economic wobble in the states amplifies my message to shore up your local economies. Find local farmers. Find your local allotment. Become active in your local library, attend council meetings or town halls, see for yourself what is happening, have street parties, teach conversational English to the mothers at your local immigration center. Choose one thing. Find your space in the local scene and get involved in protecting your real life community. If nothing else the recent political upheavel in the US has taught us to get real. Get real with real people and look after them.

Get educated in growing AND STORING your food.

Don’t stockpile. Buy carefully. Stockpile caused terrible damage during the pandemic. There are thousands of very experienced players who are working hard to maintain the balance in our supply lines. It be sensible. Do your research. As an example: Find a local mill and arrange to buy flour. Keep them open with your dollars. The US exports a millions of tons of wheat and those exports are going to be affected by these tariffs. And the US cannot just take Canada. Things will get out of balance fast.

If the balance of Imports and exports goods into a wobble, all the farmers suffer, and that will start a dominos effect.

So save seeds. Buy from your local seed supplier. Grow food and store it and share it.

Stay busy. Stay active. Stay well fed and watered.

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The city garden with a country heart.

Gardening with shadows.

Yesterday I photographed the little backyard with an eye to the shadows. Tracking the shadows and sunlight moving through out the day. I love to develop the countours of a garden to reflect the shadows. It allows balance and calmness.

Shadows are as important to a garden design as sunlight.

Go HERE to have a look at our inaugural garden video.

Above is the video of the garden. I will try to make a vid every week! So you can follow along with me. That will be fun to see.

As well as soil, shadows, sun and budget our plantings will be determined by climate.

I have been gardening in Illinois these last twenty years where the cold winters can become extreme. Imagine my delight when I read this:

Overall, Sunbury’s frost risk is moderate compared to other parts of Victoria, with the last frost typically occurring before Melbourne Cup Day (early November), similar to the broader Melbourne area.¹

Now I can garden all year round. Oh the joy!

This month I will be sowing:

Spinach, rocket, lettuce, and pak Choi and Silverbeet

Broccoli, kale, cabbage.

Carrots, beetroot, radish, parsnip.

Coriander, parsley, and more sage.

My friend

daleleelife101

sent me seeds from her Australian garden. So I don’t need to buy expensive overpriced seeds. And her seeds are beautifully packaged!

Seed saving is just as important as food storage to learn. Stick around I will teach you how.

What seeds did you save last season?

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Notes from Granny Nanny

As you know I have relocated from the USA to Australia to be my daughter’s hand maiden. Otherwise known as doula and Granny Nanny and woman of all work. She has a full time job as a detective in the police force and found herself pregnant without a partner which necessitated a call to Ma and a request for help. Women need choices. I was her choice. And I am honoured.

Daughter asked me yesterday have I thought of a name for myself. What will baby call you, she said.

Oh, I don’t know I said- all the grandchildren (there are eight others) call me something different. Let him choose. I thought out loud - most of them call me CeCi. I like to be called CeCi by kids. Then I thought of us here on Substack and my Granny Nanny Notes.

What about Granny Nanny, I said. I call myself Granny Nanny when I write about this period in my life. When I think of wise things to say.

Daughter raised her eyebrow to me then was distracted by the baby swimming with big strokes around her belly.

After a time, still patting her baby belly (I refuse to call it a bump, it is not just a bump), she said: Granny Nanny is your job description - not your name.

The truth is I don’t care I told her, scribbling in my garden book. Baby will call it. It will be his own precious name for me. We will see.

One particularly sweet pair of children in Wellington call me Magna. So just about anything can happen.

This will be my ninth grandchild. So I truly don’t mind what he calls me. Mostly I just want him to be wild and noisy and full of vigor.

The baby shower is in ONE MONTH. The clock is ticking. The garden is our stage. And I am dressing it. What on earth are baby showers anyway. We never had them in our day (she says in her best Granny Nanny voice).

Actually many cultures have had a variation of baby showers for centuries though a significant number prefer to wait until after the birth. I think my culture, the New Zealand one, was still mired in Victorian ways when I was young, with pregnant women staying out of sight and wearing loose clothing that somewhat hid the big baby belly. Nowadays some women even wear clothing that exposes their baby belly naked between little shorts or skirt and a top. I am trying hard not to be horrified at the thought. Am I a prude? Tell me I am not a prude! I just feel so protective of these little babies.

So forty years ago (but who’s counting) there was no baby shower when I was pregnant. There was always the lingering worry for baby and mother in this between time. This terrible trial by fire that is child-birth. We had all lost women and babies in the family. Pregnancy brings women and their babies close to the other-worlds. So we were careful not to keep our pregnant friends close and safe and a little cocooned. We were quiet about it. We would try not to get too loud in case the gods took offence at our arrogant confidence.

But it is just a baby shower, it will be a nice gathering, an excuse to get together and people don’t gather like they used to either. We used to have dinner at each others homes regularly. We need to build these real time traditions back up - a baby shower is as good a place to start I suppose. It is being organized by her friends - blokes and kids invited too which is so sweet and we don’t need much at all so it will be just for a fun Saturday afternoon in the garden.

We really don’t need much at all. Hand me downs will do us nicely for quite some time!

We are inviting all our new neighbours too, you will remember that I helped Daughter move in here only a couple of months ago. So as well as building a garden, and growing a baby, we are developing relationships in our new community.

Do you have a love/hate relationship with baby showers?

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STOP THE SCROLL HERE

BedTime Stories

Much excitement! We are beginning a new story! I have decided to read The Blue Castle by Lucy Maude Montgomery.

It is a classic. LM Montgomery is famous for writing Anne of Green Gables. (Which I am loathe to admit I have never read! Oh the horror! Don’t tell anyone - I will be ruined).

I chose The Blue Castle because of her descriptions of bucolic scenes from nature and on the lake. So beautiful. So Canadian. (In support of Canada). And the humour is ironic and intelligent. And I read so you might rest. This is my offer to you. Rest, replenish then pack a lunch and put your life jacket on. Things are crazy now.

Have a gorgeous day/evening/morning.

Celi

1. https://www.wineaustralia.com/market-insights/regions-and-varieties/victoria-wines/sunbury