The Squirrels are BACK!!!!!!
The Little Squirrel and I have begun our 2016 Zombie Garden.
(More about Zombie Gardening at the end of this re-introductory post!)
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Well, I guess I owe my readers an explanation, don't I?
I mean, I WAS absent for about 1 year and 8 months wasn't I?
I do apologise.
The thing is -
I got sick, very sick.
At the end of May 2014 I got severely dehydrated, then got the flu, what I THOUGHT was the flu.
Then, in June, I got dehydrated again and that time I collapsed.
Of course I got treatment.
Of course I thought I got better.
Then in August, while hiking with The Little Squirrel, I injured my arch in my left foot.
Three weeks later on Labor Day weekend 2014, the day I got off crutches, I almost fainted and was rushed to the ER, thinking I was having a heart attack.
I didn't.
I didn't have a stroke.
I had multiple bilateral pulmonary emboli.
(I had a ton of blood clots in BOTH of my lungs.)
The last 16 months have been recovery mode.
After Labor Day that year my gardening efforts were in the hands of my friends and family.
My garden maintenance, landscaping, and farmers' market endeavors all came to screeching halt.
Actually for the first few months, all I was supposed to do was walk. No lifting more than a light laundry basket, a jug of milk, nothing gripping or binding my flesh.
Basically, for the last 16 months I have been driving everyone around me nuts, because at age 45, for the first time really, my body would not do exactly what I commanded it to do.
Along about Christmas 2015 I felt an internal change in my body and attitude.
I felt like I switched into a different level, maybe like regeneration?
I went from feeling everyday like I cheated death and was hiding from the Grim Reaper to actually feeling the result of my body's healing processes. I feel like I am slowly crawling away from death's grip and am about to stand on my feet and continue a progress toward some semblance of a functional and productive life.
I contribute this all to an enormous amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in our diet.
Now, when I don't have huge amounts of dark leafy greens every day I feel like I am slipping away!
I feel right now, though, like a Zombie Gardener!
"Greeeeeennnssss! Grrreeeennnnssss!GGGGrrrreeennnnssss!"
Needless to say I have been busy.
2015 saw me focus my gardening efforts on my Balcony Farm and buying at local farmers markets, farm stands and road side veggie stands, collecting local seeds and keeping everything ready to go in 2016.
My consulting took on that of instruction, and observation.
I am venturing back into a more active role this year in the gardens.
I will be back at the church garden I helped form in 2014.
I have been asked, with several others, to help form a network of community gardens here in our little town by the river, Connersville, Indiana.
I promise I will not spend a great deal of time on this blog talking about my illness and recovery.
Just know that when I DO talk about gardening in accessible ways for those with impairments, disabilities, and special needs, I am looking at those issues with a whole new eye!
You WILL see many posts that deal with nutrition, raw foods, natural produce, and REAL FOOD!
September 2015 The Little Squirrel was diagnosed with some food sensitivities, allergies, and just basic digestive issues after her own trip to the ER with some frightening symptoms. So with both of our health issues we went to basically a gluten free, mostly dairy, nitrite and preservative free, anti-inflammatory diet!
Our dedication to growing our own food, and our skills and experience with that, made our transition pretty easy actually. We slip up every now and then and we pay the consequences rather quickly, so that keeps us mindful and stay on track.
One down side is that The Little Squirrel found a copy of Schlosser and Wilson's "Chew On This" in the local library's children's section, read it cover to cover, and now she has become the resident
Food Nazi in her 4th grade class...
http://fooleryland.com/foolery/2008/05/
I have had to explain that critiquing her friends' lunch choices is NOT the way to convince them that healthy eating is a good thing. It will just get you poked in the eye!
But she is deciding for herself through her own food journeys what to think and research about our food choices and how to make good ones.
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OK! So what is Zombie Gardening?!
Essentially, it is taking kitchen produce scraps and generating new growth from the pieces that most people throw in the trash or garbage every day. In the photo at the beginning of this post, we have started a new stalk of celery growing from the stub end of a bunch of Kroger celery. We did this in 2012 in our Squirrely Acres Urban Farm in Cambridge City. It grew incredibly well until the resident cat came to play with the surprising new toys popping up in the side strip of garden not protected by varmint fencing! So, we are trying it in the Kitchen Counter Apartment Garden! We will post photos of any new Zombies we add to the garden.
In the next few days we will tell you how we are "Slipping in Chits!"
See ya later Tater!
And as always,
Stay Squirrely!
