Grow, veggies, grow!

Hi there!

I’m on a roll!

2 blogs in one week. This must be a record.

But I feel so inspired! 💕

I’ve been talking about simplifying my life and going back to the basics lately, and I’ve been wanting to share something with you that has been on my list for a long time now, which aligns with that perfectly: growing my own food in a veggie garden! 🌱☀️💦

Looking sexy in the garden. Photo credits for my beautiful friend Jess 📸

It’s something that’s been playing around in my head for a while now but never really considered a realistic option. Maybe it’s because I’ve lived in a city throughout my twenties, or I’ve just been unaware of the possibilities. Perhaps I even thought people growing their own veggies were a little weird, “hippie dippy”, and a uncool for big parts of my life.

And I am glad I’ve been through those stages first because I’ve talked about how out of balance I’ve felt quite often now, and this was all part of the internal struggle of choosing image over authenticity just like any other aspects in my life that threw me off balance during that time.

Not super long ago, maybe around 4 or 5 months now, that mindset changed shifted. Things just kind of started coming my way: podcast episodes popped up in my feed, friends were talking about this subject more, and I read a book that changed my perspective on living off the land. I zoom into that book more in my previous blog and talk about how that book caused a turning point in my life.

Once I got over the “uncoolness” and “hippie dippy stuff” if having a veggie garden, it seemed like something cool to grow my own food, but pretty unachievable. Even though I had the perfect example of 2 parents with a love for nature you can’t imagine.

They did it, they managed to keep plants alive with a lot of love, nurturing, and patience (now that I think of it, it’s probably mostly the patience that got in my way of considering the possibility of growing anything myself). But also, the starting over and accepting that gardening isn’t always successful, accepting the loss, and start over with an optimistic mindset. It hadn’t struck me until a few weeks ago that my parents set such a great example throughout my entire life, and I never really realized. They always did things a little differently than my friends in the neighborhood: we rarely went to McDonald’s or anything like that, I think I can remember the 2 times we did, and I love the memory of the rareness of it. We had one night every week where we were allowed treats (and liked it so much we called it “party day” and never considered it a restriction) which could sound like a mean thing to do to a kid, but it was perfect because we appreciated every extra thing we got and didn’t crave for sweets at all. Same goes for soda and sugary drinks. The temperature in our house was usually pretty cool, even during the winter, so we just put on some warm clothes and snuggled up under blankets in wintertime. And every year we would go on a camping trip. We would drive to France or Spain to spend a few weeks in a tent in nature. And those are just a few examples of things I never really thought about growing up or looking back on it until recently. By keeping things simple and without too many extras, me and my brother grew up not needing a lot of extras in our lives.

It only makes sense I got really confused in my twenties when I got sidetracked by the temptations and the possibilities and most of all, the triggers trying to take me off track.

But I got through that. And here I am, thanking my parents for how they raised me and were patient with me to figure it out on my own without pushing me in a direction I wasn’t ready for. It wouldn’t have worked anyways, I’m too stubborn for that. They know this better than anyone.

And I’ve been back on track for a long time now, becoming more aware of sustainability, trying to manage my ecological footprint better by becoming conscious about single use waste and cutting back on anything coming out of single use packaging. I’m proud to say I’ve never owned a car and I always try to live near a train station and/or within cycling distance from a train station to get where I need to go without buying a car. I even try to cut back on flying by taking long-distance trains these days. And just not fly as much anymore as I used to and explore more places closer to home.

Back to my veggie garden journey!

Once I decided I wanted to start studying in Adelaide for a while and I spend time listening to those podcasts, reading books, and talking to my friends and parents, I also decided I wanted to join a community garden in Adelaide as soon as I moved in my shared house. First goal: I want to grow my own carrot! And anything that follows will be amazing too.

While talking to my landlord, who is also living in the shared house, before moving in, she mentioned she wanted to join the community garden around the corner from the house and I was super excited too. So, I got in touch with the community garden a few weeks after moving in and I joined them a few weeks ago.

Friday night drinks at the garden 🍸

The location of the community garden is just gorgeous, and the members are so lovely and willing to share their knowledge with newbies like me. It’s a great mix of all sorts of people and they do a bi-weekly working bee to maintain the general areas of the garden and a monthly drink, just for fun and connecting.

After securing my own bed (which is my own personal tiny patch of land to grow stuff on), I felt right at home and enthusiastically started planting seeds without really knowing what I was doing. And I still don’t know what I’m doing. But I’m loving it! Getting my hands dirty, talking to my sweet little seeds and seedlings, watering them, but also accepting the fact that I’m new at this and my first seeds might not go anywhere at all. It’s just the feeling of taking on something completely new to me and feeling right at home doing it.

Being able to get so close to nature and harvesting whatever is growing in my own veggie garden (which is nothing yet) but also from the communal beds (where A LOT is growing) feels like a new source of freedom I didn’t know I needed so badly.

It’s one of many steps on my way to an off grid and self-sustainable life.

And with everything in life I know the only way for this to work is to have patience, take baby steps, accept failures, start again, and just know I’m doing everything I can to live as sustainable as I possibly can at this point in life without the feeling, I’m forcing anything or doing anything against my will.

Because if that were the case, this wouldn’t work. It would be the opposite of sustainable. I would be over it in no time going back to old habits.

At this stage, I love the challenge to pick as many things as I can from the garden and try not to buy anything in packaging anymore at the supermarket. Or at least, as little as possible. I also took on the challenge to start making things I’m used to buying in packages myself now, like:

1. Muesli bars

2. Humus

3. Falafel balls

Without realising it, I’ve been living a mostly vegetarian lifestyle and I rarely go out to eat anymore. This works way better for my gut and financial status.

Anyways.

I’ve planted these seeds last week:

1. Dwarf beans

2. Peas

3. Beetroots

4. Pumpkins

5. Carrots

6. Buk choy

So far, I discovered one seedling of the dwarf beans in there. As for the rest, nothing’s really showing yet. BUT I won’t give up and I’ll be SO SO happy and proud once I can harvest my first veggies.

I will keep you posted on the journey!

Xoxo Domi