My Chaotic Permaculture Polyculture Garden
Introducing… this year’s chaos garden!
I didn’t think I was going to have a garden this year. Gardening is one of my greatest passions, yet I was unsure of my fate of housing stability so I truly held back…
Until I worked amongst garden plants during my weeks of spring and just couldn’t resist bringing home plants often. Especially when those plants were being saved from the compost pile. I brought home maybe 3 back seats of plants this spring, not sure where the hell I was going to put it all. It seems like my rockets of desire for gardening this year were fulfilled. (I’ve been listening to lots of Abraham Hicks lately 😋)
Eventually, the two garden beds filled in, and an herb bed, tomatoes. Countless house plants from inside came outdoors to create a lush corner jungle as my indoor shelf filled in with new-used books. My garden beds are polycultures, intentionally (and somewhat randomly…) planted based on different root depths and plant heights. TBH I just shoved as much as possible in 😂 Along the forest I planted winter squash. Lots of this is an experiment, like planting tomatoes and squash in the lawn and lining the garden beds with onions galore.
Featured in the garden is wild food too, wood sorrel, other weeds… and nearby are black raspberries and black walnuts. I’m no herbalist, though I do enjoy drinking wild tea when my body needs extra support, and what better way than to forage stuff right out my front door? I am aware that sometimes we find ourselves in places with plants that will heal us for specifically our own needs. Consciousness, energy works like that - we attract what we are and need the most. And perhaps it is another way for those ”rockets of desire” to become fulfilled (I can’t wait to share with you my new art I’ve been keeping a secret, totally has to do with this!) Raspberry leaf is good for women’s health, and can actually help out with moon times. Perhaps I’ll write about that someday.
Since my first encounter with small homesteads in 2015 on a work exchange trip to British Columbia, it’s been my dream to have my own homestead. The journey to get here has been astronomical and cosmic to say the least, and it really took a lot of effort and growth to be here right in this spot. Effort and growth meaning lots of letting go of limitations and truly seeing my worth, and claiming that which I desire without holding back. Lots of following my heart, and listening to synchronicities. My first year being “in the real world,” I found myself homeless and eventually living in an off grid cabin, very minimal in living amenities. No running water, no toilet, no climate control. Just raw living.
Intermittently over the years I’d write in a Buffalo skin leather journal, the pages made of flowers and ink from a fountain pen dotted the pages. Today I opened it up and was surprised to see the last entry was from 2017, after going to Joshua Tree National Park and visiting Sedona for the first time. Oh little me! It was so touching to see where she was 5 years ago and to see where she is now. I found such deep appreciation for myself that I haven’t felt in such a long while. We go on these journeys expecting one way, and almost every time the universe makes us go another route only to find ourselves receiving better than we thought was possible. Although this may not be my permanent home, it is a stepping stone along my path and is a great place to learn homesteading. I think 2015 Ashley would be so happy to see that this life I’m living now 7 years later is what her fate would be. Peace. Tranquility. Abundance. Nature. And cosmic. She would admire the future me so for pushing through, allowing the divine to guide my life in flow, and never giving up. And for keeping along our path to our homestead destiny. The destiny wasn’t a destination, it became a way of life.
I updated my journey in this journal to record another milestone in my quest for life. I don’t write in this special journal often, maybe once a year from now on, because it is truly the book of my life and needs time between entries.
I hope you enjoy my photo rendition of the garden so far. I’m excited to see it blow up and flourish over the next few months, and perhaps then I’ll have another update for you!