GreenFriends™ UK

Gardening Corner: July 2009

Amma dedicates year to environmental issues

Amma’s “Green Year" runs from 5 June 2009 to 5 June 2010 and she has highlighted many different things we can all do to help the environment. These can include:

• growing some of our own food. This can be on whatever scale you can manage. Not everyone has the time or energy to run an allotment for example, but even a few pots of chillis or herbs is a step in the right direction. Producing some of your own food can really show how magical this planet is, and can also help you to appreciate how much work goes into food production all over the world, and how lucky you are to eat, as not everyone in this world gets even one meal a day.

• dealing with our waste responsibly by composting food waste and reusing or recycling other items where possible. Composting can help you see how waste can be used to produce something beneficial. Many items that are perfectly all right are thrown away in the western world merely because of unawareness. If you remember that you are really lucky to have clothes for example, as some people have only rags to cover their bodies, then you can make better choices, for example by giving unwanted items to a charity shop, where someone else and the charity can benefit from it.

• reducing the energy we consume by turning off lights and electrical appliances. By now everyone should be aware of the link between energy consumption and climate change. Merely making sure appliances are definetly switched off and not left on standby can save a surprisingly large amount of energy. One common way to save energy is not to fill the electrical kettle with more water than you need, as electric kettles use alot of energy.

• reducing our water use by making sure taps are turned off. This may seem absurd considering the wet summers we seem to be having, but drought restrictions have been in place in many parts of the country in recent years, and there is no guarantee it will not happen again. It also takes alot of energy to transport the water we use to each of our homes, so this will also reduce our energy consumption.

• only using the resources that we actually need. Amma says time and time again that whilst it is perfectly OK to take from nature what we need, we should not take any more than that. For example, roughly one third of all the food that is bought in the UK is thrown out, making our country one of the worst in the world in this respect.

• doing spiritual practice such as singing bhajans and meditating whilst in nature. Amma says that this will help to create positive vibrations in the atmosphere which will benefit the whole world.

These are some of the many different ways in which we can all start to reduce the burden that we place on Mother Earth, and also start to make a more positive contributions to the planet we live on.

Amma says that it is our view of the world in itself which is wrong. If you look back in time, it seems that ancient peoples saw the whole earth as a living thing to respect and honour. We seem to view the earth as a pile of resources to exploit and use regardless of the consequences on humanity or the rest of creation, and regardless of the impact on future generations who will have a bigger and bigger mess to sort out. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could begin to see the world in the way that Amma does?

Allotment Diary

The plants inside the greenhouse are coming on nicely, it looks more like a jungle every day. We have had some tomatoes and cucumbers, and the first baby chillis, sweet peppers and aubergines have appeared. The cucumbers look set on taking over the world.

Outside, the new spinach is now big enough for us to take some leaves, and most of the crops, the runner beans, courgette, pumpkin, beetroot, sweetcorn are all doing well. The onions and potatoes are not far off harvesting. The big problem at the moment seems to be slugs eating the young kale. This is slowing its growth down quite a bit, but we hope (and pray!) it will recover. We have just harvested the garlic and it is currently smelling out one of the rooms in our house while it dries. We've been eating lettuce, french beans (only a few have appeared) and courgettes.

The raspberry harvest (which is really important for us) has just started and we have had a few gooseberries off our new bushes. The mice have enjoyed eating 90% of our strawberries, but we did get one between us which was very nice! So all was not lost.

Happy gardening and see you all next month

- Richard and Kaivalya

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