The Garden

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Pluto's Child
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Re: The Garden

Post by Pluto's Child »

Hermit wrote:Pluto! Sorry to delay on this, just caught up with reading replies. I made a pilgrimage to a shrine yesterday that I'm going to post about later today/tomorrow.

This is a link to the church I'm affiliated with:

http://www.eucharisticcatholicchurch.org" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Interesting, it makes sense to join them rather than an organisation that guarantees cognitive dissonance straight off the bat !

Are you going to be a monk ?

If so do you have to relinquish all your "worldly goods" ?
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Re: The Garden

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It's a little different. There is currently one novice in Alberta who is waiting to receive minor orders. Most of the church community lives east in Toronto, although there is a much larger group in Cameroon (and as LGBT rights in Cameroon are...you can imagine the mission there), and one soon to open in Cuba.

Friar-Priest is probably a better term.

All of the clergy have day jobs. We've got to be self supporting, so as far as I know donations are accepted for services rendered, but not encouraged. I recently asked for a Mass to be said for a friend and his family, his mother just recently having passed on. No donation needed.

Myself? I don't see myself asking or requiring that people give when needing services, or sacraments. It just doesn't jive with me. We're supposed to be about what we put out into the world, not what we take from it.

My garden, for example, gives food to people who don't have access to it because of their frailty and age. It's only 5-6 people, but I'm planning on having larger vegetable plots in the front yard soon so hopefully more elderly people can get fresh vegetables. So I guess in a way, worldly goods to get given away.

Would I take the opportunity to sell everything I owned, give it to the poor, and become a mendicant? I love the idea. I'm not so sure how I'd love it in actual practice. To be honest tho Pluto? I can put just about everything I own into 6-7 boxes. 90% are books. And even those...

I'll try it out next year when I walk the Camino and let you know how it goes. ;)
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Re: The Garden

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Sounds like a flexible set up they have then, something geared to modern life !

The veg thing sounds like you are walking the walk & getting enjoyment out of it at the same time, "only 5-6 people" sounds like a put down, its 5-6 people more than most of us are feeding !

I went to Santiagio with my wife when we first met 20 years ago or so (on a plane :oops: ), no idea why,(went around the Cathedral) but 10 years later I was baptised into the Catholic Church, the baptism was in an ancient priory used by some Dominicans (dean of a seminary) as a rural retreat which meant we met some very interesting people to say the least.

It's a beautiful place, well over 1000 yrs old, (pre-dates the Doms) and is on one of the many routes that feed into the Camino (we see pilgrims on it now and again when we go to the supermarket) the staff & clam shells being the give away.

Most people do the start at the place on the Sheen film though, autumn & spring would probably the best times, winter could be very hard in the mountains & summer would be a killer in Spain.

Have you considered taking a camera & doing a vlog ?
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Re: The Garden

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I have! My bishop actually thinks that doing a YouTube vlog documenting the entire process (including the pilgrimage next year) would be helpful for a lot of people. The thing is? I really struggle with ego. I mean come on, there's a latent drag queen inside me. ;o)

I'm going to take my phone with me to Winnipeg this week-end, going to try to take some time to get to St. Boniface Cathedral. If anything goes up I'll let you guys know ok?
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Re: The Garden

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Hermit wrote:I have! My bishop actually thinks that doing a YouTube vlog documenting the entire process (including the pilgrimage next year) would be helpful for a lot of people. The thing is? I really struggle with ego. I mean come on, there's a latent drag queen inside me. ;o)

I'm going to take my phone with me to Winnipeg this week-end, going to try to take some time to get to St. Boniface Cathedral. If anything goes up I'll let you guys know ok?
If it comes across like your posts on this thread it will be both personal & interesting, it doesn't seem camp/ drag queen at all, just very human & insightful, being open about your inner states in the way you are could prove to be very popular !

Your thoughts & mediations interspersed with the things you see along the way could well inspire more people to go on pilgrimages and undertake the "inner voyage" along with it.

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Re: The Garden

Post by Hermit »

https://hermitgardener.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

my day was spent quietly mowing the grass, filling the pond, pulling weeds, harvesting onions, digging out potatoes and garlic, some baby carrots, peas, beans, beets, dill, and even a cob of corn that looks marvellous, but probably could’ve used another month or so. Still lots to grow bigger left on the stock. It was my 45th birthday and it came quietly, and passed again quietly. Just another day, but one that I enjoyed very much doing things that are my own quiet, peaceful pastime: primarily, scheming about how to alter or improve the garden.

There’s new grass coming up in the front. I initially thought I wanted to do raised beds throughout the front yard, increase the production of vegetables and flowers, do something more productive or just plain different from the other houses on the block. But there is a kind of strange, peaceful, enjoyment in mowing that I had forgotten! Mowing is just … zen! Plus there’s cuttings that are great for compost.

Many of the plants I’ve put into this garden have significance. They’re like markers of where I’ve come from, the people that I’ve met, the important times in my life. The hollyhocks came from Gladmer Park, and although they’re suffering from a really bad fungal infection I can’t break myself to pull them out. They’re standing, in some cases, almost ten feet tall without leaves and just masses of pink, purple, and red flowers. The lilies that I brought, the gas plant, all plants that were purchased after taking garden tours with the Regina Horticulture Society. Star gazer lily to remind me of my past history as a club kid in Saskatoon, my friends there, especially Belinda who was (and still is in my heart of hearts) one of my best friends. And the perennials that I planted from seed which are now filling out, spreading like gang busters in whites, pinks, mauves, and reds. The roses, three planted and two survived the winter. One red, the other white (and a miracle growing from a dead stump, yet to bloom) to remind me of my friendship with Pam, my boss. The herbs throughout the garden: borage, lavenders, sages, thyme (which had no business over wintering…you bet I’m going to mulch heavy again this year!), lemon grass–all to remind me of the history and nature of gardening, the healing power of herbs and the earth taken care of. And this year, four asiatic lilies planted to mark my birthday, but one specifically planted to mark the passing of a primate of the Old Catholic Church. It’s called playful: bright white blossoms with streaks of pink and purple spots, combined with a heady scent. Then there’s the other plants, the perennials that were part of this garden before I took it over, the old poppies and peonies, the new trees Dave planted in the front borders: cedars, willows, box, dogwoods, and beautiful red-leafed trees that once grown up will not only provide shade but help to keep water out of the basement. The garden is a collection of plants that have memories, that become individual but part of a collective. I know I’ve said it before, but gardens like people, like gardeners, have lives their own. This garden is a far older, more elderly teacher and companion. It has taught me patience, knowing when something is a mistake and needs to be either re-done or reconsidered, the importance of layers and colours in a space to increase it’s depth not only to the eye but to the body, the foot, the paths which when wandered create separate spaces and rooms, but also the illusion of a larger space, a journey. It feels a lot more like a cloister, or a courtyard, and I think even when the lilacs are trimmed back in the fall, as they grow that space will return.

So new projects! The fall will bring trimming back the hedges in the back, sorting and cutting the wood for fire in the spring/late fall. The pond is going to be filled in with gravel, sand, and stone to create a fire-pit space with two benches. The reality is that putting the fire pit in the garden (that is the old garden) will put a source of flame far too close to the three old spruce trees and I can’t risk them going up in flames…because they’d take out my garage, and probably my neighbour’s garage as well! So! New pond going in where the garden is, much bigger, much deeper, and with any luck filtered by pond plants, kept mosquito free by gold fish, and cool enough to jump in after a long day’s work! The city requires permits for pools that primary function is for swimming. The primary function of this pond would be fore aquaculture. Swimming would be secondary; still, fences and gates are going to need locks and greater security to keep wandering kids out. The old topsoil is going to move to the hugelkutur garden raised bed that I started late spring: twelve by six, I layered a bunch of sticks, twigs, and branches (old and new wood) from the hedges and buried it with soil. The idea being that once the wood begins to decay, it will not only provide greater nutrients for the plants being grown on top of it but the wood will retain more water (meaning you have to water less) and the head created from the decomposing wood will allow for earlier planting! I’m wanting to create a really substantial mound so I will probably layer more wood on top of the existing soil and put more dirt on top of that wood. By next spring, the mound should be (I’m hoping) about 2-3 feet tall in the middle, sloping down to the edges of the raised bed. Enter square foot gardening techniques and bob’s your uncle. Higher yields, earlier yields, and better tasting (apparently) yields as well.

I’m also starting a new blog in conjunction with a spiritual journey I’m taking. OFA Journey is going to be specifically geared to reflections and situations that come about as my deeper understanding of my Catholic faith unfolds, as well as my deepening connection to the Franciscans of the Annunciation. So if you’re interested in checking that blog out, I’d really appreciate any feedback you might have.

Keep weeding, keep harvesting, keep being grateful for the bounties you have in your life, especially the ones that are unexpected.
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Re: The Garden

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Ok...so for anyone who might be interested, my new blog is at: http://www.ofajourney.wordpress.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Would love your thoughts!
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Re: The Garden

Post by Naga_Fireball »

Hermit I was reading your blog but lost the link and forum page....

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Brotherhood falls asunder at the touch of fire!
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not coloured like his own, and having power
To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
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Re: The Garden

Post by Christine »

Dear Hermit, your website is so beautiful to walk into. Thanks and green thumbs up!

These days are so full that I can barely find the time to slip onto the forum and post, not to mention a long article percolating in the background that is starting to demand I write it. :)
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Re: The Garden

Post by Hermit »

Yesterday, as I was wandering in my garden getting things done, I was thinking about some news that I heard just before I headed out to work.

Our mission in Cuba has suffered a really terrible blow. The son of one of the members of the parish suffers from mental illness. Apparently, his parents have tried going to the police to get them to do something but to no avail. On September 23rd, he murdered his wife, his nine year old daughter, and infant son.

I've never met these people. I've never met most of the people in my church family because we're spread out all over the world. Mother S, the head of the Franciscan mission there is going to talk to me today about updating/creating the Order's web page. I'm just in a state of absolute shock. I can only imagine what she's going through.

This is darkness at work, darkness manifesting itself in our reality.
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