Travelling around and staying with lots of different people is definitely a good way of stepping out of your comfort zone and practicing living with an open-mind and heart as this is an important part of what I wanted to gain from this experience. Phil is what I would describe as a conscious eco-soul who has many years of organic gardening experience and setting up sustainable living projects such as Otter Rotters, a community recycling project that makes a number of recycled products including compost and mulch. We had some good chats about the challenges of trying to engage large organisations with new ideas and I admire the way he has carried on putting energy into trying to get projects started even though he's had many frustrations along the way. It’s not often I’ve met people who actually ‘walk the talk’ but Phil is one of them.
I’m starting to appreciate the multitude of different approaches to Permaculture practice as opposed to learning the theory. Phil see’s it as a useful tool he employs when it suits him as opposed to taking it on board as a life philosophy. He does a lot of re-using and recycling local resources for mulching including cardboard from a photographic finishers, carpet tiles from an industrial estate and spent hops from the brewery he works for. He’s devised a clever way of using upturned palettes to make portable raised beds and created microclimates by building walls and painting them white to absorb light so lots of examples of design principles in action.
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| 'Eco Soul' Phil Foggitt |
During the week I got to try out some new gardening skills including riddling compost, potting on seedlings, planting leeks, making a mulched bed, making bamboo cane supports for peas and beans and making bunches of herbs for drying. Phil has recently made some raised beds at the front of the house where he is creating a mini forest garden inspired by the work of Martin Crawford who runs the Agroforestry Research Trust mentioned in my last post. He’s planted lots of shade tolerant shrubs including Oregon grape, Goji berry and Ground Cover Raspberry to see how they get on. The front garden was also home to Womble the guinea pig who I never actually got to see but I like her name so she gets a mention :). I’m guessing she is thus named in homage to the famous recyclers of Wimbledon Common that were so ahead of their time. I feel a bit of nostalgic googling coming on...what a great song! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcVMrJ1EVAQ
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| Planting Leeks |
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| Riddling Compost |
As well as helping out in Phil’s beautiful garden I also worked on a couple of other projects he’s involved with at Otter Brewery and Barnfield Farm. The latter is a care home for people with learning disabilities based in the picturesque village of Luppitt. I enjoyed this project the most because I’m very interested in the idea of therapeutic gardening although I think garden therapy could help everyone, not just people with learning difficulties. I feel like my time working in gardens and allotments has been very therapeutic for me, a combination of being outside in the fresh air, physical exercise, the mental satisfaction of completing whatever tasks need doing and the reward of eating fresh vegetables. I find there is something very rewarding in the simplicity of this, especially after years trying to tackle the confusing complexity of corporate structure and operations.
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| Phil & Jamie protect the cabbages |
Cloud meditation
After a day in the garden sometimes I would lie on my bed and look at the clouds through the skylight window. As I watched the clouds float past like thoughts in my mind shapes would form, a face, animal or an object but they disappeared as quickly as they appeared, a reminder of the transient nature of thought and how much freer one is by not getting attached to them especially unhelpful ones. Recently I’ve been reading about sun gazing, an ancient method of healing that originated in India about 2600 years ago with the teaching of Lord Mahavir of Jain. It works because our eyes act as light receptors as we gaze at the sun, allowing our brain the light it needs to reset it self and integrate various hormones by energising the pineal gland. Of course looking directly at the sun can be dangerous but apparently gazing at white clouds has the same effect.
I feel a lot more energetic because I’m spending more time outside rather than stuck in an office under strip lights, perhaps this is partly to do with the positive effects of cloud gazing. Cloud meditation gives me a deep sense of well-being that radiates outwards from my soul as I connect with the eternal life force of the universe. It’s an ancient feeling that I believe is part of the collective unconscious of human experience beyond this lifetime..
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| Meditating on clouds |
If you fancy trying a spot of cloud meditation here’s some music for you to listen to as you gaze at the clouds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL9HXNQmBIg&feature=BF&list=QL&index=5. Also check out The Cloud Appreciation Society they also have some relaxing cloud music http://cloudappreciationsociety.org/
Knowing beyond the mind
Whilst meditating on the clouds I found myself processing something that happened to me in evening of the retreat silent day. I had what I would describe as a conscious experience of knowing beyond the mind. I was sat on a bench in the retreat garden and felt my consciousness expand out from the confines of my body to connect with all life around me, the sounds of the tree’s rustling in the breeze, the birds, the insects buzzing, the plants growing, there was a sudden movement to my left outside of my field of vision but it wasn’t just my eyes that registered this, it was beyond the five senses somehow I knew it was a bird before my mind named it. Finding the words to describe this is not easy as words are just symbols we use to communicate feelings and experiences to others, it didn’t feel separate from me but part of my consciousness. I recognise this is a knowing of the soul and I trust it above all else...
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