Getting on the Ground, Literally
When you are ready to find your roots, there is no better way to connect than to start a garden! A pot on your patio will do. Hands in dirt, making friends with the skinks and and your local Song Thrush to brighten up your spirits.
NZ (naturalized) Song Thrush will help you with your bugs and worms.
Getting in season with the tides and cycles will do wonders for your sense of connection. I became a big fan of gardening as a child following my grandmother down her very long rows of corn, learning to hoe weeds. I soon realized she had a competition going with my father and she usually won! I remember picking strawberries and turning the piles of red fruit on Mother's Day into mounds of strawberry shortcake. And most of all lugging the pumpkins from our garden to make pies and canned puree in the early Autumn.
Pies! Those magic rounds of heavenly flavour. I was a bit mystified to learn that not everyone around the world loves or even knows about a good pumpkin pie. As the seasons are flipped, November is planting, not harvest season here. So to indulge in Thanksgiving or Christmas pumpkin pie, you'll have to find some stored fresh pumpkins, which do turn up in grocery stores this time of year, often hacked in half. Canned pumpkin puree does exist but I always prefer making my own. It's a pride thing.
One of the best side effects of gardening is meeting your local gardeners. Kiwis love to swap plants and share tips on growing things so ask around. Every town has a community garden and groups who volunteer to keep our local parks tidy. Let me know how you get on!
If you are hankering after a good pumpkin pie or roasting recipe, click on my Smashing Pumpkins eBook to the right and download a copy. Or email me and I'll send it directly to you.
Happy growing and baking!
