Blog#13 All on the same team, snails and all

Blog#13

All on the same team, snails and all.

It amazes me often, how you can learn so much from every aspect of life, even snails. Our teaches are all around us, we just need to be, so we can see.

I love growing my own herbs and vegetables whenever possible and had planted lots Kale and Rocket lettuce plants, only to find them disappearing. I suspected snails, and felt it was me against them, I wanted my food to grow my food for me to eat, not them.

Worlds were clashing, in my world I had a great garden providing me with ample supply of good nutrition. In the snail’s world, I decided that they wanted the same. How was this going to work?I needed to stop them, but did not want to kill them. I surrounded each plant with used coffee beans to discourage them, it didn’t work.
I then collected broken egg shells, as someone told me that they would not crawl over them, this didn’t work either.

I then went down to the organic markets and spoke to a farmer about this situation, she said, because it was so dry, due to next to no rain for months that the snails were thirsty. The green leaves were moist. It was suggested that I put out bowls of beer and the snails would drink it and drown. This meant killing them, which I wanted to avoid, if possible.

I then had a great Idea, I thought if they were thirsty I would put bowels of water with the lip of the bowel at ground level along the side of the plants. It worked, not one leaf was touched after this. This taught me that looking out for each other and implementing solutions that were constructive to all life, was possible and vital, if we all want to be happy. If we are all watching out for each, other our stress and fear levels would drop considerably. A symbiotic approach with all life, is not only vital for our survival, but also displays the love and respect we all desire. My snails love me, I am sure!

The soil has been dry for months and I really did not pay attention to just how much the grass was struggling. In the past the rain always seemed to come just in time and there was not real need to water the grass. My lawn mower man called in and said that if he cut the lawn it would distress it too much and that you could start to see the soil showing in places. I felt bad as I had neglected this area in my life and felt like the soil was kind of dying as well. It got me thinking that there are many things that must be in play for the soil to be life giving, it was like a symbiotic coming together of different elements. Water being a major part. Without water the microorganisms and worms cannot do their job in the soil. Things do not break down and compost without moisture. So, I now water my grass and soil, even the pot plant containers with soil in them, but no plants.

Now I have started a composting heap, as I want to really improve the condition of the soil in the garden. Well it’s just great, it has become a huge satellite city of lizards, bugs, insects etc and they are having a ball. They all play there part, so naturally with the right amount of aeration, water and good quality kitchen waist. Our connection to nature and the quality of our food supply is so important.

I have even started making my own kombucha, (without vinegar) which is helping me to have a digestive system that is working well with all the microorganisms i.e. pro biotics in balance. Your digestive system is your immune system. Soo cool. Every little thing you do to improve your world rewards you tenfold.
If you want a good recipe for kombucha go to www.kombuchakamp.com

Feel free to share this with friends and family.