Haven’t blogged in forever, and found this title, in draft form.
I love our allotment. Despite pretty much being in the middle of the city, it really doesn’t feel like that. It helps that no one has any electric. If you want to boil a kettle, you do it on a gas camping stove, or maybe your woodburner. People may have radios, but I’ve never heard one. I suspect that like me, they’ve never ended up bringing a radio from home because that would somehow miss the point. If you can’t, or don’t want to, jet off to a remote island for the peace and a different pace of life, then consider an allotment. Chances are your mobile signal will be rubbish, which stops all the facebooking. So life slows down, for a bit, and goes back to simpler times.
We inherited a couple of apple trees, raspberries and gooseberries, and rhubarb, so they come through whatever. Other vegetables are trial and error, some more successful than others, but as time goes on, we learn more, from experience, reading and that of other people. It’s very satisfying, making something from your own growing. Home grown apple crumble anyone? There’s something very grounding about working in the soil, and producing albeit a small amount of food for yourself.
When I’ve been there a couple of hours, in my scruffy gear, with no access to a mirror, or technology, I feel like I’ve had a detox from normal life. I come back feeling chilled, relaxed, ready to have another go at life. I even find myself driving away from there more slowly. I imagine people feel like that after gardening, but with an allotment you have to get to it first, and I find my mindset shifting on the way there.
So, an allotment teaches you to go back to basics. Have a simpler way of life, even for a short time. Do things more slowly. It gives you thinking time, without real life noise, both real and technological. And those have to be good things.
parsleythelioness 