Buddhist Meditation and Regenerative Culture

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Dido Dunlop Our hearts and outer world grow hearty together To restore Mother Nature, and grow tomatoes in our cities, we must redesign our inner gardens. New ways will only hold strong if we regenerate our inner culture too. What are our inner tomatoes? In meditation we cultivate all sorts of interesting plants in mind and heart. Kindness, love for life, resilience, humour, steadiness through trouble. Mother Nature’s Elements I’m a meditation teacher and climate activist. I grew up in the New Zealand bush. I began meditating to find the ‘bush’ feeling in the city. My first teacher taught us to…

A Simple Meditation for Pandemic, Climate Emergency and Other Disasters

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Dido Dunlop In times like now, our emotional strength and resilience can feel drained away. It can seem like our inner resources are not enough. Yet here we are, still alive. I Am Alive When the going gets tough, I meditate on this. I remind myself that I’m still alive. It’s the most precious and essential thing. Now, overtaken by pandemic, we’re constantly reminded that we or our loved ones might quite suddenly not be alive. We can get so caught up in worries about how to manage, we forget to stop, and notice that in this present moment, we…

10 Benefits of having a greenhouse

Permaculture Womens Guild

they’re easier to build than you might think By Heather Jo Flores Ten reasons to build a greenhouse: Start seeds early (and late!) Many seeds need warmth to germinate and develop into healthy seedlings. If the growing season is short, getting ahead can make a big difference.​Protect tender perennials and grow exotic plants. Increase your yields by extending the range of plants you can grow in your climate!​Protect early blooming fruits (like apricot) from heavy rains. Flowers on fruit trees are often quite delicate and can be damaged by rain, wind or frost, resulting in big losses to your fruit crop…

How to grow tomatoes in a temperate climate

Permaculture Womens Guild

By Heather Jo Flores Tips for cloudy skies tomato gardeners In a foggy, temperate climate, most of us know the drill: Start seeds indoors in early spring and use grow lights if you have ’em. Plant in fertile soil with plenty of space in mid-June. Trellis, water, prune and pray and maybe, just maybe, get some ripened homegrown tomatoes before the rains come again in September, when what started out as a savory dream of salsa and gazpacho turns into six pounds of green tomatoes topped with powdery mildew and hopeful plans for next year. But there’s hope! Tomatoes are…