From the Assistant Bishop
An outside journey
The Rt Revd Kate Wilmot, Assistant Bishop
As sustainable September comes around, I’ve been thinking about the next season of planting in the garden.
I know and admire people who have water tanks, solar batteries and vegetable gardens that provide most of their fresh produce.
The first house I went to in ministry had an emergent pumpkin vine, left behind by a previous tenant and nothing else growing to speak of. I was distracted by new tasks and let the vine die and I still regret doing this. I composted a few weeds at that house but probably nothing else because I didn’t use many fresh vegetables.
At the next house, I dug out weeds but left them in heaps where they sprouted again. I planted a few lavender bushes and an almond tree and became interested in growing plants from cuttings so cultivated a few things in pots. I created a bit more compost but did nothing with it.
The next rectory had an established garden, which I left to grow a bit wild. There was a lemon tree, so I gave the lemons away to someone who used them to clean his barbecue. I had some herbs in pots and noticed frogs and New Holland Honeyeaters in the garden. I put all of my vegetable scraps in the compost.
The current house has more land, so there’s more space to do things. Because I have lived here longer, I am able to rotate large compost heaps and use the compost to garden with raised beds. I use juice from the lemons to make syrup which lasts all summer. There are a few more varieties of herbs and I make a real effort to tackle invasive weeds which end up in the FOGO bin.
I try to make the garden quenda-friendly and provide opportunities for birds and frogs. I put up with the destructiveness of red-tailed black cockatoos in the Cape Lilac trees because I know that they have adapted to eating the berries.
I live-trap mice rather than using poisons that harm wildlife and birds. I notice the toadstools that pop up as well as the wattles (up to six different kinds). I find real satisfaction in eating home grown produce even if the vegetables are sometimes not very big and I enjoy thinking about what I might plant next.
None of these things make me a beacon of sustainable living (though I have friends and colleagues who are) but these things are a journey and like Christian conversion, the change is ongoing.
This September, it would be great to encourage and learn from each other as we pursue the journey of living sustainably. . .
‘For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.’
Isaiah 55:10-11