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Jan 30, 2024
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Lisa Brunette's avatar

Thanks so much for your comments. I have a habit of following people who leave intelligent comments on posts I've read, as a way of cultivating a good reading experience for myself on Substack Notes. So count yourself in that group, as a compliment!

With so much in the world seeming crazy right now, if you're the one thinking outside the stream, you can often wonder if you're the crazy one. So thanks in particular for your compliments noting my observational skills and common sense. As those fall at the top of the list for needed survival skills right now, I'm grateful.

And likewise thank you for the well wishes here on Substack. We would definitely be able to converse into the wee hours in a manner that seems all too rare these days. I'm so glad we have connected via this supportive forum. All the best to you, in good meat and butter!

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Jan 31, 2024
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Lisa Brunette's avatar

I wonder if you could do it on a patio in containers, if just tomatoes and peppers? Herbs are also quite tolerant; I'd recommend starting with oregano in a pot and go from there.

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Feb 12, 2024
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Lisa Brunette's avatar

Yeah, I struggle with pots for that very reason. Much cooler just in the ground. I don't even bother with raised beds. Best of luck!

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William Hunter Duncan's avatar

I used to be fond of the Motherpeace tarot, though now I see it as flawed in a fundamental way, hostile to the masculine as inherently toxic. That said there is much about it that is beautiful, and there is wisdom in that card.

I think a garden should be a sanctuary, a place where all the troubles of the world dissipate and nature simply is. A fence can and does facilitate that.

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

Yes, that's definitely a limitation in the Motherpeace deck and part of why I no longer use it. The other reason is the deck ignores the dark side of human nature and spirituality, or when it acknowledges it at all, you're right, it's ascribed to the masculine. For a while I used a Haitian deck called Ghetto Tarot that is really good at speaking to the balance of light and dark. I've since moved on to prayer and other divination techniques as part of an overall spiritual path beyond just "seeking answers." But yeah, I definitely thought of that Motherpeace card when pondering our modern distaste for fences. There's definitely wisdom and beauty in the deck, and even they couldn't deny the power of a wall.

I have always liked that idea of "sanctuary," too.

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William Hunter Duncan's avatar

I went back to the traditional Knapp-Hall because everything else I found was tainted by modernity.

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

So many things are tainted by modernity!

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William Hunter Duncan's avatar

Maybe our traditional knowledge will meet with more wide respect, yet in this lifetime?

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

That's my hope, in a lot of realms. I can see it already in old-world food preservation and even in the wider set of homesteading practices. A lot of what gets called "permaculture" is actually just returning to pre-fossil fuel techniques.

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Lynn Cady's avatar

As a farm dweller I think about walls and fences constantly. Without them we couldn't function here. Hedges, screens, and windbreaks are also crucial. In garden design, barriers whether structural or visual, make a space seem much larger than it really is. Walls are good things! Thanks for pointing this out.

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

You're welcome, Lynn. And thanks for the insight about garden design.

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Stephanie Loomis's avatar

I love a good wall, as long as it is good in both structure and purpose.

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

I think my backyard fence qualifies :)

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Stephanie Loomis's avatar

Mine, too. Writing a response with a picture. Should post Monday

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Yarrow's avatar

The fence is what keeps the deer and rabbits out of the garden. Nothing against the deer and rabbits, personally, but... they like my veg as much as I do!

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Lisa Brunette's avatar

Exactly!

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