Tag Archive for: moon calendar

Moon Calendar – Growing kūmara from tipu

By Monique Macfarlane

One of the most satisfying elements of being with the land is learning new tasks, and folding them in in their entirety over the seasons. We have been growing kūmara on our block for a number of years now, but last year was the first time I grew our own tipu (slips).

Coming to harvest our kūmara crop at the end of summer was an absolute joy – that the whole process was now within the rhythm of our farm. And now, as the seasons change, and we roll through the cycles again, there is a warmth in the activities as we learn and grow with them.

To grow your own tipu, choose good-sized, healthy and well cured kūmara. I fill a wooden box with a mix of 70% river sand and 30% good compost – positioning the kūmara within so they are two thirds from the bottom, and a third from the top. Place the box in a very warm sunny spot, or use a heat pad.

Lightly water every few days to keep the sand moist, but not wet. In time you will see the tipu emerge. I wait till they are about 12–15cm high, then gently tug them while placing a firm hand on the sand (to keep the kūmara in place underneath, as they will grow more tipu). I then put groups of tipu in glass jars with rainwater and a little seaweed, to ensure the roots are well established.

When planting out in the garden, make a furrow with your hand and place two thirds of the tipu along the soil, and then with a slight bend leave the top few leaves poking out. Cover with soil.

I have found in my years of teaching workshops that a step often is missed in the growing season. When the tipu foliage starts to run across the top of the soil, lift the runners up so they do not root into the ground. We use cardboard to cover between the rows, and then drape the runners back down. This ensures that the kūmara is formed under the mother tipu. Happy growing!

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Monique Macfarlane is a holistic food systems facilitator, teaching biodynamics, planting by the moon, no-dig food growing and self-sufficiency. See www.natural-wisdom.net 

Monique co-creates with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, no-till, and natural principles on eight hectares in Waihi that includes a small market garden, orchard, pastoral grazing, chickens and agroforestry.

Images: Arina-Ulyasheva, VeraPetruk

Cosmic Gardening Calendar

By Monique Macfarlane

As we descend into the cooler months, the time has come to start to envisage our gardens for the following seasons. Although it can seem obvious – I remind people when they are starting out growing their own food, or need a way to reconnect to the garden – to plant what you love to eat.

Although in the suggestions of this calendar I list various plants such as silverbeet, rocket, parsnip, if it’s not something you enjoy, it’s not necessary, use it as a guide to plant similar crops. There is such joy to be found in being able to devour the deliciousness straight from your garden, rather than looking at six unused silverbeet plants!

There is another layer to this, particular when the world feels precarious – plant what you can trade. Plant what you know your family, friends, or community need or want. There is such an abundance in nature, and the joy of being able to share.

Growing in community can also be a wonderful pathway. Perhaps next summer you plan to grow the potatoes, someone else grows pumpkins, and another member of your village/community/circle grows kūmara, and then you all trade. This allows you to focus on one crop, and stay connected. Plant in different places, to mitigate weather events, if you have the space available.

It’s also important to gift back to your garden. We have many helpers in the unseen realms and there are myriad ways to thank them. They love song, poetry, and being acknowledged through the heart space. Offerings of fruit, honey or chocolate are also welcomed. One of my favourite ways is to create a mandala in the garden with flowers, leaves, twigs and fruit on the solstices.

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Monique Macfarlane is a holistic food systems facilitator, teaching biodynamics, planting by the moon, no-dig food growing and self-sufficiency. See www.natural-wisdom.net 

Monique co-creates with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, no-till, and natural principles on eight hectares in Waihi that includes a small market garden, orchard, pastoral grazing, chickens and agroforestry.

Images: Arina-Ulyasheva, VeraPetruk

Enhance nourishment & resilience by saving seeds

By Monique Macfarlane

Seed saving is one of the most beautiful acts of resilience and nourishment we can do for ourselves, our communities, our future, and the ecosystems we find ourselves in. Each year on our farm, I save more and more varieties, and it is incredible to witness just how quickly they adapt and strengthen within our farm organism. Everything I grow from the seed we saved ourselves is healthier, abundant, easeful, and has a strength, vitality and density that is unrivalled.

I started with the easy crops – pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes. Then added in more flowers like calendula, cornflower, strawflower, sunflowers. Then came brassicas: kale and broccoli. There was the year where I was so proud to do zucchini for the first time – not realising how it’s best to hand pollinate for seed saving – the following year I had the most incredible array of fruits and colours, that all came from the same one fruit! Nature is absolutely incredible.

In biodynamics, we save seed at particular times that are favourable for what we are wanting to produce. So for flowers, I typically save seed on ascending flower days. For pumpkins and tomatoes I save seed on ascending fruit and seed days. For potatoes we always harvest on descending root days for better longevity in storing, and this is correct for seed saving too.
This year, I am trying something new, as there is always so much to learn and experiment with. When the moon is opposite Saturn, calcium and silica are in balance, which makes for true-to-form, balanced growth, so I am interested to see what seed saving at this time does for all the crops that might be ready at this very specific time.

Remember, seed should only be taken from well developed plants, not those which run to seed quickly and do not flow through their full expression. And of course – sharing seed is key!

The following content is only available to logged-in members – log in here. Not a member? Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Monique Macfarlane is a holistic food systems facilitator, teaching biodynamics, planting by the moon, no-dig food growing and self-sufficiency. See www.natural-wisdom.net 

Monique co-creates with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, no-till, and natural principles on eight hectares in Waihi that includes a small market garden, orchard, pastoral grazing, chickens and agroforestry.

Images: Arina-Ulyasheva, VeraPetruk

Cosmic planting calendar: Let nature lead

By Monique Macfarlane

All the prep work in the garden now really pays off for feasting on and preserving the abundance in the coming months. At times it can feel overwhelming with everything there is to get done, so as we head towards the traditional summer garden planting dates of late October, I pick particular things to focus on, and let the rest fall behind in the flow.

Some years I prioritise fruiting crops, such as tomatoes, eggplants and chillies, or beans and snowpeas, or pumpkins and melons. It could be prioritising a steady supply of leafy greens for salads through the onslaught of hotter temperatures. It could be saving seed from multiple varieties this season. It could be placing attention on good watering and nutrition.

Having a focus brings the possibility of a sense of accomplishment and learning. Often when we leave nature to her own devices, she flourishes the best, on her own timeline and strength. Knowing this can pave the way to noticing how different plants flourish if we step back from them a little.

It can also give us space to research, discuss and trial new methods and ways of growing if we place a focus on them. Say for tomatoes, do you stake with a central leader? Use an adjustable string-and-frame system to encourage the full potential of height and harvest in the plants? Try a bush variety? Try different colours, varieties, or add in the biodiversity mulches underneath?

By harnessing this approach season after season, year after year, slowly our knowledge, our toolkit and understanding grows with ease. It’s also not a ‘one and done’ style of learning – as often I can focus on something, feel like I have understood it, and then we never have a season like it to replicate for 8 or 15 years!

So perhaps really, the best thing to always focus on is the grace of letting nature lead.

The following content is only available to logged-in members – log in here. Not a member? Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Monique Macfarlane is a holistic food systems facilitator, teaching biodynamics, planting by the moon, no-dig food growing and self-sufficiency. See www.natural-wisdom.net 

Monique co-creates with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, no-till, and natural principles on eight hectares in Waihi that includes a small market garden, orchard, pastoral grazing, chickens and agroforestry.

Images: Arina-Ulyasheva, VeraPetruk

Cosmic planting calendar

By Monique Macfarlane

It brings me great joy that Matariki is being celebrated in whole new ways in New Zealand – our natural new year in the southern hemisphere. In the Gregorian calendar, the ‘new year’ ticks over on an arbitrary day between ‘December’ and ‘January’. This feels incredibly out of place to me, the more I am immersed with the rhythms of the land and the cosmos. The tomatoes are ripening, the zucchini glut is here, beans, snowpeas and chillies are flourishing, all of the fruiting crops are coming to their crescendo. The garden needs my caress almost daily. At that time we are in the midst of the year, and have just surpassed the longest day.

Marking the new year in the depths of winter, timed with the new moon and Tangaroa phases, when the stars disappear and then reappear on the horizon, has an ease to it. A timeliness. An exhale, as we gather the year gone before us, those who have departed from us, and prepare for the year ahead of us. Quite rightly it moves with the land, the skies, and is a period of time, not just a day.

Matariki, or the Pleiades star cluster, isn’t the marker everywhere in New Zealand either, to mark this particular passage of time. In the north, the west, and places in the south, Puanga or Puaka is the star that marks the passage. I love this. The nuance of the environment speaking to us. Showing the way. What does your environment say to you? What do you witness?

Celebrate, reflect, honour. Take the time to be with yourself. Feast, share, come together. Enjoy the prevalence this particular rhythm is having in our lands, and the authenticity of it all.

The following content is only available to logged-in members – log in here. Not a member? Join us to gain access to a wide range of content.

Monique Macfarlane is a holistic food systems facilitator, teaching biodynamics, planting by the moon, no-dig food growing and self-sufficiency. See www.natural-wisdom.net 

Monique co-creates with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, no-till, and natural principles on eight hectares in Waihi that includes a small market garden, orchard, pastoral grazing, chickens and agroforestry.

Images: Arina-Ulyasheva, VeraPetruk