The future is golden

The other thing I have been focussing on is my dream of growing traditional long stemmed wheat for corn dolly making.  It has been a difficult quest but I refused to give up.  Last year I finally found someone who would supply me, but vermin (probably muntjak or rabbits) feasted on the green shoots as soon as they sprouted.  This year I'm trying an area in the small plot as a site for growing, as it's well away from the fence where all the creatures have their right of way, so maybe out of sight will be out of mind.  I'm also going to fence it off with netting to be on the safe side, and I'm going to plant lavender and artemesia round the edge to discourage nibbling mouths. 

I plan to sow poppies and cornflowers in with the wheat, so it will look like a proper traditional wheat field, only on a small scale.  When everything is blooming I hope to make paintings of it, but there's a lot to navigate through first.  When the grains ripen I may have to cover the whole crop to prevent mice eating it all.  I am prepared because last year some grains must have fallen in the front garden on my way to the allotments, and the brave stems grew very well, and produced good ears.  Just as they ripened every grain was eaten. 

I am now dedicating the small plot to grain and fruit, which I think will suit it better than pretty flowers and herbs.  I don't think it's really for me to spend a lot of time in.  Even before I had the unfortunate encounter with the neighbours it had an unruly wild energy about it.  I had a bonfire in it one Yule and had a vision of the space I have now sown with wheat as being full of wild colour, like a meadow.  When the bonfire began to die down, there emerged a blackened timber with one end the shape of a hand, pointing to my main allotment.  I had a bit of an Ebanezer Scrooge moment, as if it was the ghost of Christmas future. I think it may have just been the energies in the land telling me what was required.  My place is in the long allotment, and the wild spirits have the small allotment.

They are very robust fertile energies, and so are ideally suited for the germination of seeds in the greenhouse there, and for the ancient practice of growing wheat.  Before I sowed the wheat I asked for permission to be guardian of the plot, and encouraged them to engage in the growing of the wheat with me.  Time will tell if it has worked or not. 

I think he looks a bit like this: