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Growing Mondays: Checking in
The universe is not asking us to do something, the universe is asking us to be something.
Jo Hunter Adams
September 15, 2025
Hi! I'm Jo, writing from Heart & Soil homestead, a 1-acre homestead in the Far South of Cape Town, South Africa. Every week I share inspiration and education for your growing journey. Thanks so much for reading!
Welcome to Growing Mondays, where I talk about growing- vegetables, fruits, animals and, well, people. This week I talk about the value of regular check-ins on your growing. Every Monday, walking around and planning for the week really helps us avoid waste and make use of the abundance around us.
Artichoke frogs. The value of the garden is not just in the food.
The universe is not asking us to do something, the universe is asking us to be something.
Every Wednesday, I adjust our shop availability list to reflect what is going to be available on a particular weekend. I pick on Saturday and Sunday mornings, right before people arrive. When I pick, I also pick holey or subpar veg for animals, or for us to juice for ourselves.
Every Monday, after a busy weekend with visitors, I go and pick vegetables for Dumpling Mondays (recipe below). Having this ritual means that we know we’ll consume a lot of vegetables on a Monday at lunch, and that sets us up for the week. While I’m harvesting, I think about what sold, what we have a lot of, and then I plan out the week. I also think about what I wish we had a lot of. This helps me plan what to plant from seed, and what to write in my diary for next season.
For example, at the moment we have a LOT of asparagus- we could probably eat it every single day.
David and Frieda, the (sortof) happy couple. Our population of purely for fun chickens seems to always be growing.
Rituals make our week, and allow our focus to return to calm. We don’t have to think about what will happen or how.
It can be harder to ritualise occasional garden tasks, because they’re unpredictable. It helps to have times reserved for the unpredictable, because it is predictable that there will always be unpredictable tasks.
Success occurs in the privacy of the soul.
Korean style Dumplings: filling is 1 napa cabbage, a bunch of spring onions, chopped finely.
Then a bunch of carrots, and 2-3 beetroot, grated. Sauteed in a big pot for a while (often 40 minutes, first thing in the morning).
Dumpling skins: 600g flour, 280g boiling water, mixed. Allow to rest for a while, then rolled out thin into small circles (we use a pasta roller to roll out, but we have done it with a rolling pin in the past… but we like using the roller).
Sautee or steam.
Dipping sauce is soy/tamari with vinegar, to taste
Workshops
If you have a company group or a group of family or friends that you’d like to learn composting, growing, chicken rearing, sourdough baking, cheesemaking or some other topic, let me know. It could be a fun way to connect with colleagues, friends and family. |
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