- Heart & Soil Newsletter
- Posts
- Growing Mondays: The value of being on the edge
Growing Mondays: The value of being on the edge
Humans and plants thrive in liminal spaces
Jo Hunter Adams
September 01, 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 liminal spaces in both the plant, animal and human world. On the edges of our growing spaces, we can experiment with shade and sun, with wind, rain, and microbes. On the edges of our living environments, we can belong everywhere and nowhere.
Honour the space between no longer and not yet.
Diversity on the edge, between water and land.
One of my favourite permaculture principles is “use edges and value the marginal”. Where ecosystems meet, there’s vibrancy and possibility, and often extraordinary productivity. We all grow the most in the spaces between.
This time of year with its changing weather, this moment in global warming, this place on the edge of the city: they all present opportunities, even though the unknown feels, frankly, terrifying.
Even this time of year is a kind of edge, between cool and warm. You can grow anything- both winter and summer crops. It just depends on where you grow them. So much plant growth happens now, in the spring.
When we don’t know exactly what to do, in this liminal space, we’re called to observe. We can’t use our knowledge, our usual plans or reactions, they simply don’t work in the same way. How is our space, or even our community, a combination of many different ecosystems? Where is it warm, where is it cool, where is it shady, where is it windy? Where is there moisture, where are roots crowding for space?
You only are free when you realize you belong no place — you belong every place — no place at all. The price is high. The reward is great…
What level of control do we want to exert on our environment, and what do we want to leave to grow freely, to see what happens? Perhaps if we understand deeply enough, small nudges become enough, and we are somehow kneaded into an edge of our environment ourselves. We do not need to be the main actor, or even the steward. We can just be. I imagine a funny image of a person half-covered in vines, becoming one with their environment. But really, what I mean we can accept reality for what it is, and even accept the life and death swirling around us.
How can our growing blend into our living, so that we become unafraid? At its best, the edge becomes a place of witnessing and participating in a glorious display of connectedness, because we are no longer one thing.
Here’s to spring with you all. I can’t wait! Let me know what you’re hoping for and how we can support you.
May the almonds be glorious this year, two years after the goats got out and ring barked this tree…
Glorious banana update. This is definitely, well maybe, super dwarf cavendish. As all our bananas ripen, I imagine many different varieties in our space.
Workshops
6 Sep 9-10:30 Veg growing workshop I’m slowing down a little on topic-related workshops for this year, as we plan our NPO and how to share our learning and systems more broadly. 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. |
If you are enjoying our newsletter, consider forwarding on to someone in your community. If you received this from a friend, you can sign up here
Reply