I’ve started to put together a list of the things I would want to buy if I went shopping. What have I used a lot of? The new rues say you can only shop if you are buying essential items. You can buy luxury items if they are also in the shop. Likewise you can buy DIY supplies to make essential repairs, but you can’t buy things to make improvements.
Quite a thin line to walk really. So when I did my list I thought I would go over it and mark the things I would call essential as opposed to luxury. This will vary for all of us, for example vegans are unlikely to mark meat products as essential. So I guess there is a bit of personal in the essential.
After I finished the process I was quite surprised at how few items on my list really were essential. On the DIY front I really would like some topsoil or compost to improve the soil quality (my garden becomes a sand pit over time) but there is that word “improve”. So does that make it wrong – I mean it would be to produce my own food?
One of the things I remember from my trip to Nicaragua was that the audits of the villages (before support) showed that several people lived off around 5 staples. They didn’t have a rack of spices to season their food, they just had a small number of things they ate day after day after day. It wasn’t essential to go for a big Mac because there was no Big Mac to have. Such a limited diet was not healthy, but then it does question just how much of what we eat is not really essential.
This fits in with my attempts to re-use things. I have bought plant pots before, but actually I have also thrown away tubs that could just as easily been adapted to become plant pots. I can still remember my father using old window frames to build cold frames to bring on seedlings.
What is really essential in my life? Not as much as the pre-lockdown me used to buy.
Aside from that I also had a surprise package today – now sitting in the de-virus zone for two days. Looks like a package of seeds from Germany. Looking forward to opening it and discovering what I have to plant. Hoping there is a toilet paper plant in the packet.
My planting has gone well so far this year – my onions are growing at a really impressive rate – they clearly like the sandy soil. Only two varieties of seed have still to germinate . both chili plants. I am determined I will get one variety to grow – the Mexican chipotle (this is a challenge from Cesar who likes the taste of home).
Slowly I am getting re-arranged ready to dismantle my old shed. I wonder if I could use the parts to build a cold frame?