30 Days Wild: Days 22 – 24

I have not taken a holiday in a long time. A combination of finance, health and time constraints have meant that I’ve tended to stay at home and make my own entertainment over the last few years. There’s a reason I use recycled materials in my crafting, aside from sustainability (which I’m also passionate about). They’re free – and with enough glue and glitter, magical things can emerge.

One of the reasons I love gardening so much, and set up GrowEatGift.com, is that it’s one of the cheapest ways to have fun . Even if you’re skint, you can create a garden somewhere and somehow – particularly given the number of low cost stores. Wilko, The Works and Flying Tiger are my favourites for quirky but affordable stuff. You can also choose from a huge selection at pound stores. I always work out whether the cost of the produce is more than the cost of the seeds. If so, I can justify spending the money. And that’s before you even get into seed swapping…

Sharing Though Growing

Gardening is one of the easiest ways to share. I have cuttings and seeds from numerous friends and family members, and have re-gifted many cuttings taken from plant gifts so it’s the gift that keeps growing. Getting outdoors and growing things also offers mental and physical health benefits, gets you out in the sunshine (or rain but there’s still Vitamin D knocking around) and can feed you – and make budget food taste less dull. It offers entertainment, exercise, connection and growth bundled into one affordable joy. I feel that should end with a, ‘Yay, gardening!’ so perhaps I’ve gone too far.

Anyway, to get back to days 22-24, it was holiday time. This also meant shutting the computer and switching off the phone (aside from taking photos and tweeting in the car on the way there and back, of course – there’s too much fun of the #30DaysWild hashtag to miss). As such, I didn’t take lots of notes. Add in a phone death (or at least serious ailment) and my diary was lost, making it hard to be chronologically correct. So instead, I’ll show days 22-25 in pictures.