Rev. Andy 🐺 🌿 @andy@mentalhealth.social

My #introduction toot!

I'm Andy and I'm the admin of mentalhealth.social.

My interests are covered in my profile. On #mentalhealth I've briefly known the Black Dog in the past and work hard to keep him on a leash. My wife lives with #BPD bundled with #anxiety and #depression (though has a grip on all of them) and her illnesses are one of the things that drive me to be so passionate about #MH support and care. Which is why I set up this Masto instance; a safe place to socialise and chat. 👍

Tomatoes, chillis, lettuce x 18 (seed), marigolds (companion plant), radishes x 96 (seed), spring onions x 128 (seed) and strawberries at the back. Knackered now.

The soil is very warm at around 7cm (still fermenting and steaming), but all of the seeds are shallow planted, 1-2cm, so I'm not worried. We'll plant more out later in the week, assuming we dodge most of the rain. Plenty more seeds in the folder... #squarefoot #gardening

Autism-friendly, square foot (-ish) #gardening raised beds...done. I'm taking next weekend off. 😂

We also have compost to spare, surprisingly. That's in the region of 5,250 litres - about 2.5 tons.

A couple of days of watering in and then we'll start planting out our plugs, seedlings, and putting some seeds straight in.

Gratuitous "finished the first raised bed" selfie. #gardening

One pallet down. It really smells like shit. This is a good thing. I also smell like shit. This is less good. 😂

Have taken delivery of three pallets (6000 litres) of multipurpose, peat-free compost. Busy weekend ahead of me...and I still don't think it'll be enough to fill both of the raised beds once it's settled. 😆

#gardening

First raised bed done and level. I'll finish the next one over the weekend. Seems I've also got myself a new, semi-skilled apprentice.

#gardening #birds

We're getting there with the #garden. Current task is building two 2.1m x 4.2m raised beds. Hoping to become a bit more self sufficient from this (no dig method, year round veg). As with all things, one day at a time.

A few days from now I'll be 11 months sober. I can honestly say, I'm the most balanced, centred, mindful and relaxed right now than I've ever been in my whole adult life. Life is good. I am happy.

Well, except for the price of timber. 😂

#Gardening #MentalHealth

my Fight kicking in. Just like it did six years ago. Just like I talked over with my trauma therapist. The exact. Same. Feelings. I managed them, so that's good. They no longer take control of me and remain there, energised and angry and waiting. But today I feel _exhausted_ and totally devoid of energy.

I guess the physical effects of trauma may never leave. I'm okay with that, it is what it is. I can manage and cope and not let it dominate me. But yes.

The Body Keeps The Score.

2/2

The Body Keeps The Score.

It really, really does. I had a rough encounter yesterday with someone with a history of abuse towards my family. This person tends to avoid me (I assume because I'm not an easy target) but decided otherwise yesterday. Bad idea. I retained my composure and handled the situation well (I think) but it impacted me for the rest of the day. By the time the evening hit, my mind was fine but my body was still coiled, tense, and I could feel those physical effects of 1/2

As promised, before and after (well, current) photos of our #garden project. It was a mess. Depression, anxiety, personal problems, and my own unhealthy relationship with booze have meant what was a lawned garden a decade ago, became an overgrown mess.

Maybe it's all a giant metaphor for self improvement and the hard work we've put into life in the last few years. Or something. Whatever. It's mindful. It's present. It's nurturing and creative and life-bringing. We're enjoying it. 😁🌿

This week I've started using a rotavator on the #garden. I really should post some before (neglected for years, thanks #MentalHealth) and after pictures at some point. I've been prepping the soil for 20m2 of raised beds. It feels good to get my hands dirty again. We have other spaces planned.

Contrary to what certain people around here might think, I grew up in a gardening family. That and a couple of years of undergrad Plant Science and I'm not the world's worst gardener.

I was going to say this makes me unreasonably angry, but thinking about it, I think the anger is perfectly fucking reasonable.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/may/12/idaho-wolves-environment-animals-policy

Happy Beltane! Today I shall be celebrating the Sabbat by patching some servers and then smashing a concrete coal bunker to smithereens with a sledgehammer. Hail Eris!

I ache. But six hours in the garden today on top of what we've been doing all week and we have an almost clear back garden. Second skip lifted, third skip dropped on the drive. Everything feels manageable for the first time in ages. #MentalHealth is great, physical health isn't bad for a tubby middle-aged nerd, and I'm actually enjoying life. And to top it all off, got my #3 at tte barber's at 8am this morning, first cut since July '20.

Tomorrow I'm going to chisel a coal bunker into pieces. 😁

We've made more impact on working on our fixer upper and it's Jumanji-like garden in the last few weeks than in years. Jo spent most of the day tearing up brambles and weeds and I knocked some stuff down and chucked it in the skip after work. Eldest followed up with a couple of hours of clearing undergrowth.

(a) I'd forgotten how good this sort of thing is for mental health and (b) I can see things taking shape now. Feels good.

#gardening #diy

Just been invited for my second jab tomorrow morning. Short notice, so I wonder if they're getting through the remains of a batch of Pfizer. No matter though, not going to turn it down! Scratch the DIY on Saturday. 😂

I've hit a wall in writing. Every time I try to add punk to Georgian/Regency/Victorian England, even working hard to come up with a hard science alternative timeline to the Industrial Revolution, I end up with something too close to steampunk. And I can't stand steampunk.

So I'm going back to what I know. Hard sci fi, the physics of intra-Solar System space travel, cyberpunk, transhumanity. But trying to keep my ideas on social class disparity in place. Warming up by rewatching Elysium. 😎

Frambled the shit outta my eggs this morning, I feel so cool. 😂