Catch and Store Energy

August 31, 2026

Hi Friend

This week I have been potting on seedlings for summer gardens and planting lettuce.

As an organic gardener I am often challenged by the hungry slugs and snails who love to mow down all my newly planted seedlings overnight.

My current strategy for overcoming this is to go out at night, with a head torch, pluck them off and drop them into a salt water solution. It feels cruel, but slightly better than snipping them in half with a pair of scissors as one friend suggested.

I only need to go two or three nights in a row. And there is the added bonus of seeing the starry night sky.

Keeping the grass down around the garden and removing stones and pieces of wood lying on the ground (they love to hide under these during the day) helps a lot, and ducks also seem to be a great help.

Copper tools have also been known to reduce the incidence of slugs and snails... If you'd like to read more about why, there is a short explanation on my faq's page linked here

If you have any other great organic solutions to slugs and snails please let me know!

I have also been thinking about the permaculture principle of Catch and Store Energy.

If you’re new here - I’m going to be exploring an ethic or principle of Permaculture each issue and thinking how I can integrate them into my whole life and not just my garden.

This week its Catch and Store Energy

The first place my mind goes when I hear Catch and Store Energy is harnessing the sun. To heat water, generate electricity and store it in batteries, or design a home to face the sun to catch the day's heat and release it at night.

These are all great! But can I take this principle a little further?

A wise friend once said to me “my time is the ultimate currency”

Time as Energy

What if I thought about my time as energy?

How could I catch and store the time I have?

I’m building a house. With each hour I spend mixing and applying plaster (today’s task!), installing widows or myriad other things - my time is stored in the walls of my home that will shelter me for many years to come.

When I spend my time scrolling on my phone - my time vanishes into nothing.

So can I think about using my time in a way that has lasting benefit for myself and others?

Rest

It could get pretty exhausting trying to store all my time, all the time!

I think rest could also be looked at as catching and storing energy.

As though we need a moment to extract the nutrients and energy from our food, from social connections and from doing things we enjoy. A pause allows us top up our stores of energy to go out and live life.

I’ve also been learning about rest as resistance. In this capitalist society choosing rest is an act of defiance against the feeling that our productivity equates to our worth.

Tricia Hersey wrote a wonderful book Rest is Resistance - I highly recommend it!

That’s all from The Shed for now, thank you for being here with me.

I would love to hear your thoughts on any of this content - please get in touch!

Next time I’ll be exploring the principle of Obtain a Yield.

Until then, happy gardening!

Beth

Ps. My favourite tool for saving time and leaving more time to be stored in other activities in the Grelinette / Broadfork.

This unique design means you can cover a large area of your garden beds in less time. The double handle means less strain on your back too!

And if your interested in Copper Tools you can check out my best selling Castor Trowel.

Grelinette / Broadfork

$325.00

Shop now

Copper Castor Trowel

$148.00

Shop now

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