3 years ago I set foot for the first time the organic gardens and now it is time to say goodbye, do balance of experience and see everything what this project has meant in my life.
Beyond learned about organic farming (types of crops and their associations, pest control, soil preparation …), I take a much deeper learning , something that did not seek input and really has changed my life .
If you’re considering starting a garden, rental or otherwise, or call your attention the idea, if only a little, be sure to see everything I’ve learned over the 3 years of renting an organic garden:
To respect the rhythms
The nature and plants have their time and their rhythms are not always the same, depend on weather conditions, crop type, land … for an impatient person like me (itself the current lifestyle tends to hurries immediate), follow the growth of a crop has made me appreciate every little change and enjoy the process , beyond the final result.
I learned to relax and take a slower pace than you used to.
A change my perception of effort and work
There are moments in the garden that is way too much, and results are hardly working. Designing crops, land preparation, terracing, seed and planting, control pests, weeds and any contingency … and hope everything goes well. They are times of great effort and little immediate reward, even though the benefits may far exceed the work invested.
It is an uncertain task but very rewarding, where you learn from mistakes and reaping things you surprised you did not expect.
All this has helped me to change my perception of work (I always was a paid the usual lot “work-cashing”) and helped me to take my projects self – employment with the assurance that good information, coupled with the effort and illusion, just bearing fruit although not exactly what we thought not come immediately.
To try to fulfill the dreams
Not how many times in my life I’ve heard phrases like “someday I’ll do this or that”, always conditioned to hypothetical situations “where … the need … when you can …”.
It is quite possible that you also have heard you say them more than once, is not it? Usually they are things that are said without much conviction, sometimes with the certainty that never will and others with them a hidden truth, I summon the courage to take the plunge. I always wanted to have a garden and grow my own food, but living in an apartment in a city, it seemed illusory. When I met the project Antonio, the place I loved and encouraged me to try, it was not exactly “my dream” but it made me be a little closer to him…
And in the end it was the prelude to make it happen …
… Live in a natural environment…
… To cultivate in my own home…
Now I know that if I had not taken the step, if he had not trying, I would never have had the courage to fulfill my dream.
Projects come with heart and effort
That November 2012 that convinced my boy to approach to know each orchards rent of those who knew through the BAH (Under the Asphalt is the Huerta, a group of production and consumption of Madrid), not me I imagine the enormous development that could come to have that place. Antonio told us ideas and improvements that arose do, but also its limitations and (I must admit) did not believe that things were to get as many as I wanted.
Today, I can you tell that not only got everything in record time, but has done so much more and beyond logistics orchards , we were able to enjoy the greenhouse, henhouse, pool in summer, toilets, barbecue, tables and picnic area, parking, playground and swings and even a tree house (which my kids love it ).
It has taken all this thanks to the enthusiasm and love that has already made him a huge dose of effort.
A true happiness lies in the basics, essentially
These three years have been very intense at home. The arrival of 2 babies, finishing a Master ‘s thesis, self – employment projects, several courses, intensive training in Naturopathy and daily rhythm of house, family, dog … we really enjoyed it all, but there have been moments (and many) of oppression and physical, mental and emotional exhaustion .
In all this time they break the garden have been like an oxygen tank, a space that come and work, work and enjoy, without thinking of anything else. We have truly been happy pruning tomato plants or removing adventitious (yes, yes, removing adventitious too), watching Erik Noa and enjoy being outdoors, planting and watch the plants grow.