"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings" | Masanobu Fukuoka | Japanese farmer, and philosopher.
I was recently introduced to Masanobu Fukuoka's vital quote and the "natural farming" or do nothing farming" from one of the permaculture blogs I was following on YouTube. When I heard it for the first time, everything made sense to me.
This piece is not an exploration of that method. Well, for one, I am still a novice gardener. Second, given my current limitations (living in a highly urban environment with nothing but a tiny balcony garden to boot), I don't have space and resources to pull it off as much as I want it. Not just yet.
You know what they say, a real gardener knows the benefits of gardening aren't just physical or technical skills. This week's blog post is precisely about that: there is more to gardening beyond growing and harvesting. Somethings that are much bigger than ourselves.
I thought I'd share some of the learnings that stand out for me gathered from my still modest but growing gardening experience.
My tiny food forest helps me rewild and feel alive
I've always felt a deep affinity with nature growing up, as you can read here. But if you are like me who have been living in a culture of busyness and ticking off the to-do list after to-do list, you understand what I mean. Somehow, my inner wild child faded into the background. I lost that bond, totally disconnected from my roots. I felt lost, and nothing seems to fill that void.
When I started our balcony garden two years ago, it all came back to me like a slide show—that familiar, magical green itch. The sense of wonder, gratitude, and appreciation for all the little miracles growing and evolving naturally all around us. I found my happy place, my present moment and you know what, it's made of green!
Go ahead and laugh, but touching the soil grounds me
I am not a glove-type person at all. I have gardening gloves in the back pocket ready for use, but gardening without them happens a lot of the time. Call it crazy, but I love the whole getting-in-the-dirt mess when I'm working in the garden. Isn't that what real gardening is - connecting with the natural world with all our five senses fully awakened?
Yeah, I agree to some extent about keeping our hands safe than sorry, but some things stick with me. Feeling the soft earth crumbles between my fingers. Connecting with the diverse (and possibly "creepy") wonders hidden there. Drinking in all the magical sights, sounds, and smells that come with it. Ah, being outdoors surrounded by all these green and beautiful things gives me a great feeling of humility!
Plants feel the same way about us
All living things deserve respect, love, and kindness to flourish. Sounds familiar? Yes, just as much we humans hope to receive from others in this life. It's not rocket science to know what this means and how they manifest in so many ways.
When it comes to our garden, it's a hands-down a love-love relationship. For example, this week, I got a handful of fresh and delicious greens. What a better way to return the favour than supercharging their soil and improving their growth with a simple concoction of home-made fertilizers from scraps? All it takes is a gentle, loving hand to show we care and build mutual respect. I'm ready for another delicious harvest next week!
It's those small things that bring me child-like joy
The thing that gives me the most satisfaction, the most joy are those little things. As I tended daily to our garden, I now have a better sense of how the sun plays around all day. I have become more aware of the changes happening in the garden. I'd marvel at how a single seed sprouts into a new life. How much they grow, sometimes in a matter of hours. When they start to produce flowers. Then finally mature into vegetables, we can harvest and eat.
It's the best of both worlds: we get to witness nature, and its awesomeness unfolds before our eyes while having the satisfaction of knowing that we are part it. So happy!
Starting over, and over, is not so bad
Back in the days, when seeds don't see the light of day, I would sow the same seeds again in the same conditions and hope for a different result. You know what, Einstein call that crazy (and that's not the only crazy thing I've done as you can read here). How quickly I have forgotten that. If starting a garden is a test, you can say that I have flunked the entrance exam and the next, big time.
I have gotten better through the years, but still not anything close to high. After a lot of practice, experimentation, reaching out to other gardeners, and a good bit of studying, my herbs are staying alive much longer now than the earlier two-week record. If things don't work, my natural response now is not to get upset about it, but to figure out what's wrong, try something new or different and give it another shot. It works like magic every time!
Every delicious harvest requires time and hard work
I was surprised by the time it takes to start, let alone maintain a thriving garden. Patience was not something I'm used to, especially at the beginning of my gardening journey. It's all the more difficult to develop patience when we live in a world overflowing with instant gratification and an insatiable hunger for the planet's limited resources. That all changed for me, slowly over time.
There is also nothing more humbling than finally knowing that food doesn't magically appear out of thin air. It takes time and hard work by someone to grow and provide the most seemingly simple foods we eat. In time, I have learned to wait day after day for the seeds to germinate, flourish, and bear fruit and mature enough to harvest. The feeling of pride seeing all my efforts pay off as my balcony transforms into a garden, and knowing that my edibles are free from harmful pesticides is like nothing else. The excitement I get in anticipation of something fresh, tasty, and nutritious produce, and cooking the things we grow. Nothing could beat that!
All it takes is a little imagination and creativity
Gardening and creativity, what's the connection? Listen up; it's everything! In addition to gaining some problem-solving skills as elaborated above, gardening taught me, or more precisely, sparked and awakened the let's try everything spirit within. I'm not talking about crafty, DIY kind of things. Crafting never appealed to me; they seemed so daunting you won't find art or craft stuff in our house or the garden. What gardening taught me though, was to see the value of reducing, reusing, and recycling whatever materials we have (but that’s another conversation for another time).
Forget everything you know about everyday scraps and trash. The truth is, they don't have to end up in the trash bin, landfill, or slough off in the natural environment as litter. Yes, every dollar counts and making anything out of something for our garden (I'm talking to you milk tea cups, juice containers, plastic tubs, food leftovers) saves us some hard cash. How else can a gardener possibly do to make a real difference in the world? There are many ways, but first, let's get voting folks and see if I can get the reuser award!
That’s it folks, at least for now
I could go on and on about lessons learned from gardening. But I think it's your turn now to share. Please leave them in the comments!
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