From Vasile Nutescu, garden farming responsible:
Hi, my name is Vasile and I am from Romania and I want to talk about gardening, organic gardening.
Why organic? Because it’s healthy. Because in order to have good and healthy food we DON’T need chemicals.
I come from a small village in north of Romania. It’s an area where even now days most of the agriculture and gardening are made organically and traditionally. I grew up with gardening and I learned what I know that way. Throughout the years I also worked in industrial agriculture so I also have an understanding of the other side of producing food in large scale. And at the same time I managed to see the downside of that industry. The negative effect on nature, animals, people - basically the whole environment.
I joined CICD in 2018. I wanted to give back, because somehow I consider myself lucky compared to others. So I joined the five months Climate Activist programme for India. I did my Gaia period in CICD and I saw that they have a garden. Because I love gardening and working with nature I decided to stay and work in the garden after my return from India. My gardening period started in May 2019 upon my return from the project. Since then it has been a slow and pleasant process of upgrading the garden I found here.
What role does our garden play here at CICD?
One important thing is showing the people that growing your own food isn’t rocket science. That if you put some effort and commitment you get food and satisfaction.
And at the same time you won’t need the gym anymore or yoga or antidepressants - and even your mind will start to calm down. Seems strange at first how gardening can do that, but it’s possible. All you need to do is to be “bona fide”.
But here at CICD we also use the goods that our garden provides in our own kitchen. We have from spices to potatoes and from lettuce to tomatoes. Due to our greenhouse the tomatoes can be a substantial part of the menu. Because here the climate is not so friendly to them so we decided to move them inside where they thrive and provide good harvest.
A door to becoming self-sustainable
Of course the quantities aren’t enough to be self-sustainable but it opens a door in the future for that. Because if we look nowadays at the world we see that one of the biggest problems still remains food shortage. Now think how that would change if more people learn how to grow all or part of their food? That’s a good thought!
And next to our vegetables we have also chicken, geese and ducks. And you can’t have better eggs that those from your own birds. The birds that you feed or you see running around after worms and bugs. No steroids, no overcrowding, no cannibalism. Just normal birds as they should be.
At the same time the garden is open to all of our volunteers. They can participate in the daily tasks (feeding the birds, giving them water, collecting the eggs, watering the garden and most important feeding our guard dog – Hummus) or in bigger tasks like digging, sowing seeds, transplanting, making raised beds and all the things that are needed in the garden at that time.
Are you thinking about making your own garden or giving it a try somewhere else?
I say go for it! Arm yourself with patience (gardening is a process, not just an outcome) and a bit of basic information and in time you will see that it will become a part of your life.
You don’t want to do it for the food? Do it for the other things that I mentioned before.
Are you worried about the space that you have or you don’t have? Gardening can be done wherever you want: roof, greenhouse, lawn, vertical, horizontal, normal beds, raised beds, on water, in pots, in bags and even in your house. All you need to do is to research a bit and put you mind to it.
Look at the world today with the Covid 19 pandemic. What people are stocking up (beside toilet paper)? Lots and lots of food. Now think how happy are the ones that have a garden right now!
