Gardening

I can’t offer an English lawn. It’s more of an experimental field where I invite every bee - be it wild or honeybee - to stay. And always like a bit of a vacation. Only much closer.

I really like my garden, except for one detail: it’s too small. But that will improve. Apart from that, I can no longer imagine life “without” it. Apart from barbecues and a glass of white wine on a warm summer’s night, this refuge simply offers me so much:

• Meditation: Meditating in the sunshine is one thing. But letting your thoughts be your thoughts while plucking weeds and being completely with yourself has a great quality.
• Living seasons: Strawberries in winter. Difficult. Apples in spring. No. At some point everything will have faded and grown out. Then comes the fruit. And then the pulling back and resting until the next spring. In my efforts to live the seasons more, especially when it comes to food, the garden always reminds me and shows me what’s in season. More than the supermarket, whether organic or not.
• Feeling: As a self-confessed barefoot runner, I enjoy the meadow, the moss, the earth and the sand with every step.
• Earthing: After a few days on the screen, reaching into the damp earth is really soothing. Preferably with a worm in it. After that it’s easier to type again.
• Created: Raised bed and sandpit simply handmade instead of from the DIY store. I thought out and installed the irrigation system myself. Tied up a vine trellis, yes - there’s always something to do - Yippie-yippie-yippie-yippie-yeah
• Food: Gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, red and blackcurrants, blackberries, hazelnuts (well, just a few), tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, onions, radishes, carrots (and carrots 😉 ), rhubarb, cultivated and wild herbs, peaches, plums, pears, apples, … It’s all there, isn’t it?
• Special features: I am fascinated by rarities and special features. The apple tree has 4 different varieties. The tomatoes range from the dark “Black Plum” to hairy tomatoes and the practical “travel tomato”, which grows in portions. In the herb bed, nettles for smoothies grow alongside a few varieties of mint for tea, where I also use up the surplus leaves from the vine. In the other corner are Jerusalem artichokes, which I can also do a lot with.
• Working: Nature is one of my favorite places to work. The fresh air and the sounds of nature really get me into the flow. And there’s almost nowhere I’m more productive than on the terrace or in a beach chair with my notebook.

There are about 5 bats buzzing around above me at the moment. After my major ear operation last year, I’m still happy to hear them. How lovely. Oh, I can hear the hedgehog coming. I have to go. Good night.