Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Back To Earth...

Being a person living in an artificial and uncompassionate world of wage slavery, genetically-engineered food, and mass media bombardment in almost every corner of the city, I feel great seeing myself in this garden site digging, touching the soil and planting these organic fruit seeds. In the future, these seeds will become tree and their fruit will be shared and nourish the body of the person who will eat it…and so the BHSG. The beauty of this project will inspire, encourage, and help others appreciate the importance of growing and sharing food.

In my own view, gardening is not just planting food alone; it is about how I reconnect my self to other precious lives existing in my natural world by giving my energy back to earth. And for me, community gardening is about how we maintain and nurture a healthy relationship with other people. It is an important alternative to solve the problems we are facing such as famine, malnutrition, and even food poisoning. By doing this positive action, we can put an end to our consumption to expensive and unsustainable food available in the supermarket or fast food chains that’s heavily laden with harmful pesticides, antibiotics, artificial flavorings and preservatives.


When there are many community gardens everywhere, no one will ever experience starvation and diseases will never be that difficult to handle. When there is decentralization of food distribution in local and in the global level, surely everybody will survive in this world! Unlike now, multinational corporations, backed by corrupt governments, are constantly monopolizing the production of food while endlessly encroaching the people’s right to health and natural medicine. As a statement, BHSG project is a constant reminder that natural medicine and organic food is important and nobody should deprive us of the right to grow them and share them to others.

As people, our role on this planet is to coexist with other sacred earthly beings and experience the wholeness of nature and life. As an organization, the goal of BHSG is to provide an alternative that promotes sharing and cooperation and to educate others about the importance of community gardening especially in an organic way. In the near future, we will share our time and skills to other people so that they can also start growing food for their survival. To plant food for a healthy consumption, to cook the harvest of our patience and persistence, to share it to other people in need (involved or not involved in this project), is to bring ourselves back to earth. - By Life


Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Volunteer Action Day Six...

The newest volunteers...Ian and Jay

weeds to manage

Healthy food for the volunteers

Volunteer action day five...

Planning the work

Working the plan

The search for tools and more volunteers...


While searching for the right shop to buy the necessary gardening tools (in the future!), we posted this message to appropriate places.



Different kinds of bolo



Various shapes of shovel



For the harvest in the future!

The Office...

"To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves" -Gandhi



It is kind of unimaginable how everything slowly builds up; it's so great to see ideas slowly grow and struggle its way up into existence. Like a seed, becoming a life itself - a being. And so, I am very happy to be the instrument in the birth of this garden and as part of the process, too, I am now starting to germinate. I never had experience of "real" gardening before and as a child detached from the beauty of natural reality, deprived of the idea of "healthy life", i didn't mind living in a world of adverts, pesticides and fast food toys. Although eating junk in a fast food restaurant like Jollibee or McDonalds is a very seldom thing for me to do when I was a child (because I came from a poor family), I still see through the lens of the past that I was a victim of this "grand experiment". Unfortunately, I am not living in a comforting and sincere society so nobody cares what happen to the water, the air or the food that we consume... and so nobody teach about the importance of gardening and living an organic life.


But now, I feel very lucky to be in this place; with library full of important ideas and inspiring stories, it is here at this place that a Sharing Garden project in the Philippines was born - a humble house, full of memories of both wonderful times and stupidity - is now naturally becoming a womb bearing the dream of health and abundance. Hearing that our story is now unfolding, some of our friends are very happy and are now willing to help in their own little ways. As a gift, I will treasure and develop this knowledge and skills and i will continue working to make everything possible.


While waiting for the donation of seeds to arrive (thanks to Llyn and Chris!), we are now planning for future activities and work.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Volunteer Action Day Four...

So this is the 4th day since we started the actual work in the site. With the growing number of volunteers and the contagious enthusiasm that they have, I am safe to say that this will go on. By the way, here are the few tools that we have for the moment, it's one of the reasons why the process is so slow...

Anyway, here are the new volunteers...four nice energetic kids!

Fresh banana from the neighbor...

New Volunteers...

 Welcome to Sharing Garden!


Jek Jek


"I'm Ading, 10 years existing here on this planet earth. I heartily volunteer as one of the gardener because I want to help and get involved in this "sharing garden" project."



"My parents gave me a name Jan, 11 years of age. I work as a volunteer in this meaningful ''sharing garden''. It's exciting to be with other volunteers especially because we can play while working."


 
Kristoffer

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Volunteer action day one








Orientation and brainstorming...




The Volunteers...


RINGO - An experienced gardener, he's one of the most active in planning the garden system.


"My given name is Ricky. I decided to join the gardening to help others. I strongly believe that it's not too stressful if we merge our energy and work together."


His name is Thirdy, 7 years old and the youngest volunteer (as of now). He wants to learn about gardening that's why he joined the group. He prefer working together in a team. Aside from gardening, he's also interested to learn woodworking and painting.

 

CHRYZEL - Shy but keen



"I'm Soy, I am interested to join this project because I want to learn more about planting different varieties of vegetables. It's fun and easy if the volunteers are many."


TONETTE - 10 years old. She joined the group because she wants to help in protecting the environment through planting. She's also interested in writing and painting. She also likes the idea of doing-things-together so the work can be done easily. She wants to cook the harvest and share it to everybody. When asked about other activities that she would like to have, camping was her answer.


MIGUEL - Like other kids, he wants to help other people in need. That is why he joined the group and he is also interested in protecting the environment. He is 10 years old and he likes to work in a group and also would be happy to share some of the harvest to other people. He likes to suggest an art class within the gardening club and he wishes to plant broccoli, sunflower, tomato, squash and potatoes...


FRANCO - Funny and nice, he also likes to help the group so he can contribute something to other people in need and at the same time help protect the environment against pollution and exploitation. He's the first person who asked me a couple of times about the project. After i informed him, he tries to come every morning asking when should we start doing the talk. He likes to help with the blog and also interested in painting, woodworking, writing and camping. He is 9 years old


WILL - Motivated. Cooperative.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A personal view of the garden...

Greetings to all of you! Everybody knows except for some few things, there is nothing really new in this so called “new year”. It’s a celebration for most people, but they don’t really know why and for what. Many people feel it’s another start, another journey, but what they are doing seems the same, the many boring long years of obedience and repetitive emptiness inside the grocery store, food chain, hardware shops, business offices and many more. In reality, the only thing that changed are: the name of the month - from December to January, and the sign of the year, from 2011 to 2012.

But this is not a message of despair or discouragement; rather it is a call to really start “something”. It is not easy, but it is also not hard. For this year, me and my friends finally decided to start a garden! In this way, we can minimize our dependence to fossil fuel economy and help in the process of healing ourselves from the sufferings brought by many crises in this time of history.
 
I think it was 3 or 4 years ago since I “imagined” a garden in a community model. With few members at the beginning working together voluntarily, contributing what they can to improve the garden, it will suddenly grow larger and spread. That’s all I can remember. But it is great to have thoughts like this knowing that it is a very important thing to do. A simple step of planting food even at your own backyard can be the most practical solution to one of the most serious crises we humans are facing today- hunger and malnutrition. In the middle of this desolate city run by machines, rubbishes and numbers, screeching drastically thru the wheels of rusty vehicles while breathing smog of industrial cancer, some people are lucky enough to have a chance to plant and grow seeds!

If i can remember few reasons why i desired to grow a garden, here are some:

 
1. To minimize the dependence on transnational oil companies and stop the unnecessary consumption of oil in producing food

2. I want to stop supporting the unjust and oppressive capitalist economy

3. I want to stop supporting Monsanto and other companies that contributes to air and water pollution, human toxicity, genetic engineering, and patent ownership on nature

 
4. I want to minimize and slowly stop the damages contributed by using pesticides, herbicides, and other harmful synthetic chemicals used for farming

5. I want the pleasure of growing, taking care of, harvesting, eating,and sharing food with my friends and neighbors


So, these are only some of the problems in the way we grow and get our food today. The promise of modern science and efficient economics. This should never continue. Unless conscious people like us give up (with our young energy, beautiful aspirations and strengthening spirit) the world will end up lost in this self-consuming mega-money machine economy. So before this dystopian state arrive, we will finally decide to turn the course into another direction - in certainty, respect, empathy, and harmony with nature. As a concerned individual, I am helping this group and we will try to make meaningful actions for our community. Thanks to these children, I am very happy to be one of the volunteers and this is my simple action. Let us all grow - in spirit and in creativity.