The sweetness of reaping what you sow…

Last week I wrote about the garden becoming a small pleasure for my partner and I during all of this upheaval in our lives.The Simple Life — Gardening Our Secret PleasureWhether you have limited room in an apartment or balconymedium.com

What I didn’t write about though, was the best part of growing all this stuff.

Harvesting what we have grown. Enjoying food we grew ourselves and trying new ideas.

Again whether you have a small growing box in an apartment or you have a garden. The limits are those you set yourself.

We are lucky we have a few fruit trees and enough room to grow a lot of veg.

We have cherries, apricots, strawberries’, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, and potatoes all doing their thing.

The summer started with the strawberries. Now we are onto the cherries and apricots. Soon enough they will be gone and the tomatoes will take center stage.

We also have a few vines which we rescued in spring. If we are lucky we will have some grapes this year as well.

Despite the harsh winters in Central Asia, we get about 6 months of the year where we can enjoy the garden.

The simple life

Life is full of pressure, stress, and uncertainty. Modern life takes a toll on us that’s for sure.

I get to spend an hour a day outside with no distractions. At that time right now when I’m picking our fruit. It feels like an eternity.

I can breathe, I can think, I can enjoy the silence.

It’s my time uninterrupted by social media, by email or WhatsApp or anything else.

There is a joy and freedom in that time that’s hard to express.

Is this the 1920s or the 2020s???

I’m so used to going and buying what we need. When you pick what you grow the options are endless.

In the last few weeks, we have been enjoying our produce.

Jams, fruit juices, pies, preserved fruit. These are things we have been able to make ourselves.

I can see why in the past people took so much pride in what they could make themselves. It’s simple, fun and the pride of making it yourself makes the end product taste much sweeter.

There is also an opportunity to learn new skills. Anything from pasteurization to making Kilner jar mechanisms and seals.

Its been great fun.

It brings us back to the circular economy our grandparents knew

One cherry tree, for example, is going to produce more cherries than you could ever want.

Trust me, we are over cherries. Next week I can guarantee I’ll say the same thing about apricots.

What we can’t or won’t preserve is given to friends. It’s great, in return we get some beers, or some volunteers to come to help us out.

Young kids of friends and family get to see and taste nature in action.

No money passes hands and why should it. This is about sharing what we have with each other.

What’s next?

For us next on the horizon it’s the turn of the vegetables. If we are lucky we may also see some grapes.

Other than that it’s just continuing to learn.

Maybe we will make some more room for planting as we are maxed out at the moment.

Other than that, the plan is to enjoy this time.

If we hadn’t been stuck at home so long this year. The garden would have remained a place to sunbathe.

Today its a sanctuary to work, learn and relax in.

Maybe we will make some more room for planting as we are maxed out at the moment.

Other than that, the plan is to enjoy this time.

If we hadn’t been stuck at home so long this year. The garden would have remained a place to sunbathe.

Today its a sanctuary to work, learn and relax in.

What more could we ask of life?