Here I am, since a few days, in the Algarve in Portugal,
living my new life as a nomad. In exchange for a roof over our head, Richard
and I are helping somebody a few hours a day with some DIY and gardening tasks.
This morning, I was asked to cut back some stems of a
papyrus plant, the ones overgrowing the
path. When I brought the cuttings to the chickens, because they seem to like
it, I could hardly pass another papyrus plant on my way with the wheel barrow.
I decided that this one could do with some attention as well. Parts of it were
dry and brown, rather than lush and green.
It turned out to be an interesting gardening experience.
Is started with cutting back on one side whatever was over
the path, green or brown. For some reason, I felt the whole experience was like
cutting a person’s hair. To play with that thought, I made a remark in my mind
to the customer, that I was intending to create a nice haircut, so he would
look al fresh and nice again and could create healthy new growth.
A slightly different approach for removing the dead stems from
the plant occurred to me and I decided to try it. I pulled on the end of one,
and the stem came out completely. So, rather than cutting it away ( and leaving
the bottom end), I could remove easily everything. It was less effort than
bending down and squeeze the secateurs and there was no damage to the living
stems of the plant.
I removed 3 or 4 wheelbarrows full of dead plant
material ( yes, it is a huge plant). It
struck me that this plant wasn’t as healthy looking as the one I had cut back
earlier, in another part of the garden. I wondered why this one seemed to be
struggling.
During the work, I became aware of the answer to that
question. This part of the garden wasn’t linked to the irrigation system, so it
was probably lacking water. Furthermore,
I felt strongly that it was also lacking food.
Part of the task was to fill in two holes created by the
dog. I just happened to know where the pile of manure was, so I decided to feed
the plant and gave it a lot of water too.
3 Hours later, the customer had a wonderful haircut and a
good treatment for new growth. I was quite pleased with it.
You may call me mad. ( Although I call myself the opposite J (a) no-mad) but it
felt a co-creation process. It wasn’t just me, cutting away vigorously in the
garden. I felt guided in how to treat the plant in the best way. I was doing
the task with full attention and sending out questions, on how to do it well,
to encourage the new growth and do its beauty justice.
Send = receive , so the answers
found me. And in paying attention, I picked them up too!
