Man-Guardian of Creation

 Why I Love Gardening

I did not go to church last Sunday because I wanted to finish  our front  garden that weekend.  While I was tying the Bougainvillea to put them to order and cutting the overgrown branches, the missionary who lives in our 2^nd floor arrived from mass.  So with the ice cream man with his appealing ice “buko”, so it was a perfect time for a break.  Rev. Torres sat with me under the neat bougainvillea arc  that I just managed to trim and tied  in place.  He did not admonish  me for escaping the Sunday Service but explained the spiritual significance of gardening.

He made me understand that God created the universe and empowered man as steward.  He said, the Lord gave a very simple assignment, “take care of the earth and everything on it. “ Everything man needs was provided for, he just have to labor for it by simply enjoying and taking care of nature.  In the evening I listened to the news of radiation in Japan and bombing of Libya, even the social media is full of  troubles and miseries resulting from the disobedience and defiance of man to just simply enjoy nature.  Man’s wanting for power and wealth opened the Pandora’s box and so everyone has to run for cover from the rage of nature and  the destructive impact of  man- made tools.  The Guardians are now haunted because they fall asleep on their Job and abused their authority over everything on the land. Here is an article that says we failed to be a good steward of the earth:

We have failed bitterly at being good stewards by focusing on our own needs. What was given to us to protect we have exploited. We have systematically cleared millions of acres of ancient rainforests and jungles. We have over-fished the waters and hunted birds and wild animals. We have plundered the mountains and fields for natural resources without any strategies for conservation. Read more
 

When I got done with my day’s gardening, I thought of writing a blog about it for the incoming earth day. Growing up in a farm, I learned gardening early in my childhood.  At that time it was a chore and a responsibility.  I thought of gardening as hard labor and used to dream that when I grow up, I will do other things and go places rather than the gardens and fields. At some point in my life, I enjoyed living in the cities where I do not have to tend plants and animals.  But when the time came for us to find a home of our own, I wanted a house with a garden so we have to go farther from downtown and chose to live in the suburb.  I started with flowers, now we have fruit trees, herb and vegetable plots in our backyard and I am the gardener.  


Unlike my childhood days, I look forward to weekends or free time to work in our garden.  As the children grow older our lawn gets smaller as I keep extending the vegetable plot. I also like mixing flowers with the vegetables.  I moved my strawberry plants into pots so I can move them easily to shade when it is too warm or when the rain pours.  There were times I’ve been tempted to put up a green house but I decided to keep it natural because I dislike enclosures and fences. Now I know that natural gardening is more environmentally friendly.

Here are some of the reasons why I love Gardening:

1.       The fresh air - Gardening gets me outdoors, exposed to natural air, and sunbathing while being productive.

2.      Exercise – the different garden activities offers me different form of exercise.  Bending, climbing to trim the conifers, walking and moving in the garden to and fro, raking, shoveling and digging. 

3.      Organic, fresh vegetables and fruits -  I do not use any chemical fertilizer and pesticide.  I raise herbs and certain varieties of vegetables that I can pick to mix with whatever dish I’m cooking . The spring onions, tomatoes and other greens always come in handy. We can also pick fresh fruits and eat them under its tree.  During the onset of the rainy season I usually plant sweet corn under the fruit trees, when we harvest, they go straight in the kitchen.  They are certainly much sweeter and tastier.

4.      Unwinding and relaxation – Aside from relaxing while working in the garden  I also enjoy having my coffee in hand  early in the mornings while walking around the garden enjoying the flower blooms, checking the fruits trees, the growing seedlings or pulling some weeds.

5.      Fresh cut flowers – I love flowers indoors too and having them in our garden is very convenient.  I go cut some blooms and arrange them on the vases without having to go to the market whenever I wish to replace a flower arrangement on the table.

The joy of watching the kids hunting for ripe strawberries with their friends

In my advocacy for prevention is better than cure, I learned  the three most basic but significant to staying healthy and longevity;  diet, exercise and simple living.  Strengthening our body to ward off diseases, using  natural health alternatives and to  avoid pharmaceutical drugs as much as possible.  Wellness starts from our diet, unfortunately as more people become health conscious about the food they eat, organic foods are hard to find. The use of excessive chemical fertilizer and pesticides in our agriculture products  make us  skeptical of eating vegetables raw.  To avoid the chemicals from the farm inputs, we overcook our vegetables  and peel  the fruits that our body can otherwise benefit from their rinds. 


Kudos to those companies, experts and investors who are not merely capitalists but  who invest on organic research and formulate organic fertilizers and pesticides. We now have alternatives to minimize the use of chemicals in our gardens, orchards and farms to reduce pollutants for a safer environment, cleaner air, water and more nutritious foods.

 "Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal. Conservation is our effort to understand and preserve this capacity”-Aldo Leopold 

Matthew 6, 25-34

Do not worry  Jesus observes nature. Ecological balance sustains life, but not if we destroy it with modern arrogance. Simplicity leads to joy. – as quoted by the Guardians of creation

In our eagerness to 'progress' and 'develop' we have lost sight of the finite and delicate nature of planet Earth and of humanity's place in it- Tawheed, Fitra, Mizan and Khalifa.