Hi, I am Michi from Germany and this is my fourth week as a live-in volunteer at CECAS. The last time I held a spade was a decade ago, so before I arrived, I wasn’t sure whether I would manage the work in the organic garden… Turns out, I don’t need a spade at all!
Over the last few years, the regular volunteers have done a fantastic job establishing no-dig “lasagne” beds. And autumn is a great time to prepare the ingredients for the lasagne: cardboard, woodchips, rotten silage, seaweed, compost. Right now, we are getting ready to fill the pan or in normal English: clearing the beds and weeding.
Not only my back and I rejoice about the no-dig philosophy but considering all the happy wiggly worms I have seen, nature does as well.
Before coming here, I had never realised how much I missed the feeling of soil between my hands or the small joy of throwing weeds from a distance and actually hitting the bucket, the little befores and afters, a darker shade of red on the tomatoes and fresh green, when you return to the garden after a week of rain.
The community garden is a great place to bathe in the sun or have a nice chat in the greenhouse while waiting for a shower to end, share gardening wisdoms and discover potatoes in the most curious places. Well, I expected no less from potato country Ireland.
One of my favourite parts is the planning and dreaming of what is to come, the excitement for the next year. The garden and this project are growing and flourishing. I may not be here for the next harvest, but I am taking home plenty of new ideas and lovely moments.
Volunteers welcome. Every Tuesday, 10:30 am to 1 pm, at the Walled Community Garden of CECAS at Myross Wood House.
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