I am a ‘bit’ too old to write addressed to Santa on the North Pole and a bit too realistic to believe we all get world peace for Christmas, so I decided to write my Christmas wish list as a blog post. So here it goes:
18 litres milk, 6kg Pasta, 15kg potatoes, 24 eggs, 5kg fresh fruit&vegetables, 36 rolls toilet paper, 5kg of cookies/biscuits/magdalenas which are eaten here for breakfast, various spices and teas, washing up liquid, floor cleaner, bleach, washing powder …
I guess you know now where I am heading! These items are just a small selection of what is needed every week to keep the pantry shelves stocked. So, if you want to make me a Christmas present, please donate one or more of these items. Here is how you can do that:
If you are in Santiago, just bring them by the house but message me first to make sure I am at home.
Or you can send the monetary equivalent via PayPal or my GofundMe Christmas fundraiser.
Many Muchas Gracias from my neighbours and me and a very Happy Christmas to all of you. And yes, let’s hope and pray for a more peaceful world in 2025!
Well, it has been ‘a while’ since I wrote updates the last time, so instead of trying to make this a chronological blog post about what has happened in my life over the last 1,5 years or so, I decided to sort it by topics. That way you can scroll to what does interest you and skip easily over what doesn’t interest you 😉
Until Easter 2024
The Camino Compagnons left their flat on the 1st floor in October 2023 and I looked after it, like I did the winter before, until their return shortly after Easter 2024. Not a big task, just checking and opening/closing the windows to air it on dry days and running the dehumidifier when needed.
Pilgrim House closed in December 2023 and re-opened in March 2024, during that time my contact info was displayed in their window in case of a pilgrim emergency. Thankfully there was no pilgrim emergency!
I continued with my neighbourhood pantry in the usual rhythm of restocking the shelves Monday-Wednesdays and the typical ‘pick-up’ days for groceries etc. being , well, pretty much any day of the week 😉 The re-stocking was made easy by an extremely generous donation I had received earlier in 2023.
The Never Ending Water Story
The installed waterfilter in my neighbours’ flat
End of 2023 I discovered that some of my neighbours don’t have access to safe drinking water in their homes and have to go with containers to a public fountain to get safe water. The reason is ‘some technical problem’ inside the structure of the house. Apparently that means that neither social services nor our water company is responsible for that, it’s the landlord’s responsibility – and he doesn’t seem able to do anything about it.
So I did a ‘mini fundraiser’, bought one water filter and installed it beginning of 2024 in one flat to see how it works out.
Sadly, the family returned the filter after one week, reasons given were ‘too complicated’ (which it wasn’t, it had just a switch to, ehm, switch, between filtered and unfiltered water) and ‘somebody told us these filters don’t work’ (I had selected a filter with a 99% filtration rate for germs, metals, chemicals and other nasties so I knew that it was highly effective). So, that filter is now sitting on my shelf until the next family needs it and the remaining donation money was converted in groceries for the pantry. There has been talk of a meeting with all the affected neighbours and I said that I would like to attend. This still needs a follow up by me as in May 2023 I was ‘hit’ by
Covid and Long Covid 2023/2024
Covid itself wasn’t too bad, I simply stayed in bed for a few days with the usual symptoms (fever, sore throat, cough, diminished smell/taste etc.) and one more unusually one – extremely swollen ankles. After being out of bed and finally testing negative I left my flat for a short walk and noticed one more symptom that would accompany me for many months to come – extreme fatigue.
I managed reasonably well during the summer and early autumn but I noticed that I was much more prone to infections, mainly stomach bugs, than before I had Covid. As autumn and winter came around I seemed also catch any respiratory bug available in my neighbourhood (cold, influenza, you name it, I had it). And so a cycle began: catch bug, into bed, up again, increased fatigue, feeling better, catch next bug … rinse and repeat for many, many months. And yes, I was fully vaccinated and boostered when I caught Covid, I don’t dare to imagine how bad things could have been for me otherwise … Still, this continuous up and down was annoying, frustrating, debilitating and absolutely exhausting. In short it wasn’t the best winter/spring of my life 😉 and I had to learn to manage my days very carefully, planning in frequent rest etc. to get through it.
At the time of writing this I seem to be finally better, catching less infections and having much more energy. Please send prayers/good thoughts/vibes that it continues like this!
Allotment and indoor gardening
In spring I was offered the opportunity to share an allotment with a group of my friends, but as it was nearly 2km away and my health continued to be ‘dodgy’ I didn’t feel that I could make that kind of commitment, so I grew once again, some vegetables, mainly cherry tomatoes and peppers, in my kitchen. I also continue to grow plants, vegetables in spring, now more houseplants and herbs, for the neighbourhood and put them out in a ‘freebie box’ before the house.
The Plant Freebie Box 😉
Neighbourhood Pantry
As mentioned before thanks to a very generous donation, the costs of re-stocking the pantry regularly were covered well into 2024. But Long Covid made it increasingly difficult for me to find the energy to crawl out of bed and attend to deliveries and pick-ups. Thankfully the lovely team of Apotheca not only donates since April this year the weekly fruit&vegetable box but also delivers it directly to one family who then shares it around with the others.
Apotheca’s weekly box of donations and one of their volunteers delivering it;-)
I myself rarely found the energy to sort the supermarket deliveries and put the whole load into the shelves as I had done previously, but I made sure that some extra groceries ‘jumped’ into my own shopping bag and ended up on the shelves. I didn’t keep receipts because of fatigue and brain fog so the accountability page on this blog doesn’t reflect the donations received and spend on pantry groceries accurately. Sorry, I found it more important to keep the pantry running at least at the bare minimum than to spend energy on number crunching … BUT as I finally feel better, I will keep the accountability page more up to date, I promise!
Depression and antidepressants
As there is now more daylight and I feel generally better, me and my doctor decided some months ago together that summer is a good time to see if I would do well with a lower dose of antidepressant and I am very happy to say that I do! I am now down from 15mg to 5mg of Lexopro and have much more energy. Before anybody gets worried, if it doesn’t work out and/or my depression gets worse as the daylight hours decrease again, I and my doctor are absolutely prepared to up the dose again.
Fundraiser
And last, but certainly not least!, a fundraiser: Like everywhere else in the world, prices for groceries continue to rise which obviously also affects my neighbourhood pantry, here a few price examples from July 2023 and July 2024:
1l Olive Oil 3,85 Euros (2023) to 4,71 Euros (2024)
500g Pasta 0,76 Euros (2023) to 0,79 Euros (2024)
5kg Potatos 5,49 Euros (2023) to 5,99 Euros (2024)
1kg Sugar 1,35 Euros (2023) to 1,45 Euros (2024)
250g Cafe 1,65 Euros (2023) to 1,99 Euros (2024)
That might not seem much, but it adds up over time! So if you want to help me to keep the shelves stocked you can donate either directly via Paypal by using this link https://www.paypal.me/EgeriaHouseSantiago or any of the donation buttons in the top right corner of this website (please put ‘food pantry’ in the Paypal comment field!) or by donating via GoFundMe using this link: https://gofund.me/38781f42
This is how I would love to see the pantry at the beginning of each week!
I have set the fundraising goal on GoFundme to 500 Euro which is the minimum amount needed to keep the shelves stocked for one month. Even the smallest donation helps to do this but it really would give me peace of mind if I could raise a substantial amount to keep the pantry shelves re-stocked without having to worry about next weeks’/months’ pantry groceries. My neighbours say Muchas Gracias in advance!
Thank you fo reading to the end and if you have any questions, please leave them in a comment.
Unfashionable late as usual, but here are the numbers plus some really good news:
June (donations) and July (costs) of running my, not so little anymore, neighbourhood pantry:
Summary
Donations leftover from the previous month: 195,75 Euros
Donations received in June: 811,83
Costs of buying supplies (food and basic cleaning supplies) for the neighbourhood pantry July 2022: 829,18 Euros
Carry over to August: + 178,40 Euros
Link to receipts: (This is a ZIP folder, I am on a Mac and take cybersecurity seriously, but please, still scan it before unzipping, it’s just good practice 😉
Also, forgot to mention it last month, I still have 300 Euros of ’emergency cash’ in storage, so all good for the foreseeable future!
Three good news to share:
I will go away for a few days this week to visit friends in Portugal and recharge my batteries. I plan to cuddle their two dogs until they bark for mercy 😉 One of my neighbours will take on the distribution of the things in the pantry, so nobody will be in distress whilst I am gone.
I have a new allotment, slightly farer away than I like (~3km) but it comes with no strings attached, so basically I can do whatever I like with it. Because of the distance I think I will mostly concentrate on fruit trees, berry shrubs and the like, at least for this year. I will also ask some of my neighbours if they would like to help. Any surplus product will go to any project that helps with food insecurity here in Santiago.
I did run a very successful fundraiser on Facebook for Saint James’ Day, so the shelves will be continued to be stocked for a long time, which gives me incredible peace of mind!
That’s all, for now, big abrazos (hugs) from Santiago, SY
PS Forgot to add, my landlord allowed me to put up a third shelf (for clothing, shoes and other useful small items). So happy!
Just to mix up things a bit, first a few updates of what has going on lately in my life and then the numbers.
Adios Allotment
Sadly, I lost the allotment. I am still very furious about how I and two of my friends here (Tim and Maggie) have been taken for a ride, so I try to keep this story short and as neutral as possible. Basically the people who hold the paperwork for the allotment (I only had a verbal agreement with them) waited until most of the clearing work (lots of brambles!) was done and then gave it to somebody else, destroying at least 50% of what I had planted already in the process. I am still too furious to write a blog post about this but the good news is that I might have a new allotment soon, I will keep you posted.
May/June Accountability
Once again many days late, but here are the numbers for May (donations) and June (costs) of running my little neighbourhood pantry:
Donations leftover from the previous month: – 128,09 Euros
Donations received in May: 983,57 Euros
Costs of buying supplies (food, basic cleaning supplies plus a bottle of gas to cook the food for one of the families) for the neighbourhood pantry June 2022: 659,73 Euros
Carry over to July: 195,75 Euros
That is how the shelves typically look on a Monday (photo taken this week), by the weekend they are nearly empty. Sorry once again for the bad image quality!
Link to receipts: (This is a ZIP folder, I am on a Mac and take cybersecurity seriously, but please, still scan it before unzipping, it’s just good practice 😉
The biggest donation came in via a pilgrim that did a ‘fundraising pilgrimage’ for three good causes here in Santiago, my pantry being one of them.
Also, I had now quite a few pilgrims and/or friends visiting my little pantry and bringing in kind donations. I am always happy to show any- and everybody my little set-up, chat about my neighbours and perhaps you will even meet them. Just contact me a bit beforehand to make sure I am at home.
Too hot to type more, as we are experience a heatwave here in Spain, currently 34C in my flat, but a little advance warning: I will run another Facebook fundraiser this coming weekend to keep the shelves stocked and to provide a bit of extra cheer aka Tartas de Santiago etc for my neighbours. This is an ongoing need.
As always, if you have any questions/comments, please leave them here on the blog!
I am also awaiting the delivery of another shelf (for clothing, shoes and other small, useful items) to be put up on the ground floor. I solemnly promised my landlord it will be the last one 😉
Big abrazos (hugs) from Santiago and stay safe and cool wherever you are, SY
Sorry, again a few days late, but here are the numbers for April (donations) and May (costs):
Summary
Donations leftover from the previous month: 170,80 Euros
Donations received in April: 495,67 Euros
Costs of buying supplies (food, basic cleaning supplies plus a bottle of gas to cook the food for one of the families) for the neighbourhood pantry May 2022: 794,56 Euros
Carry over to June: – 128,09 Euros
Link to receipts: (This is a ZIP folder, I am on a Mac and take cybersecurity seriously, but please, still scan it before unzipping, it’s just good practice 😉
Sorry if this a very short blog post, feeling a bit under the weather right now. As soon as I can I will write up another one with updates on what is going on in my life here in Santiago. And also sorry for the following repeat of what I wrote in an earlier post:
If you want to donate to something specifically, just put a note against it or contact me if you have any special question/idea.
The receipts are now all ‘neighbourhood pantry’ only. The little I need for myself I can go easily shopping on foot for myself. So, less confusion for everybody and more exercise for me!
And yes, there is still a tiny bit of overlap between the pantry and my own supplies. If I forgot to buy tomato sauce for myself, I grab one from the pantry shelves, if my neighbours run out of toilet paper on a Sunday afternoon, I split what I have in the ‘penthouse’ with them. There will be always this kind of overlap, but I keep it to the bare minimum and make sure it balances out both ways. Like I said before, for me it’s not about charity but about sharing what I have and what I can fundraise for with your help.
The ’emergency fund’ of just over 300 Euros (should I need it aka if things are really going haywire/south here in Europe) is still intact, lets pray for peace and less raise in prices (worldwide!).
If you want to contribute to what I do, two very important points first:
Please don’t give more than you can easily afford.
Please don’t give any amount that you wanted already to give to another project.
Said all this, I could never have done all this without the help of all of you scattered around the whole world. So a huge MUCHAS GRACIAS to all of you!
And a last, big Mea Culpa, I know I am horribly bad in keeping up with my email inbox, so if I haven’t acknowledged your donation, please drop me a note in the comments here and I will get to it ASAP.
Also, if you have any questions and/or need clarification about anything, just do the same.
Plus, if you are in Santiago, I am always happy to show you the pantry and chat about my neighbours.
(This is a ZIP folder, I am on a Mac and take cybersecurity seriously, but please, still scan it before unzipping, it’s just good practice 😉
Fully stocked pantry this Monday, the ‘temperature sensitive’ things are upstairs in my fridge and freezer.
Apart of a short mention on a forum and this blog https://egeria.house/moving-easter-cheer-and-updates/ that I wanted to provide a little extra ‘Easter Cheer’ for my neighbours I didn’t do any fundraising in March as I had enough to stock up the pantry 😉 I received a few dedicated donations to that so that there was plenty of chocolate for both adults and kids for Easter. Plus a fluffy soft toy for the little girl born in January! Thank you all so much for that!
So if you want to donate to something specifically, just put a note against it or contact me if you have any special question/idea.
The receipts for April are now all ‘neighbourhood pantry’ only. The little I need for myself I can go easily shopping on foot for myself. So, less confusion for everybody and more exercise for me!
And yes, there is still a tiny bit of overlap between the pantry and my own supplies. If I forgot to buy tomato sauce for myself, I grab one from the pantry shelves, if my neighbours run out of toilet paper on a Sunday afternoon, I split what I have in the ‘penthouse’ with them. There will be always this kind of overlap, but I keep it to the bare minimum and make sure it balances out both ways. Like I said before, for me it’s not about charity but about sharing what I have and what I can fundraise for with your help.
The ’emergency fund’ of just over 300 Euros (should I need it aka if things are really going haywire/south here in Europe) is still intact, lets pray for peace and less raise in prices (worldwide!).
Two more updates:
The original tenants https://www.facebook.com/CaminoCompanions/ of the ‘balcony flat’ are back and, in exchange for one of the neighboours exchanging also their gas bottle will contribute, in kind, to the pantry. Thank you for coffee, sisters!
Garden/Allotment – OOPS! Between moving, having a few not so great days (including a minor accident) and meeting up with pilgrim friends both old and new, I have done very little in the garden lately. Tomorrow two dear friends will be visiting both the pantry and the allotment and I will see how bad the (weed) damage is …
If you want to contribute to what I do, two very important points first:
Please don’t give more than you can easily afford.
Please don’t give any amount that you wanted already to give to another project.
Said all this, I could never have done all this without the help of all of you scattered around the whole world. So a huge MUCHAS GRACIAS to all of you!
And a last, once again, a big Mea Culpa, I know I am horribly bad in keeping up with my email inbox, so if I haven’t acknowledged your donation, please drop me a note in the comments here and I will get to it ASAP.
Also, if you have any questions and/or need clarification about anything, just do the same.
Plus, if you are in Santiago, I am always happy to show people the pantry and allotment (if you like weeding, even the better 😉 – just kidding! All with no strings attached!
I have decided to refer from now on to my new flat as the ‘penthouse’ as that sounds more positive than third or top floor flat 😉 It’s obviously not a real penthouse, but I plan to make it ‘my space’. I still need to get some bits and pieces to achieve that but I am sure I will seen think of it as my home.
Yes, I am now living at the very top 😉
So here a random list of updates how things are going in my life and in Santiago/Spain/the Camino in general:
Pantry
One side effect of the move upstairs was that I had to move my little neighbourhood pantry to the ground floor. I will be forever grateful to my landlord for allowing me to do this! And another big Thank You to Lea and Dan from Canada that helped me get all downstairs and to re-construct the shelves.I am also very happy that the pantry is now a full ‘choice pantry’ from where people can simply take what they need. How it works now is like this:
Doorbell rings, I grab the things I have for them in the fridge and go down and open the door. We chat for a little bit whilst the neighbour fills her or his bag. I take the ‘fridge things’ that weren’t required back up.
Also sorting out my twice weekly deliveries has become much easier. The only things I need to carry upstairs now are those that go in fridge or freezer compartment. The rest gets directly, yes, with first in, first out, in mind, into the shelves.
And one more thing, I don’t know exactly why, but since this is in place, people are far more conscious what they need and when. Perhaps seeing what is available for the week and knowing that they are not the only ones that need the pantry helps with that.
Sorry about the bad image quality! This is how the ground floor looks like now (no worries, nobody lives in the ground floor flat, it’s used as storage area.
Easter Cheer
Easter is very much still a religious festival here in Spain, with solemn processions and services. I am very glad about that! But I also thought that in these difficult times everybody deserves a bit of ‘extra Easter Cheer’, especially the kids! So, thanks to some extra donations, I was able to get some chocolate goodies and, for the 3 month old baby girl, a nice plush toy, found some of my baskets, filled them and prepared this box for the families:
Soft Toy for the Baby, before it got gift wrapped.Easter Baskets.Easter Baskets and refills ready to go downstairs.
Move
Moving is always stressful, but this move was even more stressful as I had to try two remember which tea towel belonged to which household 😉 Remember, I was only the subtenant in the ‘balcony flat’ and it was basically fully equipped with all that was needed. Add to that my own stuff like books, plants etc. you imagine that it was pretty crowded! But poco a poco, little by little, I made progress. My neighbours came every afternoon for three days to help me to carry stuff up and Sister Alicia from the Camino Compagnons https://www.facebook.com/CaminoCompanions/ helped me on Thursday to get the last of my things upstairs. And then the unpacking and finding the right place for everything started…
Flat
Whilst the flat has no outdoor space like a balcony or a terrace, it’s growing quickly on me! I have a large kitchen with plenty of windows (and window sills for the plants) that has gorgeous views over the city. From here I can even see the clock tower or Berenguela of the cathedral with its ‘pilgrim lantern’ that is lit at night in the Holy Years to guide pilgrims to the cathedral. As the kitchen has also enough space, and the best views, I decided to use it also as my workspace for writing etc.
Ok, not the best photo I have ever taken, but the Pilgrim Lantern is the light on the left tower of the Cathedral.
The hallway is long and spacious and has two storage areas, one I am using for more plants (there is a surprise 😉 ) and on the other end are some build in shelves that I plan to use as a storage area for in kind donations like clothes, shoes and the like for my neighbours.
The blue fairy lights from the balcony work indoors as well 😉
And there is also a small living room that I plan to use both as reading room for me and as ‘absolute emergency accommodation’ for pilgrims in need. Plus my own, big bedroom and a nicely spacious bathroom.
Pilgrims
Over 37.000 pilgrims have arrived so far this year here in Santiago and got registered by the Pilgrim’s Office. That are the record numbers we had expected, pre-pandemic, for a Holy Year. Like in other Holy Years, a lot of these record numbers were created by large, religious groups mainly from Spain itself, but also from Portugal and Italy. And pilgrims that walk/bike solo alone or in small Camino families, are mostly from continental Europe. Oversea pilgrims have returned to the Camino, but not, yet, in the numbers we had in previous years. A lot of things have changed on the Camino but another aspect to consider when planning your Camino are budget and:
Prices
Like pretty much everywhere else, prices have gone up considerably here in Spain, here a few examples from my own experience and at the end two links to more information. The first article is from before the war in Ukraine started, the second after it started. It’s easy to see how this war is already affecting all of us …
When I moved into the house the orange ‘bombona’ containing gas used for cooking and heating costed around 13,00 Euros, now it’s 19,70.
Last year I could buy 1 litre of full fat UHT milk for 60 cents, now the same milk costs 75 cents.
And, compared to the same month last year, my own electricity bill has nearly doubled.
But perhaps the best example to show how the war in Ukraine affects us all is the price of sunflower oil.
Before the war 1 litre was around 1,20 Euros, now it’s 3,20 Euros. Sunflower oil is used by low income families that can’t afford the more expensive olive oil and also for frying by a number of restaurants and the like.
All this now filters down, slowly and steadily, on the Camino. Accommodation and food prices have already risen as have prices for pilgrim’s menus and the like in some places. First the increased costs (masks, extra cleaning material, hand sanitizer) due to the pandemic and now increased costs of energy and produce leave most business owners no other choice than to increase their prices too.
So, in summary, if you want to walk/bike a Camino this year you need to budget for higher costs and accept that there will be a lot of pilgrims with you on the way.
Garden/Allotment
Because of the move and getting the flat ready for the sisters plus decluttering my own belongings I have to confess that the allotment got sadly neglected and some, but not all thankfully, of the weeds have grown back.
So from now on, the garden will be on the top of my to-do list, meaning gardening on rain-free days and writing on rainy days. And yes, I had already help to coming so far! If you are in Santiago and fancy some weeding or simply hanging out in the garden, just contact me!
I think that’s all from me for now. If you have any questions or remarks, please leave them in the comments.
I actually found it really helpful to finally write up this blog post, this way I also see where the money goes exactly to. For simplicity’s sake I have divided it up in three parts:
Shovel and seeds for my little solidarity garden project 😉
Very Short Summary (at the end is the link to the receipts I have).
Detailed Summary
Outlook to the Future
Very Short Summary
Donations leftover from previous months: ~1,100 Euros
Costs of buying supplies for my neighbourhood pantry and fledgling solidarity garden in March 2022: 757,47 Euros
(This is a ZIP folder, I am on a Mac and take cybersecurity seriously, but please, still scan it before unzipping, it’s just good practice 😉
Detailed Summary
Towards the end of February I run a birthday fundraiser (now closed) for my neighbourhood pantry on Facebook but you can see it still here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/2428844467245911/ A few donations came also in via Paypal. So, whilst some of this arrived in March, I decided, again for simplicity’s sake, to bundle it all up into February. I haven’t kept any receipts until after the first week of March (sorry about that, will do better in future!), so the ‘carry over’ of ~1,100 Euros donations is a realistic estimate only, as I also spend some of the money on the pantry and garden in the last week of February and the first week of March.
I received one dedicated donation for gardening tools and seeds, so if you want to donate to something specifically, just put a note against it.
Receipts, there are two missing for March, one is for 3 Euros to buy non-prescription medicine for one of the families, the second is for my first online order in March for 76,78 Euros.
All other expenses are documented in the attached files (see above) and I have taken out the items I purchased for me personally.
Here is a summary list of what I have spend your donations on (Froiz, Dia and Gadiz are our local supermarkets btw):
76,78 Euros Food & Basics Froiz, no PDF receipt
114,37 Euros Food & Basics Froiz
3 Euros Medication
19,70 Euros Cooking gas for one family
133,17 Euros Food & Basics Froiz
3,06 Euros Dia Stock-up
95 Euros 5x Fruit and Vegetable Box from https://www.facebook.com/aHortadaAvoa
149.17 Euros Food & Basics Froiz
21,90 Euros Gardening Tools
29,08 Euros Vegetable Seeds
3,06 Euros Gadiz Stock-up
9,90 Euros More gardening tools 😉
3,14 Euros Dia Stock-up
96,14 Euros Food & Basics Froiz
I also received a big in-kind donation consisting of two big shopping bags full of food (lots of lentils and peas!).
Plus I have access to an ’emergency fund’ of just over 300 Euros should I need it aka if things are really going haywire/south here in Europe. But if that doesn’t happen, we hope and pray for it!, the money will go back to the donor.
Outlook to the Future
Like pretty much everywhere else, prices are going sharply and steadily up and nobody knows how everything will play out in the end. As long as I can, I will help my neighbours, because for me it’s not about charity but about sharing what I have and what I can fundraise for, with your help.
If you want to contribute to this, two very important points first:
Please don’t give more than you can easily afford.
Please don’t give anything that you wanted already to give to another project.
Said all this, I could never have done all this without the help of all of you scattered around the whole world. So a huge MUCHAS GRACIAS to all of you!
And a last, big Mea Culpa: I know I am horribly bad in keeping up with my email inbox, so if I haven’t acknowledged your donation, please drop me a note in the comments here and I will get to it ASAP.
Also, if you have any questions and/or need clarification about anything, just do the same.
I have to admit that my first thought, when seeing my allotment, was “Where do I even start?”. But with the help of both old and new friends my little ‘solidarity garden’ project is off to a good start!
Yesterday
So, as the rain stopped I went down with my shovel and some other useful things to just have a go at it. Poco a poco / One step at a time. I started by identifying plants that would be worth keeping and getting rid of weeds. Slowly I ‘liberated’ what is now known as the strawberry patch.
Soon Tim joined me and helped weeding more whilst I was cutting down the two blackberry/bramble shrubs that had overtaken much of the plot. Sounds of ‘OUCH’ were frequently heard from both of us 😉
And then a miracle happened: 88 years old Eduardo come by and showed us how it’s really done! In an hour or so he got more of the plot cleared than the two of us together had managed in much more time!
If you think you are too old for something, you really should meet Eduardo, who also happens to have the biggest allotment in our little gardening community!
So, at the end of the day, the three of us managed to weed around half of the plot and prepare a quarter of it for sowing/planting.
Today
I set out in the morning to plant/sow in the now prepared soil. So far I have done: Strawberry and chives (transplanted from last years balcony gardening) and rocket salad/rucola, carrots, radishes and potatoes. As for the big potato plant in the picture, it has been pre-grown on the balcony 😉
Tomorrow
Tomorrow afternoon I will go down to finish weeding around the rose bush and then planting herbs (rosemary, lavender and parsley) around it.
Hopefully by tomorrow 50% of the allotment will be planted/sown and ready to produce a lot of healthy food for both me and my neighbours!
Personally
I have to say that even that I knew already that (balcony) gardening was good for me, I never imagined what a huge, positive impact the allotment would have on my mental health. In short, in just two days I went from “Thank God I don’t have to leave the flat today to run errands!” to “Sun, when are you finally getting up so that I can go out gardening?”.
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