Gardening--Is it worth all the hard works?

Having a small backyard or rooftop orchard is very rewarding. Though, it's a small scale harvest, it is worthy of all the hard works and always be anticipated!

When I started gardening, some people sneered me by asking "Why should you be bothered with planting your own veggies and fruit since it's not very expensive to buy in the market, compared to all the expenses you have to spend for all the pots, soil, compost and manure?"

Well, they're maybe right. Organic gardening doesn't mean that you can produce cheap veggies and fruit because your expenses is higher since you have to use  a lot of compost and manure. Especially, for the initial cost as you need to purchase pots and stakes, water tanks, sears, watering can, sprayer and other minerals such as epsom salt, rock ash, dolomite and so on...

But for a long run, it will be very rewarding and can reduce your spending. Especially that organic veggies and fruit are very pricey! Not to mention how this activity can bring balance back into our hectic and busy life and help us reconnect with the nature and with our CREATOR. If not for gardening I wouldn't really care for good insects like ladybug or mantis or finding that green bean doesn't need help in pollination and will be best planted at the end of summer or close to rainy season here in the tropics! See how gardening draws us closer to have a better understanding of how the nature rolls on. 

Well, I may still be harvesting small scale of fruit and veggies, in this case, I have so far harvested tomatoes, mangoes, pineapples, green beans, spinachs, lettuces, kales, swiss chards, water spinachs, eggplants, cucumbers,bitter gourds, okras, moringa, paddy chilies,lemongrass, ginger, onions, leeks, spring onions, roses, amaryllis,and false lavenders, etc. They're probably enough to feed a couple of people and some birds, but the joy and satisfaction is abounding!

Just take a look at this succulent mango! It can never be compared to any mango you buy in the market or store! Because it's organic, pesticide or herbicide free and also free from any chemical fertilizers! It's sun-ripen and as sweet and melting in your mouth as honey! And the fact is, I haven't bought mangoes for months, because my produce is enough to satisfy my appetite.

It's worth all the hard works, trust me! 

BIRTHDAY WISHES

 I celebrated my birthday today. It's just like any other day. No confetti, parties or cakes and candles blowing 

but surely greetings from family and friends are flowing in.  On top of it, lunch with friends I don't get to 

gather with very often. More importantly, God is among us around the table. We had an encouraging chat 

on how we are going to serve Him through His body. 

What a better birthday can it be?

 After so many years of birthday wishes, I finally come to narrower wishes though not necessarily shorter. 

All I want for a year ahead is God's approval in everything I do. To please Him, to obey Him and to grow intimate with Him. To serve and glorify Him through my life, my work and my ministry. To share His passion for peoples, and His vision for the world. To love Him and wait for Him.

To rejoice in Him.

Good Bye 2014, Welcome 2015

The Joyous Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it and A Very Happy New Year to all of us! I'm wishing all the best for you this new year. May 2015 be a great and fruitful year for all of us! And may we all grow stronger in faith and obedient to God, His Word,

 and His will! Amen!

So, how's your Christmas going? 

My family are not all Christians, only my elder sister and I are, but quite interestingly we have this tradition of celebrating Christmas with dinner and gift exchange! My elder sister used to throw a Christmas dinner party on the Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Evening and it will be followed by me cooking for another Christmas dinner. 

This year I made Roast Pork Risotto, 2 dishes of Chricken(Chicken stew and Soya Sauce Chicken), and an Apple Pie on the 25th evening. Christmas season coincides with my eldest niece's coming home for semester holiday and it's such a pleasure for me to pamper her and her younger sister with homemade food!

This year I got a tin container(above) and a snowman mug from my niece and a Teatime Cookbook from my edest sister - for sure I'll treasure them for many years to come!

Now, what about your family tradition? Is there anything unique you could possibly share?

Contemplation

Gardening can be a very rewarding experience, especially in terms of relational: relational to God, to the nature and 

other human beings. 

It can improve our mood and pumping new energy for us. 

Gardening is potential to be a collective activity, 

a hobby, a keen interest you can infect others with. 

Many times I bring down my plants just to show to my mother,

for the purpose of simply sharing this journey together 

and to show her all the beauty and natural wonders of 

the Plant kingdom. 

Gardening can even bring healing to our soul and body 

and thus, no wonder some people incorporated gardening into the therapy medication. For those who have been gardening will understand the feeling of witnessing the first shoots and seedlings emerging from the soil, though it's just the cotyledon (false leaf), and experience the fullness of joy when the seeds turn into 

a sweet harvest.

Gardening is magical, enriching and worthwile!

Gardening is transforming! 

It transforms the way you perceive life. It transforms your patience. It transforms your endurance. It transforms your depencency on your own strenght 'cause in many occassions you just can't control anything, let alone everything.

Hello 2014!

Sorry for my long absence! Life has been hectic with all the fuss of the holiday season, family gatherings and the real life of gardening!

As for gardening, there are some heart-wrenching moments especially when seeing some of my plants dying off a disease without anything I could do to it, to feeling overwhelmed with recurring pests attack, to the heap of joy witnessing the buds turning to blossoms and finally form the fruits! My..., this has been really such an experience to me! Though it's not a bed of roses at all but I would never exchange it or wish I had never deliberately chosen to have done so, because it is not only refreshing to my soul and mind but has also brought me to another level of trusting the Lord by walking in faith step by step with Him! Seeing how everything was created by Him perfectly with all the details.. and with a process helps me practice patience in waiting for His right timing in every aspect of life! To Him all glory, praises and awe!

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture." - Jesus Christ

For I belong not to this mortal world

I don't belong to this mortal world. I am only a sojourner, more precisely a pilgrim of the narrow road. For I brought nothing into this world and nothing from this world will I bring with me into eternity. Now, I live my life as a sojourner and a pilgrim with a new paradigm. Seeing and experiencing things with a new perspective. While pursuing eternal values, finding just enough light for every step I am on. 
That light enlightens my paths faithfully.