23rd August 2021
It's not easy failing. No one likes it.
But we do.
I do.
But it brings learning, growth (hopefully including the vegetables) and some humility (with God's Grace).
As you are aware this blog is also about Homesteading. Often that has taken a bit of a back seat on here but Homesteading is something I am passionate about. I also like to encourage others to take it up as much as possible in some form or another.
So here is my failure
Believe it or not, those are Cabbages.
Last Autumn I dug in 40 bags of partially composted horse manure. My back was not happy. After a few weeks I planted the cabbages. With Autumn rains and the cooler winter temperatures here in Portugal most of them started to do well.
Then Spring came and with it, the searing Portuguese heat. From May to October it rarely, if ever, rains.
As you can see the soil is sand. Yes, we built our house on sand.
I know that you're thinking. Jesus said not to do that. But it was what we could afford as a family.
Anyway, the sun came. The rains went. The sand baked.
We collect rainwater in 1000 litre tanks. We have 4 tanks. All well and good. But when you pour water on sun baked sand it does two things.
1) Runs off
2) Evaporates.
We don't have a well. We literally rely on what falls from the sky.
Now God is good. A few times I have cried out
"Lord, please! Send rain. We need water Lord! The vegetables are dying Lord!"
And it has rained, contrary to what the weathermen predicted.
So first lesson reinforced is : God does answer our prayers.
However, we have lost a lot of our crops. God is trying to tell me something
"I will send you what you need but your have to do what you need to do. You must work with me."
I have stubbornly tried to improve, fix, correct, change this blasted sand pit for 5 years now. I have asked myself 100s of questions. How come I can't do it? How the heck did the Monks of Cîteaux do it?
I have had to admit that I have gone about this the wrong way. It's hard to admit that you've lost so much in all the work done over the years. It takes humility and I'm not very humble. I'm stubborn.
But God has managed to get through. In sheer frustration I have done research. And this the result.
Raised beds built by yours truly (and my Dad). No they aren't perfectly straight but ignore the lack of builder's skills for the moment.
They're made out of cheap cinder blocks. They're about 24 inches deep and filled with compost. We sealed the bottom of each with thick cardboard to stop weeds growing through.
Precisely because they are filled with compost and are compact they retain water much better. Each beds gets a good watering from a filled watering can. There's no waste and the soil stays moist on the hottest days.
Their height also means that my back will be grateful (although not yet as it's a back breaker making the blasted things!!!)
So voilà!
Things are looking really good already.
The hard part is to accept that I've missed most of this Summer's growing season, although here in Portugal it tends to stay very warm well into October.
So I have concentrated on winter veg.
Apart from the Salad Lettuce and Radishes I have planted Turnips and Spinach. Next will be Cauliflower. My eyes are firmly fixed on the Christmas dinner plate!
What is the moral of all of this? Maybe you'll draw your own conclusions. For me it is learning to admit that I got it wrong. Learning new skills. Growing in every sense. Trusting that God will provide when we are being foolish. He will even provide us the way out of our foolishness.
I think it is also a parable for the state of the Church. Moreover it is a parable of how to move out of the madness, the mess and the devastation.
We need humility. We need to realise that we have been doing it wrong. We need the courage to admit that. We need to look for where there is growth. Be humble and admit that the reason there is growth is because something is being done correctly.
The Hierarchy desperately needs this lesson. They need to courageously and humbly admit that, on the whole, the past 50 years have lead to a barren Church and measly pickings. The desertification of the Church has been catastrophic.
It needs the firm "compost" of Tradition, the water of Grace and the fruitfulness of the Holy Ghost.
We have been wandering in the barren wastelands trying to renew the Church on our own terms whilst ignoring, jettisoning or, even worse, reviling the treasures we had.
It is time to:
- Open our eyes.
- Admit we screwed up.
- Return to Tradition and flourish.
God bless
No comments:
Post a Comment