On
the 18th of January, our class took part in a gardening session.
What I had in mind for the session was that it would be a good way to explore
our vast school grounds as well as a good opportunity to interact with the
gardener and learn a little more about plants and farming in general. The
overall goal I wanted to achieve before planning this activity was to be able
to understand the hard work that goes into what we eat each and every day, and
it is back-breaking work indeed. Most people nowadays do not consider agriculture
as an occupation and indeed it is frowned upon in high society to introduce
oneself as a farmer, I wanted to be more open-minded and to try things before I
criticised them.
Right
from the beginning, it was not easy at all. It was very hot that day, and since
we were working in the afternoon, the sun beat down on us all throughout the
session and by the end I was ready to drop. We were using heavy farm tools to
break the top layer of the soil and to bring to the surface the more fertile
dark soil. The gardener went (relatively) easy on us and had us do the softer
patches of land before moving on to the harder, more rocky patches. The
gardener told us that we would be planting bitter gourd vines, as well as
spinach. None of us particularly like these vegetables, but we were happy to
help out all the same. The process of preparing a plot of land for re-planting
involves plucking out the rampant weeds that grew on every surface, then using
the tool to break up the soil and to mix it up thoroughly. It sounds a lot
easier than it actually is.
The
sweltering heat, the heavy tool, and the repetitive nature of the activity,
were some of the difficulties we faced. Frequent water breaks, and motivation from the CAS
co-ordinator moved us along quick enough and we were breezing through the farm
plots by the time we had to go home. Overall, I felt we were able to achieve
what we set out to do and I believe that this type of activity gives one a real
ability to appreciate the nature of working hard to create something, no matter
how run-of-the-mill it is. Even on the way home on the bus, I could not stop
thinking about the satisfaction on that gardener’s face and on the faces of my
classmates when we looked at our handiwork after the session was over.
If
I had to do it again, I would probably have wanted to bring my gym clothes so I
did not have to get my school clothes unnecessarily dirty (my mother was not
pleased about that). I never knew manual labour could be so cleansing an
experience, looking at those plots of land after we were done I was very proud
of what I had done and told myself that this is the kind of experience that we
should have more often in order to shape
ourselves into the kind of learners we wish to be in the future.
