CAS Journal Entry: Gardening

            On the 18^th 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.