84 A New Garden
The land on which this hermitage stands is part of a larger settlement that was started about a decade ago. At that time it was simply an open field, but over the years it has been planted with many types of flowering and fruiting trees and shrubs, and it now forms a sort of garden oasis in the midst of the cultivated fields that lie all around.
The watchman who looks after the house also doubles as the gardener and whereas – give thanks – everything had in this case again been given a ‘full washing’, still there was a certain lack of discrimination in the process and weeds as well as more desirable forms of vegetation were flourishing. Indeed the whole place was so overgrown it was threatening to turn into a jungle. So after settling in and getting the house in order I started on the garden, gradually working my way out from the verandah, weeding, sweeping, and generally tidying up.
Gardens, like nearly all other things in life, benefit most from being given modest but sustained attention over a period of time, and I’ve found this even applies to such seemingly mundane tasks as weeding. If after an hour or two’s work one takes time to sit back and look at the result for a while then there is a more natural unfolding of the work, and in this way one learns to cooperate with nature, instead of struggling against it. After clearing the weeds it became possible to prepare some flowerbeds and sow seeds.
Meanwhile pumping enough water for the garden was proving to be something of a headache. The land on which the house stands covers about an acre, and although there is a large storage tank, the bore well that is installed draws only upon a small pocket of water trapped between the rocks, and that empties very quickly and it takes a couple of hours before it refills again. This being the height of the dry season the temperature can get up to 40°c and more, and what it means in effect is that I have to pump water 9x a day in order to see to both household and garden needs. So I am now more or less a full-time pump house attendant, and such paltry matters as meditation have to be fitted in between pumping sessions.
Morning and evening I work in the garden watering, weeding, and sowing, and over the weeks the world around me is slowly transformed as nature works her magic upon the land, and things grow and flourish bringing abundance and not a little beauty into life.
My garden it is that I do adore,
to me it gives quiet, I ask nothing more,
I work when I want throughout the long day,
and if the Lord grant, it’s here I’ll stay.
In all that I do I tend it with care,
I pour out my love, it looks oh so fair;
butterflies come and they waltz all round,
for many sweet flowers with nectar abound.
Birds there are few, but how they do sing!
from shrub and from treetop their voices ring;
happy I am when I sit or I walk,
and if I want to the birds I talk,
with friends such as these I fill up my days,
to others it may seem as though I do laze,
but I smile as I watch each wondrous sight
that fills up my garden, it is my delight.