Garden work, sewing with an old sewing machine, and picking grapes

W10 – Garden work, sewing with an old sewing machine, and picking grapes.

Reuse and repurpose

As I was hand-sewing broken items last week, I thought to ask whether there is a sewing machine here. As a matter of fact, there is one! It is an old one; you need to turn the wheel with your hand when you sew, but it is a great machine. I quickly learnt how to use it and now we can reuse and repurpose damaged clothing items better than before. Here I have learnt a lot about repurposing items instead of recycling them. We use old bottles for planting cups, old T-shirts can be made into yarn to hold tomatoes up, and cardboard can be used as a sun cover for delicate plants.

Planting greens in the greenhouse

Besides fixing things and collecting harvest, we had change to plant some new plants too. In the greenhouse there is space again for autumn greens. We take horse manure that worms have been working on from the corridor, mix it into the soil in the greenhouse, and plant kale, salad, and rucola, for example. So far I have only seen things growing and being harvested, but it is amazing to be part of planting new things too. Let’s see how these greens turn out!

Neighbours

Beside the work at Vegetarium, we have also had the chance to spend time with the neighbours. On 27.8. we were celebrating the full moon with a dance party, enjoying sweet and refreshing drinks from berries and fruits picked from the area. Furthermore, we have started to collect smoothie & salad greens for the neighbours to share the garden with them. From them we receive goat milk, which we make into yoghurt and cheese. It is nice to be part of a community that stretches from the people at Vegetarium to the neighbours.

Next week we are heading to Burgas with another volunteer. Exciting!

-Inka