Memoirs of a Yard Horticulturist
This year, Liza Folkertsma was the proud owner of a yard garden. She almost missed out, but at the last minute she was awarded not one, but two bins. In this memoir, she describes what the yard gardens brought her.
I've loved coming to the NDSM for festivals and days out on the IJ, so when hotelship Botel was looking for people to temporarily occupy their rooms, I didn't hesitate for a moment. A week later, I was living at (or at) the NDSM!
When I was running around the Feralda crane at the beginning of the year, I saw the bucket and a strong cauliflower from last year even grew! One of the sculptors advised me to email the foundation so that I could get a yard garden. Once I had done that, they quickly turned out to be full... Fortunately, it all worked out and I even got 2 gardens appointed after a while.
I had no experience with vegetable gardening yet. A few hundred meters away, I started planting seeds in my hotel room and waiting for them to blossom. I and a friend dragged two gigantic bags of soil there — lovely afternoon, what a fun — and planted the little ones from the windowsill in the yard gardens.
There is no way to describe what this “small” project did to me. I watched insects, watched plants grow up, harvested, frustrated with the slowness of pumpkin growth and the speed of poppy leaves blowing. It was an active meditation and I came there a few times a week. I stood in the sun and begged for rain because the wind was drying things out.
“I realized that every moment with plants teaches me a lot of things and makes me wiser”
When the sunflowers opened, when the dill suddenly got strength, when the chilli plant found its place after thinning and on the last day I saw how long the root of the apple tree (yes, really!) had become — that's when I realized that every moment with plants teaches me everything and makes me wiser.
I love that there is room for so many different things at the NDSM. From IJ Hallen to ADE, cafes and theater festivals, crossfit and massage therapy, sculptors and garden gardens. Botel is behind me, but luckily I still live nearby. I go there every week with a smile on my face, despite the wind or rain or bright sun. Beautiful place
