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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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The blessed plot
As far back as the Third Century AD, St Jerome, a desert monk, gave
this instruction to a novice: "Hoe your ground, set out cabbages, convey
water to the conduits." My favourite monastic gardener, Abbot Walafrid "Strabo" (the "Squint Eye"), wrote in his poem Hortulus: "Get a garden! What kind you may get matters not." This desire to cultivate land had evolved into today's allotments and within our parish boundary lies a strip of land known as "Railwayside". It includes a blessed plot cultivated by my wife, Jane, and our dear friend David (known affectionately as "Digger Dave"). I am allowed to use a small portion as an herb garden, very much in keeping with the monastic tradition. Another parishioner was responsible for helping us to acquire our plot of land. He is the redoubtable, avuncular supplier of produce to the older members of the congregation, known to his friends, of which there are legion, as "Mike the Pipe".
Keeping a watchful eye on the fruits of our labours stands our scarecrow, M. Poutois. This introduces you to our merry band, which also includes our own infirmarer, Sarah, who tends to all the endemic health problems known to gardeners everywhere. Michael Billing, of pipe fame, has been my mentor since I started my herb business 17 years ago. He could easily take on the character of a monk gardener with his unhurried ways and trust in the natural way of things. He is, therefore, our gardinarius or hortarius. It is Michael who guides us in our seasonal sowings and indicates when we should be turning the soil and feeding it with lashings of good manure. This is where "Digger Dave" comes into his own, aided and abetted by myself. I know that David has Irish Celtic blood in his veins. I have Scottish blood in mine and can only think that between us there must this inherent love of turning the good earth. What I didn't know until recently was "Digger's" Celtic understanding of hut building. It has often been said that the Celts have an inebriate love of nature. The "inebriate" bit we have often experienced at the local inn. But the obvious love of nature surrounding the primitive hut had escaped me until David set about creating our allotment shed. No need for him to depend upon the conventional type of shed. Instead, he has created a little gem of re-claimed wood and windows which rivals anything I have ever seen on any patch of blessed land anywhere. Alright, I am biased. But if ever the hand of God was in a construction, it is here. Built in between long hours at the newsdesk of an eminently popular national newspaper, "Digger's" shed has made this blessed plot a place to spend our days in happy contemplation of the wonders of creation. |
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