Allotment

From the beginning of September 2013 I began to help a friend of my mother's to manage, design and take care of an allotment plot as she felt that it was too much work for herself alone. Together we did exactly that: first we decided what wanted to plant and planned a design for the plot so that everything was planted according to the type of plant it is and so that it is next to something that encourages its growth. Throughout the year we planted a lot of things, nearly five to ten things each month, which was very time consuming as a lot of the plants had to be initially grown in small containers at home and then put outside, whereas other plants could be planted directly outside and we had to organise which plants were which. When the lay out was set, I also helped to build a shed and a green house for the owner, amongst other structures. The outcome was great and they are still surviving despite the generous amount of rain we get in London. Every weekend until June 2014 I helped to take care of the plot which included a lot of digging, carrying bucket-fulls of water, composting, research about planting, etc. This was useful for CAS because I had increased my awareness of my own strengths and areas for growth in agriculture. From the beginning I have been faced with new challenges and planned and initiated activities like fruit or vegetables for each season. I worked collaboratively with the owner of the allotment and other allotment owners which i would occasionally work with as well. I have shown perseverance and commitment in my activities by working in the allotment for a year and have engaged with issues of global importance like agriculture and being friendly to the environment and considered the ethical implications of my actions like growing the food organically and having this allotment to contribute to stopping transport of certain foods. Having this allotment helped me to develop new skills and to become knowledgeable, a thinker, a communicator, caring, a risk-taker and reflective.

This was a challenge for me because I had never before managed a plot or grown my own food. Every single day was challenging. Even just watering the plot was difficult because there was a manual water pump and I had to fill it up buckets about twenty times before watering everything. Whether I had to do digging or planting or weeding, the large scale of the plot made it very hard and also the weather decided whether it was going to be more or less difficult (which is never reliable in London). 

My aims were to learn how to garden effectively to grow both nutritious and tasty food whilst also helping the woman who runs the allotment. I also wanted to get more involved with nature and have my own piece of land as I do not have a private garden and use this to grow my own organic fruit and vegetables.




This activity was CREATIVITY because I had to set out how the crops were to grow and design a nice layout for the allotment. Also by creating and decorating structures for the plants like small support or the shed and the green house. This was also ACTION because of the large effort it takes to garden and creating these structures (boxes, a shed, a greenhouse, etc.). It was also SERVICE because I helped to run the allotment for the person who owns it as they could not handle the more strenuous activities. 

Throughout months of helping the owner of the allotment I had learnt a lot about gardening and maintaining a plot throughout different seasons, knowing what to plant at the specific months and when to harvest food. It was a very joyful, but difficult activity at times, specially when it was raining, although rain means not having to walk up and down from the manual water pump ten times. This is why everything has a sort of balance and this is the reason why I loved it so much and also because I got very in touch with nature. It was also nice to feel so satisfied that after so much work you get really great crops that taste a lot better than anything from big supermarkets. I feel that I have achieved all of my aims, however I did not want to stop  growing so I decided to grow a small vertical herb garden in my balcony for fresh cooking. I think that everyone would benefit from doing something like this simply because it increases happiness to watch something grow. Overall, I loved the satisfaction of the activity and feel that I have learned a lot from it.