The Beginning of My Gardening Adventure

Confessions of a city slicker gone rural.

“Fruit trees are social beings! You must always plant fruit trees in front of your house where people walk by, then they will thrive. If you put them in an isolated place in your backyard they will not carry fruit.”

These words spoken by my friend Made yesterday when talking to him about gardening are part of what I love about ‘Balinese logic’! Vegetables are apparently not as social; they like peace and quiet. But fruits are social butterflies.

I just knew it.

Those sweet, fast growing tropical fruits with all sorts of vibrant colors — of course they love company and fun. Good to know when you are a city slicker gone rural with nothing but passion and hope to draw on when it comes to establishing a garden.

I have this crazy ambition at the moment. I am creating a sustainable mini-farm in the wild southeast (more specifically, Bali) where the jungle meets the rice fields and the chanting from the local temple wakes me up every morning.

The farm already counts several animals: 4 chickens, 3 cats, 1 dog and 1 gecko… (more to come I’m sure!)

And yes, I’ve already made quite a few mistakes along the way. First, I underestimated the power of weeds! These tenacious weeds, like wildfire, tangled themselves around all the other plants and had nearly taken over my garden when I returned from a visit to Denmark (that you can read about here) in August.

Now, I’ve learned to tame these resilient little challengers.

Next lesson? Consider the social lives of plants. Check!

Stay tuned as I continue to share the trials, triumphs, and lessons from my sustainable mini-farm on Instagram.

Your support and curiosity mean the world to me.