A plant wall!

Gardening is an artwork for some. I met the gardener who fashioned this plant wall over last three years. He trimmed and shaped the wall with diligence. It is the central piece of attraction in this lawn. 

To convert an ordinary hedge plant to piece of art needed imagination and effort. 

I met with  a family whose three years old son is now at pre-school, but struggling to adjust to the class room due to inattention. The question that his mother asked me engaged me for a while!.'How am I to bring out abilities for him to discover himself'! She was confident that if only he knew why he is at pre-school he would gather himself to focus and stay attentive! This consciousness to lead him  to a growing sense of his worth and skills is her present mission for her son. 

It is we who can affirm worth and regards to all that is around us. For a gardener to have a sense of wanting to make a plant adorn a lawn speaks a lot of his regard for the potential that he sees in the plants that he tends. 

A medical professional is a design artist in one sense. It is those who are weary of a sickness who come to us. To lead them beyond the consciousness of their sickness and give them perspective of a calling in life and affirm them to be resourceful is the mission of a medical professional. So a sick person is more than a potent, he or she has a life to live and share with others. 

A neighbour shared his distress of having to take his wife, who is only in her mind thirties, to renal dialysis three times a week, looked weary and anxious. He is now planning to sell part of his property to prepare for a renal transplant. He spoke about the doctor who is attending on him as his companion who restores his hope! This doctor makes a difficult situation bearable!

To redeem a trying situation is the calling of medical professional!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

The farm with its bounty!

I wonder whether we take notice of the silently present plants and trees in a farm or garden! Sometimes we return to them at the time of manuring, tending or gathering the fruits.

A tree or a plant is the soul of a farm. They are a home for birds, insects, reptiles, orchids, etc. A tree has its visible part above the earth and an invisible part beneath the earth. The tres and plants live and thrive because they support each other and offer hospitality to each other to let them grow. It is occasional that the trees are 'selfish' to displace another tree of its own species or another species. A garden or a farm is a symbol of 'fraternity'!

As Ann and I walk in the farm and take in all the sights of fruits and nesting birds, we get a sense of the diversity with its the richness and abundance! 

I listened to two families yesterday,  who live 'lonely' lives amidst a crowded neighbourhood! The neighbours belong to another religion, ethnic background or occupation! Think of this terrible state of affairs! During this election season, the differences between people have been referred to by the national leaders that this 'separation' of people from each other got even more apparent!

The earth gives way its produce to everyone alike! It makes no distinction between people. Its bowl of bounty is for everyone. 

The president of the United States of America speaks of a language of 'America for Americans'; the prime minister of India refers to Pakistan as a hostile or terrorist neighbour; the British Prime Minister refers to England for the English and not even for Europeans...

As we hear these 'divisive' language, contrary to the symbol of togetherness that we see in the nature around us, most of us have a sense of grief! 

When Sri Lanka is 'fighting' the aftermath of its terrible Easter terrorist attacks which took away the lives of many and injured a large number,  we get another glimpse of the danger at our door step of human beings becoming enemies of each other. 

As I hear the current Prime Minister of India talks about the other leaders in a mean and defaming way and projects himself as one superior to all others, I get a sense of the 'hate' that he promotes to get a gain for himself!

Oh, that we would see each other as companions and fellow travellers! It is this message that I received after walking in our garden and receive the gifts of the fruits the plants and trees offer to us in plenty! 

Dear Prime minster, as a leader of the nation, are you not a 'servant' of all and not just one political party! If so, why not speak of others more kindly, respectfully and affiirmingy! All of us regard you, but your words make us stay away from you! You make us fearful! As a prime minister you are the only one who can promise freedom from fear! 

Humanity is a garden of people, all of whom are created in the image of God!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Green and Red

Anna found a suitable place adjacent to our well for kitchen gardening during this season. We have had a good yield of beans, Brinjal, and ladies finger. 

Apart from the usual green ladies finger, we had a plant which yielded red ones. This surprised us. All the saplings looked similar, but in few weeks, from the time, the flowers appeared we wondered if one of them was likely to yield red ladies finger.  

Nature has its surprises. 

What is even more surprising was that the green and red ones are similar in taste, at least for us. 

What is common between them is more than the differences. 

I suppose it is true of all of us. At this time of the national elections for the parliament, there is a focus on the differences between political parties, ideologies, and ethos. As I listen to the debates in the print and visual media, I get a sense of the similarities between the most national parties. 

However in the recent elections, the greater emphasis is to highlight the differences and create a divisive attitude among people. 

If governing the affairs of a state or a country to serve people and provide a healthy environment socially, financially, and, developmentally, which ought to be the purpose of polity, then even political parties can trust each other and wait for their turns to be in government. 

But what seems to worry most of us is that some parties have an agenda of imposing a thought process and value system which threaten social harmony, personal freedom and communal fraternity!

The calling in polity of democracy is to usher in welfare to all!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

In our garden !

Anna and I see seeing the flowering Lilies in our garden feel surprised by their flowering habit  at different times of the year at least expected times. This might be the pre-summer blossoms.

I confess that these Lilies at the edge of the garden do not receive as much attention as other plants. Yet, they blossom !

There are paradoxes in nature! 

One paradox is how some plants thrive even when unattended!

The character of each plant is in its genetics.

Yesterday, I was listening to one skilled worker, who laments about his alcohol dependence. He remains dry in between but slips into the habit under the influence of his companions at work. 

While listening to him, it occurred to me that human behaviour is conditioned by relationships. It is not always within us to overcome circumstances. The company we keep provides the setting and conditions us. The will to do good is inherent within us, but woeful need nurture.

This is the paradox in human behaviour. The good we want to do, we are not able to do but end up doing what we would have liked to avoid. 

The writer of the book of the Romans in the New Testament of the Bible in his confession, makes an alarming statement, 'Oh, wretched man that I am' because of this paradox that he discovered in his life that he is unable to do the good that he aspires to do. 

The Lillies flower according to its own rhythm. To do good is always within us. To live and conduct our lives well is within us.

The enabler is God of our lives.  

In the monastric traditions of St Benedict, this will to do good is reinforced by the habit of living by prayer, meditation and service. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Leaking water and fallen walls!

From September 2018, sons were working in our property to mend the broken down walls following the heavy leak from the irrigation canal flowing through our property. I have a feeling that most of the repair work would be over before the Christmas season!

My representation to the government authorities did not yield any attention form them!

I am grateful for the help we have received form those who have been attending to contain some of the leaking of water and save the property. 

I took leave for a week to take stock of the damage to the property- uprooting of fifteen trees, damage to five walls, extensive soil erosion, serious risk to another twenty trees, all in six months was a heavy toll. 

I now get a sense of how farmers might feel, when they are struck by flooding and storm. 

The agrarian crisis in India which led to five major street agitations in the recent three months is truly a representation of the awful state of the grief stricken farmers. It is either flood, or drought or crop failure due to pests, which make them debt ridden. 

I am yet to feel assured that the woes of farmers are heard by those in authority and corrective steps are forthcoming!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

When water Harms!

How to keep the water away from harming the trees in the garden! This has been a challenge for the last six years since Anna and I returned to live in our cottage. 

The leaking canal that runs across the property has adversely affected the nutmeg and coconut trees in the garden. We have trees falling with a wind as the running water across the farm caused loose soil around the trees. 

I have represented to the local government authorities as the canal requires urgent attention. Three ears back, there was a sudden surge in the water flow, which the authorities tried to contain by reinforcing the concrete walls. Now it is equally bad!

The property in four layers protected by supporting walls can  no longer take in this water flow through the property all the time of the year! During the monsoon there is a layer of water on the surface! 

This is the third time in six years we are rebuilding the damaged walls. 

To safely keep a farm and tend the field is a demanding exercise!

Every time I walk through this part of the property, I realise that water can also do harm! It does not have to become a flood to cause harm!  Water in a wrong place and in large quantity harms. 

Water is good and life giving. It turns otherwise sometimes!

Friendships bring abundance in our lives. But it is necessary to protect friendships from becoming manipulative, demanding, choking or one-sided.

When friendships turn sour, it harms and hurts. 

The next step need not be always restoration, but healing, forgiveness and acceptance of the new reality of distance... for short or long periods!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo) 

Dew on leaves, flowers and buds!

Anna and I are fond of plants and flowers. We have a variety of them in our garden. 

When the night temperature drops commencing from November, there is a new look of leaves, flowers and buds, because the dew drops grant them an elegant look! They are naturally visually captivating. But with the dew on them, there is a striking and enchanting look!

The dew provides that additional charm !

I had an unusual experience couple of days back at work.  A colleague of mine suggested that, I take a break earlier than I usually do at lunch time ! I was touched by this thoughtful comment! I felt encouraged that someone thought about my wellness. I am overwhelmed normally by the goodwill my colleagues show towards me. When something more than the usual happens, one is certainly overcome by gratitude!

There are graces and acts of kindness that we can show to each other, to make the already  existing relationships more refreshing and upbuilding. 

Even without the dew, the leaves, flowers and buds are special. With the dew on them, they become a visual feast. 

This to me is a calling- the kindness of the widow woman of Zarephath, who baked bread for the prophet Elijah, when no flour or oil was left in her jars, beyond what was needed for her and her son, during the  season of a famine (I kings 17:7-16) ! She would have been well justified and thought to be right, if she had declined the request of Elijah to make him the bread first! Instead, she reached out to him first.

Doing something more is not ordinary for most of us. We do just enough or less than that !

Doing more for others is the way of life, we see in the gospel stories in the New Testament of the Bible.

That is how we make relationships even more enriching and thoughtful!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Orange, Yellow, Brown and green!

Of the plants we have in the garden, it is this plant which is easy to grow. Break off a steam and plant in soil and it woeful bloom in less than three weeks. Often there are more flowers than leaves. The grow sideways rather upwards. 

Its colours stand out at the edges of the lawn !

It blooms abundantly where it is planted ! It's colours are given to it ! It brings it out for others!

Life carries colourfulness and effervescence! How much of it is given away to others to bring cheer and hope!

I have pondered over this through this day- Given to give! 

At seventy, there is more to give away! That is a call that has come to me from the birthday greetings  I have received!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The first passion fruit !

How good it is to have a passion fruit after a year of planting the sapling! We planted the sapling and did not have to give any attention!

To live close to nature is a refreshing experience!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

All in one day!

Our domestic helpers, Shymala and Sasi keep a watch on the garden and gather the fruits on time. Yesterday, we found this in the kitchen table. 

Except the jack fruit, the other two are perennial fruits.

We have nine mango saplings, few of them five years old. None has yielded fruits so far! So the garden yields some fruits and we wait for some other fruits. 

Is it not the essence of living!

We live celebrating good things of life and wait hopefully for more good things to accompany us!

If we can grow in gratefulness, then it is abundant living!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Fruits of the season!

It is a pleasure to watch when the trees bear fruits !

There are fifteen different fruits in our garden during this season !

So we have birds and squirrels as regular visitors even during the rain. The squirrels and birds thrive on berries, banana, papaya...

Every season has something special about it.

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

First fruit!

Sasi, our gardener working with us for five years now planted a sapling and watched this fruit to reach its ripening stage. It was a delight for him and for us to harvest the first fruit!

During this three months since the the fruit first appeared in the plant, Sasi almost every day watched it grow! 

Some things in nature tell us a lot about the way we can review our thinking!

Only if we plant we can harvest!

The sowing is a seed beginning! Then follows all the tending and caring!

We have three grand children and their parents with us now. We watch with delight how parents sow the seeds of good habits and practices in their lives with diligence and attention!   

 Small acts of of thoughtfulness are seeds that would grow..!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Summer flowers!

Summer flowers in our garden!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Anna's Kitchen garden!

It is a delight to watch Anna's kitchen garden during this summer, with different vegetables! Three complements to Anna for her meticulous efforts!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Welcome, season of mangoes!

We have seven mango saplings in our garden. None of them is flowering during this season! But our neighbours have mangoes in their garden, which gives us an opportunity to watch them grow!

It is a fruit that has become a crash crop in the recent years with more land used for mango groves! While going through the highways, I notice banana plantation is getting replaced by mango groves!

What delights me even more, that there are more plant nurseries than ten years ago, that supply  saplings of variety of fruits.  So most kitchen gardens have some fruit bearing trees! We have nine different fruits we get from our garden !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Flowers and fruits!

After four years of planting and tending Anna and I have some delightful sights in our garden!

There are different flowers and fruits, thanks to our gardener who too have been most faithful to do all the needed to take care of the plants and fruit bearing trees!

There is a season for planting and a season for harvesting! 

One of the special things of this rhythm is the need for vigilance! The plants need regular care attention!

A few students came to visit me today. This is the fourth year, when a batch of 17 students who have submitted research projects for short term student research. Anna functioned as the lead faculty to facilitate this. 

All of us are resources for others in different ways. What we become to others is what really matters because that alone would last and bear fruits! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Homegrown fruits !

We have had a collection of pineapples frOm our garden in the last three weeks. This is th first crop of pineapples we have had since we planted them about two years back. We provided organic manure for the plants. 

Among our attempts to grow fruits, we have had some good returns only with banana, papaya, custard apple and pineapple. 

In a conversation with an agricultural scientist during a christmas get together we realised that the soil chemistry is a deciding factor. It needs a planned manuring and tending approach!

It was a reminder to us, that in 'subduing' the earth as it was committed to Adam and Eve in the Genesis description, there is an accompanying responsibility of stewardship! 

While we are users of the land and its produce, we ought to become keepers of the land!

M.C.Mathew( text and photo)

Fitst fruits !

Anna and I have been learning a lot about gardening over three years since we have been living in the farm land!

Most of the fruit bearing plants we planted three years back have given their first fruits during this season. It is a delight to walk through the garden and celebrate the new life of the plants after the monsoon. They have grown, flowering and dancing in the sun with new vigour.

One aspect of the gardening experience we are learning is the need to do what is needed at the right time. They need attention almost daily!

This has brought  us new awareness about the rhythm of life! Every day is complete only by following a rhythm of paying attention to the life within and without! Giving attention to the life within calls for time for reflection and renewal. Giving attention to the life around us calls for planning and watching over with attention  and care! 

Life is a journey towards coherence and convergence... St Augustine said, '.. our souls are restless till they find in rest in Thee, Lord of of our lives!'

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Hybrid Hibiscus!

Thi picture of a hybrid Hibiscus plant is one of the rare collections I have. I noticed this plant in a retreat centre. Although the quality of the picture is not so commendable, I return to this photograph to remind myself of the change we can bring about in a plant by adding gene materials in the laboratory. This plant was brought form the Botanical garden at Ooty where it was perhaps first planted! It displays different colours, shapes and sizes in its leaves. It has a changed appearance from that of a regular Hibiscus plant- colourful and diverse!

Yesterday, a family came to talk about the divorce which they are considering. The three year old child has Psoriatic dermatitis from the age of six months and is not having a respite as yet inspite of good medical attention. The husband is tired and embarrassed and is now asking for a divorce, although it is a marriage between close relatives. It turned out to be a no-nnegotiable position as of now.

We are conditioned by circumstances, preset values and personal beliefs. It is this that limit our openness. We need a change from fixation of ideas formed by our past experiences if we want to find a purpose and meaning.There is prospect of change in each of us, however rigid we might than that tee are, because human temperament is destined to be accommodative and flexible. We are created to love and to be loveable! The change in our attitude begins with resetting of our optic and revising our attitude!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Double planting

The bed of bamboo shoots is used to plant Cana plants which flowers seasonally. This double planting is a popular concept which has some challenges in gardening! 

This is common sight in some parts of Kerala, where pine apples are grown in rubber tree plantations when the trees are still growing, before the commencement of tapping for milk. 

The moisture in the soil ought to be right for both plants. The chemistry of the soil ought to suit both plants alike. The sunlight and shadow in the right proportion ought to suit both plants. All these are challenges which need experience and professional approach.

There are some advantages. The land use is maximised. In gardens, we can allow seasonal flowering plants to grow to make the tree bed look eye-pleasing. Most flowering plants grow by spreading the roots in the superficial layers of the soil which does not disturb the roots of the tree such as the bamboo which tend to grow deeper. The leaves of the bamboo protects the flowering plants from exposure to extremes of sunlight. 

When we are short of space for planting flowering plants, consider using the bed of tall trees of bushes. It makes the garden even more aesthetic and colourful!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)