Life can surprise you in many ways...

my decision to take year off work is on the balance...

as i got the news from my work that i can't do this while getting paid for it (yet) If i postpone it for a year, it would be possible... but postponing this feels a bit like failing. I had really been looking forward to it, and it's hard to accept that i might postpone... still, i havent decided anything yet. I might just take the year of without pay. It's weird how fast people change their minds if money is involved...

on the other hand; reading this one made me realise i could also spend some time on the plukrijpfarm (if they'll have me) because when i'm there with all these interesting people...i love and learn so much about life that it would seem foolish to leave this place so soon :)

anyway, still have some time to think about it... meanwhile enjoying life!

amazing plukrijp sunset!

love to pick flowers for complete strangers!

Back from my trip in France and Spain

it's been a week since I got back from my (surf)trip and boy did I surf some excellent waves!! It had been some time sice I surfed some qualtiy waves ( last time was the surftrip to Panama) so I was really aware of the preciousness of these waves! It's not an everyday thing (yet :-) ) for me, but who knows in the future where I might end up...?

Big barrels in Hossegor (France

microplactics - this is the stuff our fish swallow
 and eventually what WE eat!

First day arriving in Moliets (France) i was blown away by the mount of trash and plastics that had washed up on the shores. It really hurt me in my heart and in my head to see mother nature like this... I immediatly started doing daily beach clean ups by myself... sometimes collecting the equivalant of 2 big trashbags in only 30 minnutes. It looks useless, just one man doing this, but it doesnt feel like that to me. As I've learned over the the past few months..."every little bit counts!! even if it looks pointless!!" And it really does, because people where watching what I was doing, the complemented me, talked to me, so I got the attention of a few and that's a big step forward! Sometimes they even helped me little bit.. how great is that! :-)
And then it hit me, just that first day, that this could be one of the things I maybe would like to dedicate my life to, cleaning up beaches, oceans, helping our lovely ocean friends like (not so) Free Willy or Nemo! So I started to get in contact with Surfrider Foundation Europe http://www.surfrider.eu/de/accueil.html which is a departement of http://www.surfrider.org/ and http://www.initiativesoceanes.org/?lang=2
These are organisations based on volunteers which organise beach clean ups and try to reach the public and make them aware of what's happening to our oceans today. It's most likely that I'll be joining them soon to help out.

It was wonderfull to see nature still thrives in spite of what man is doing to it... went for some hikes in the Pyrenees and was amazed by it's beauty! The idea of doing some hiking there in summertime immediatly came to mind :) I really enjoyed the time spent without laptops, facebook, cellphone and all the others distractions of modern society... gave me time to meditate, to read a book or just to sit there and watch the world around me :)

Coming home from the trip had a real surprise for me as well, as "the permaculture priciple" had been busy while I was away. I asked my neighbour Jenny to look after my two pets (Degus), and as she came by every day to check on them, she watered my project garden  from time to time cause it had been quit dry in Belgium. She told me she had lots of joy in helping me out. This is an example of permaculture and community... and I am very greatfull for this! To mig surprise, being way for two weeks, I saw my vegetable garden had really exploded!! Salads, herbs, beets, carrots, ... everything had grown so much i couldnt believe it at first! ( I even thought Jenny went to buy some  big vegetables and planted them in between ;-) It felt really good to see that my work had payed of, and  it felt even better that I could share these vegetables with Jenny and  my other neighbours. It made me realise, that you reach so much more with community and that is what permaculture is all about... Helping out each other and sharing!

I'll finish up with some pictures of the contribution of spring to my garden...

Pots from plukrijp, still going crazy! :)

first strawberry!! yummy!!

what a difference with 2 weeks ago!

explosion in the vegetable garden

more explosion! 

always nice to have some colours in  the garden!

apple trees starting to come alive :)

more "life" in the garden :)

homemade couch for chilling in the evening sun!

strawberry bed, looking good

Going on a spiritual trip...

last week I lost my grandfather "Willy"... he was 86 years old.

... it was difficult to process, but I know he went to a peaceful place... it's for the best so my grandmother can have some peace of mind as well. We'll all miss him, but he remains in our hearts as somebody who dedicated his life for his family. On one of his last days, he told my grandmother he wanted to change the world...make it a better place...

Well I think he did and I hope to honor him by doing what I can to make it better, and more loving for everybody. Leaving on a trip soon.... trying to figure out what it is I can do...what it is I want to dedicate my life to... and enjoying my life along this way...

signing off for some time...

and than there was spring...nice!

it's been some time since  i posted something about me and my garden... so here we go! what a nice weather it has been these past weeks! spring comes early this year. Lots has happened meanwhile.

zwartmoeskervel and sorrel

i started planted a lot of veggies in the raised bed i made...i hope they survive because the weather wasnt ideal to replant them. a cloudy day would have been better though. Anyways, i did the replanting in the evening when it was a little cooler. i put in some salads, a colliflower (which i still had from last fall - the only one that didnt get eaten by the slugs), redbeats, musterd, leechs, sorrel, dill, sellery,... I made some 30 by 30cm squares where i can experiment with different kind of combinations. still have some squares to fill.
I used the plants i got from the plukrijpfarm, as well as stuff i had sown myself. It's very exciting to do all this and watch it grow!

In the house, i have sown other things like borage, carrots, spinach, red beats, salad, chervil. My chicory which i grew in the basement has grown full size. It tastes really good, and it felt good that i could give some to my neigbhours and grandparents.

plukrijppotten coming to life :-)

in the back of the garden i made a new raised bed where i can plant the strawberries. I got like 30 strawberryplants last fall from a friend, but i needed a sunny spot for them. So i threw out some bushes, which my neighbour gladly accepted, and made the bed with soil from my neighbour. We've become good friends. He even brougth me eggs from his chickens. I'm going to invite him over soon for dinner, so we can get to know each ohter better.

I also made a couch from palletwood for chilling out in the garden! also a very important factor :-) and while i was at it, i made a insect/wild bee-sheleter as well.... looks a little weird, but it's all improvised.

As for myself, it's weird living alone in this house, after spending all the past years there with my wife. I'm trying to make the best of it, by looking out for myself. You wont find me at home very often, because i've been spending a lot of time on the plukrijpfarm. The people there help me becoming a more loving and caring person. But more important for me,they are helping me unlocking the playfullness that has been hidden inside me...that i've been ignoring. I'm refinding joy in life, in the little things, subtle glimpses op magic; ...
I've been through some dark times past winter, but i feel the light and the warmth of spring shining upon me. it's the rythm of nature... I'm finding myself more outside, walking barefoot, sleeping in the garden (or in the plukrijp-treehouse, which was awesome!), meditating and playing.

Anyway, with this said, I wish to thank all the people I've met (and everyone i'm still going te meet) because they help me grow, getting closer to myself and others, learning about the meaning of life and love,... and maybe most important they help me to love myself!! So thank you all... love you guys!

How long are we still able to surf?

"Zarautz" This is the place where I learned to stand on a surfboard for the first time...right now it is getting destroyed by 17m waves. This has never happened before. Now, it has been happening all winter...Makes me wonder what our future will look like.

Zarautz is on North Coast of Spain

click here to watch the video

A question from Frank

Why did I start this blog anyway... well it all began with  question from Frank (of Plukrijp) He asked me to put something on his website about the progress I made and the things I have learned. I tried to upload some pictures but i always got a message saying "error". If this was 5 years ago, I would have been frustrated, but now I tried to figure a out a creative solution... so the idea of a blog popped up in my head. And since I'm planning a trip to other countries, it seemed like a good idea for friends and family who are interested about I'm doing. I'm writing it in english so the people at Plukrijp kan also read it if they want to.

At this moment, I am living alone in the house in Kapelle-op-den- Bos. My wife (soon ex-wife) is living with her parents.  This means that there are moments when I'm home alone. As I said before, I'm going on a trip for a year... destination yet unknown but that's ok. A friend of mine asked me what I do with this time alone. I proudly told him that I'm preparing my garden to grow some veggies in a sustainable way. He asked me why, because I'm leaving around summertime, when the garden will we flourishing... and that it's just a waste of time. I answered him i got inspired by this quote:

And so I did :-) I have even planted two! Frank's words also rang a bell: "Just start DOing something!!" And so I did... and guess what: "I'm loving it!" No, not Mc Donalds! I learn a lot by helping out at the farm, but I'm also learning by doing stuff myself. Permaculture has inspired me a lot and that is why I wish to start a small project for myself for the time I'm still living in this house in Kapelle-op-den-Bos. I trying new things, sometimes with succes, sometimes with a little bit more difficulties... but I enjoy doing it and that is what is most important. My goal is also to this in a sustainble way, without investing a lot (or no money at all) in it. I'm also getting in touch with my neigbours, who can help me with my project. I'm starting to feel that this is what permaculture is all about...

So, what I have recently done? Well, I started out last year november with planting two apple trees. I bought them locally and planted them in the back of the garden. 

 I made this raised bed with wood I still had laying in my shed. The horsemanure comes from a farm where they make horsemilk and other products. It is not so far from where i live.

I topped it with with 40 cm of soil from my neigbour ( who I started to talk to last wednesday) I discovered he also grows some vegetables, and has some chickens and goats. I borrowed his wheelbarrow because I do not own this. The level of the soil has gone down because of the rain, so I'll put on some more later this week. One can learn only by trying and doing, right? I mixed the soil with homemade compost which I'm very proud of ;-) This warm bed will provide heat so plants and sprouts get that little extra they need to grow. The heat will be produced by the soillife and bacteria reacting with straw and  the horsemanure.

This where the compost is made. I have two systems. I made this compostheap some years ago using recycled materials. 

I look at soil in a very different way now... it's pure gold

Precious moments in life....
....priceless.

What else did I do? Well, I trimmed my blackberrybushes and high grasses. My neighbour told me he could use the wood for making a natural fence so his goats wood stay in their fence. His chickens use the grass cuttings for making their nest. I still kept some for myself, just in case old man winter decides to show up so I can cover up the soil. I also gave some young berryplants to my neighbour (for the use of the wheelbarrow and the soil) and while I was at it, I took out some more for all the other neighbours. They where very happy with it and it made me happy as well. 

My famous berrybushes

Last fall, I made a tiny greenhouse from (with leftovers of a plastic roof )where i grew some endives and salads.  Soon, it will be the place to grow some young sprouts. 

some happy little veggies :) enjoying their first rays

I like veggies a lot, but I love the animals as well!! That 's why I also commited to make some things from for the birds, who will help me with eating the insects that might attack my garden. Maybe if I send out positive vibes, they will leave my veggies in peace (and not in peaces :-) I made a few birdhouses and birdfeeders and they seem to  enjoy it..

This will become a shelter for bugs and bees... a project I will work on soon.

Last fall I also made a composttoilet out of pallet wood. I put it in my shed and I know it's not perfect, but it does the trick. I made it because I wanted to stop the insanity  of flushing this precious fresh water down the toilet. 

my pee-bucket. 

Indoors i have moved my couch away from the south-facing window so I can grow some young seedlings and plants. Since I stopped watch television, it's more fun to watch these little guys grow. 

garlic ans spinach

Plants from Plukrijp, loving the rays of sunshien coming through

And in my basement is growing a little secret underneath a black plastic bag... i got some chicoryroots from a friend at school and they are slowly making their way upward. I cant wait till they are ready!! Yummy! This is the proof that even people in appartements can grew some edible greens.

One more week of school, and then you'll probably find me at the Plukrijpfarm again to find myself surrounded again by loving people...