Two years ago, I had the idea of starting to grow my own food. I live in Vienna, a big city where it’s not so easy to find an affordable piece of land suitable for farming. I was also looking for other youngsters with whom I could share the work and the joy of harvesting and cooking together.

During an AYUDH meeting at that time, I spoke about my plan. One of the members told me that Amma encouraged people to grow their own food, and that AYUDH was starting one such project, “Growin.’” I was surprised and happy that my desire matched Amma’s intention.

That year, we started to grow veggies on my balcony. The following year, we took on a bigger challenge: we rented a plot of land at the Versuchsgärten Jedlersdorf, a garden for the scientific work of the University for Natural Resources (BOKU), Vienna. In March 2010, a few of us AYUDH and GreenFriends members started to till the soil. We then arranged a workshop on planting different kinds of vegetables like carrots, radish, spinach, red beet, arugula, onion and cabbage. Nature really works wonders. After only 10 days, the radish and arugula showed their first leaves.

In May, we added more seeds — peas, beans, cucumber, pumpkins, zucchini, tomato, physalis, strawberries, herbs, broccoli, lettuce, etc. — many of which Amma had blessed specifically for this project.

By the end of June, our garden had grown a bounty of organic vegetables. For me, our Growin’ garden is a great opportunity to do some useful work and have fun.

By harvesting and eating what one has previously tended with so much love, that love becomes part of our food, and thus returns to us. If you have a chance, grow some food wherever you find space (balcony, garden, window, etc.). It will be an amazing experience.

Want to share your green story? Write to reports@ayudh.eu. Visit www.ayudh.org.

Marlene in the AYUDH Garden in Vienna

doing the hard work...

...pays off!!!

harvest!

delicious!!