5, 4, 3, 2, 1... Go!

I talked to Rami, he was looking for people who wanted to work in the garden, and no one came. So I asked him if it was ok with him, that I was the godmother of the herbs in the garden, and that I would like to build the herb spiral, and told him about how it works. He was really excited with the idea, so I began plannig how to do everything...

First, Michi helped me made an estimate of how much soil, gravel and rocks we would need. We thought we were going to need a donation, but we found that the things we needed to do this were cheap (no more than US$50), so we decided to buy everything, and then Rami said that he would help to pay the expenses.

Michi searched all the info of how to build a nice spiral (mathematically), and I searched all the info about the plants and their needs.

I spoke to some friends of the foundation, I called and emailed several people to find hands to work. Everybody seemed to be busy... So I sent all my invitations and waited for someone to come the day that we chose for working in the garden (sunday). I recieved some positive answers.

I was all the week walking the streets to see if we could reuse some wasted material to build the spiral, and in fact we found some construction waste and used it, not only for the spiral, but also for the changes they are making in the house.

We went to find the materials, it was a hard work, because it was too heavy, and my father almost had a heart attack when he saw the picture of the building blocks in the back of the car (he was like "oh! my god!!! how did you put all that weight on the car!!!) Ok, sorry about that... But I drove carefully and took care of not over loading it for real.

Then we made another trip, to a town near Bogota, to buy the soil, compost, and herbs. And we took them to the place and prepared everything for the gardening day.

No one came... Only two friends that had said before that they could not come, came to help for an hour, they were really excited about the idea, but they had another commitment, so they had to leave.

We worked all morning... It was fun, inspiring, beautiful, a little hard work for the back and the hands... but at the end, the result was beautiful for everyone... Really fulfilling...

Everybody is happy and they are thinking how to improve all the garden, and the people that did not come are having also Ideas.... So this is the beginning of a community work.

Our Herb Spiral on Prezi

Hable con Rami, el estaba buscando voluntarios para trabajar en el jardin pero nadie vino. Asi que le pregunte si podia ser yo el hada madrina de las hierbas aromaticas, y que me gustaria construir la espiral de hierbas, y le explique todo sobre como funciona. Le gusto mucho la idea, asi que le explique lo que ibamos a necesitar para hacer todo.

Primero, Michi me ayudo a hacer un estimado de cuanta tierra, gravilla y piedras ibamos a necesitar. Pensamos que ibamos a necesitar una donacion, pero luego nos dimos cuenta que los materiales que necesitabamos no eran tan costosos (no se necesitaban mas de $100.000COP), asi que compramos todo y luego Remi dijo que el ayudaria a pagar los gastos si no nos los reembolsaban.

Michi busco toda la informacion sobre como construir una bonita espiral (matematicamente) y yo busque la informacion sobre las plantas y sus necesidades.

Hable con algunos amigos de la fundacion, llame y escribi a varias personas para encontrar manos para trabajar. Todo el mundo parecia estar ocupado, asi que mande todas las invitaciones que pude y espere que alguien llegara el domingo. Recibi algunas respuestas positivas.

Estuve toda la semana caminando por las calles, buscando material que pudiera reutilizar para construir la espiral. Y encontre, de hecho, algunos escombros de construccion, que pudimos usar, no solo para la espiral, sino tambien para algunos cambios que estaban haciendo en la casa.

Luego fuimos a buscar los materiales, fue un trabajo duro, porque todo era muy pesado... mi padre casi sufre un infarto cuando vio la foto de los ladrillos entre el carro (me dijo: "Como le metiste tanto peso al carro??!!!) Ok, lo siento... pero maneje con muchisimo cuidado y tuve cuidado de no cargarlo de mas.

Luego hicimos otro viaje a un pueblito cerca de bogota, a comprar la tierra, el compost y las hierbas. Luego los llevamos al jardin y preparamos todo para el dia de trabajo.

Nadie vino. Solo dos amigos que habian dicho que no podian, vinieron a ayudar por una hora, estaban muy felices de poder ayudar, pero tenian que irse porque tenian otro compromiso.

Trabajamos toda la manana... fue divertido, inspirador, bonito! Un poco pesado el trabajo para las manos y la espalda.... pero al final el resultado fue muy lindo y nos lleno mucho.

Todos estan felices y estan pensando en formas de mejorar el jardin. La gente que no vino tambien esta teniendo nuevas ideas. Esto es el principio de un trabajo de comunidad.