In this early edition Andree sketches a nice picture of last month’s living in the Garden of Nâm.
Special Guests
We have had several specials guests in the Garden of Nâm; invited and not invited, day and night visitors:
Guest number 1 was Chico, the very nice, young dog of our neighbour, who was all day with us, playing with his ball, running through the garden, sharing the meditations, at night he went to sleep in his own house in the bed of the boss. Although he was not used to meditate, he loved to go to the meditation room and be together with all the people and the other dogs. He always wanted to start with playing and then lay down, with a long, slow breath. He could keep silence with most of the meditations; only when people passed the door, he had to do his task: barking. We all liked him very much and we were thankful that he was such a happy dog. Four years ago Chico was tied with a rope at the grille of the supermarket, the Spar in the centre of the village. After a few days waiting for his boss, he was adopted by our neighbour Emilio. When he was back home, he slept whole day to recover of the excitement in the wonderful Garden of Nâm.
Uninvited night guests were and still are the wild boars. They enter the Garden secretly in the middle of the night and steal potatoes, mess up the pepper fields and eat whatever vegetables they meet. For us it was a small disaster, all the work… They have been all through the garden, leaving their paw prints in the mud on many places, ate half of the compost supply and we recently discovered that they like to eat the roots of the trees. This is off course disastrous. At the lower backside the garden is open with a rocky uneven hill that is covered with scrub and huge stones. That is where they enter! These wild boars are used to climb the steep mountains around us, like goats and they are handy to enter the places with water and greens. Human, Edwin, Hubertus and Mario, strong men of the Garden of Nâm build a wall of all the old doors, iron gates, poles, and other woods that Human has gathered during the last years. Two nights it seemed that it worked and they did not come but…The wild boars returned via field 7, because there is also a large opening in the wall at the end of the Garden to let the water of the canals run into the street when this is necessary. This was also closed and again, the wild boars did not come back 1 night; but again and again they succeeded to enter the Garden of Nâm. The only solution is, like neighbours have done or are planning to do, a stone wall of 1.20 m and up the wall a 2 meter high fence…we are looking now how to get the money for this big project.
The third special guest was Evy of 9 years old. She came with her mother and became best friends with Simran. Her mother was on a special diet but Evy always ate with us. She loved the dishes of Andjanie, our cook. It was very nice to have her around. We hope that Evy and her mother will visit us again!
Number 4 is our very helpful “gnomo de jardin”, a recurrent guest who visits us once or twice a week to liberate the Garden of weed and a kind of grass that sticks in the fur and even to the skin of the dogs and in all our clothes. For the dogs it is a plague; the hard sticky seeds are regularly found around their noses and mouths. They cannot liberate themselves and hardly feel comfortable for us to do so with scissors around their lips. An impressive task, because when she was finished… the grass came back again on all the places where we had added manure. Obviously the manure contained the seeds… So our appreciated volunteer earned another name; Sisyphus, after the king of Corinth, who challenged the Gods and who got a punishment in the end; to roll a boulder up the mountain, again and again, till the end of time. We are grateful that Sisyphus starts again with this (already 3 years lasting) project.
The vegetable garden
Half way September is the beginning of a period with cooler temperatures and the best time to plant new vegetables and herbs. And before that, mid august, the fields of potatoes can be planted, because potatoes stay a few weeks under the ground and there, they like the warmth. Off course all of them need a lot of water, and all other plants that profit of the water on the fields, have to be weeded. This is a lot of work; preparing the grounds with the subsoiler, removing the bigger stones, add good earth and manure, make rows, add water, and then planting. Even the buying of the potatoes and plants takes a lot of time.
There were cues waiting in line for the seed potatoes and we had to wait for 110 numbers on the market of El Alquián to buy the seedlings of pepper plants, garlic, cabbage, broccoli, herbs, onions etc. Fortunately the people who had no time to wait that long, gave us their numbers, so in the end we could ride home with a lot of plants! Now, most of the plants are planted. Because of the grasshoppers, they eat all sorts of cabbage, we protect the broccoli and cabbage with nets. Only… Now we are in the middle of the wild boars challenge, we cannot plant at all because they most certainly will eat it…
El Comedor
The Garden of Nâm is enriched with a dining room for the guests. This was necessary as we had only one big table in the kitchen for max 10 people and often we ate with more. There is a terrace with a wonderful view, but… in the summer it is too hot during lunch-time, and the winter evenings are too cold for supper. Guest are welcome to eat in the dining room. As we have experienced, the dining room is a calm place to eat in silence together, and enjoy the meals. The room is yet to be completed with a bigger countertop and a fridge, but already in good use. We expect that El Comedor will soon be completely ready.
Birthday Abbahji
On the 2 of October we celebrated the birthday of Yoginâm and with this feast all our birthdays. It was a very nice feast with a Zoom connection Níjar - Amonines. The people that were in Spain could congratulate Yoginâm personally in the morning and received a private HarpMood and a Blessing. Very, very nice. In the afternoon there was a beautiful HarpMood Gathering with lute music and chanting We were very glad to celebrate the day that Yoginâm was born into this world 78 years ago.
Nâm Retreat of Silence for Men
Right after the Feast a Nâm Retreat of Silence for men started. With 8 participants all monastic meditations took place in the big Meditation Hall. More than ever the Garden of Nâm breathed the intense and joyful atmosphere of silent attunement. A Retreat of Silence with Yoginâm is always a wonderful and healing experience and with this group of men the concentration was deep and the silence was tangible.
Shamanic Retreat with Anna Montis
From 17 until 21 of oktober there will a shamanic retreat with Anna Montis. Anna is an authentic shaman, born in a village in Sardinia. In this village her grandfather and mother were famous because of their qualities to make contact with the causal field, with the spirits, with layers or states, that are normally unconscious. There are still a few places available. Before and after you can also help with the harvest of olives and enjoy the pleasant weather in the south of Spain make a beach excursion and enjoy the wonderful food.
Excursions
In September several guests used the opportunity to go on an excursion with Andrée; to Playa Playazo, to Almeria with the Cathedral, the small Monasterio de la Purisma Concepción and the Alcazar, the huge castle out of the Arabic times.The ruins of this castle are being renovated and it is a very interesting and beautiful site. Another excursion to the Natural Park Cabo de Gata, to San Jose with Playa Genoveses, Monsul and the long walk to the Torre de la Vela Blanca and along the Salinas with many flamingos to the Faro de Cabo de Gata. Walking, swimming, driving and enjoying the nice scenery around Nijar. The informal contact during the excursion offered an opportunity to ask any question, to exchange comments etc. By booking excursions, you also support the Garden, because you contribution goes into the Donation Box.
The Food
The food in the Garden of Nâm is made by Andjanie. She is a very good cook and keeps on getting better all the time. She can cook very special vegetarian food out of many countries. Nice curries, pakora, chapati etc. out the Indian kitchen. We eat Italian pastas, Japanese sushi, Dutch sauerkraut, potatoes mushed or out of the oven all sorts of salads, nice soups with lentils, beans or vegetables… Everyone likes the food very much. There is always a lot of variation so you can choose from vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian dishes. We are very grateful because she spends many hours in the kitchen and this service is well appreciated by all our guests. Bless Andjanie!
One guests had gone to a restaurant recently, it is part of their vacation… but they found out that that food had far less quality and a higher price. They suggested to publish a vegetarian cooking book and to organise veg-cooking workshops. With this food I have no problem to abstain from eating meat!” It appears that many people would like to change their diet but don’t know how… “
The tobacco field
The Garden of Nâm is enriched with a tobacco field, a project of Ilya. The plants grow very high and flower with sweet rose flowers. The leaves have to dry slowly and turn to yellow and brown and then can be harvested, dried and cut in order to make it is suitable as tobacco. This last part is tricky because when the drying goes to fast or too slow, the leaves are not suitable. In any case it is a lovely sight in the Garden.
Work in the Garden …
Now is the season to plant in the Garden. Yoginâm wants to extend the fields with hibiscus, myrthe, lavendels to fill the terraces with greens, flowers and nice smells. This plants belong to the climate and grows well in the grounds. The grounds are recovering by the amounts of compost, manure and good earth that we have added. And by covering it with straw or other dead material of plants. Since we found out that the oleanders are poisonous - even the pollen can cause very serious defects on the heart rhythm and smoke of this plants, leaves and flowers can easily kill a man - we are busy to remove them and later there will be the nicest red hibiscus!
Towards the second week of October we are going to harvest the olives. This year will be a little less than last year with almost 900 kilos. This is not only in our garden, but happens every 3 to 5 years in the gardens around us. The trees need some rest and obviously this year is their sabbatical. We hope to collect 500 kilos to get our own pressing in the Almazarra, the olive pressing fabric. It is the minimum to start the engines. The pressing is planned for 17th of October, and the picking is starting now. Very early this year, because some trees who are more than ready and their olives lay already on the grounds …
Work on excisting guest rooms ...
There is a lot of invisible work in the Garden of Nâm. When 5 guests leave and 5 new ones come; Maria is washing and ironing 10 sheets, 10 towels, 5 pillowcases, 5 bedspreads and 5 mattress protectors and Andree is cleaning (with the help of Rodica) 5 rooms, preparing 5 beds, cleaning showers, toilets etc. Fortunately the rooms are well appreciated, the style, the interior, the quality of the mattresses and the Portuguese cotton, special bought by our man, living near the border. We are glad that our work is appreciated.
.... and new ones
The building of new rooms, on the place of the last ruins is going to start in November. The ruins are prepared, and the building site is waiting for construction. The walls outside are still there. Next year there will be more rooms, also for people who want to stay longer.
