Where oh where Wednesday: Japanese gardens in Hasselt

About 20-30 minutes away from where we live is the largest garden of its kind in Europe. We have never visited (yet) even though we often are in Hasselt, where this garden is found. We have a few of our members in Maastricht who live in or near Hasselt and we know other brothers and sisters from the church in Hasselt. But this garden is something completely different. 

Although Shirley and I have never visited Japan, we know a little bit about for various reasons. My brother is married to a gal from Okinawa and our nieces and nephew are half-Japanese. We have good friends who have been sharing the gospel in Japan for decades. And one of the first people from a foreign culture who came to Christ in Maastricht was a man from Japan. We still have contact with him although he now lives with his Dutch wife in Leiden. 

So 20-30 minutes away we could visit the Japanese Gardens in Hasselt, Belgium. Back in 1985 Hasselt and the Japanese city of Itami became friends, sister cities. Hasselt decided to give Itami a carillon tower and Itami gave Hasselt the Japanese garden. The garden was built not as a small city garden, but an expansive site of 2.5 hectares where a meadow had previously graced the countryside. 

The connection of Hasselt with Itami is not such a strange one. The city of Hasselt is known for its jenever, or gin. This is made from berries on a juniper bush. I remember growing up in Colorado that we had some juniper bushes in our front yard I didn’t know that you could get gin from them. Itami is famous for its sake. Sake, which is made from rice, is said to have originated in Itami. 

Although we have never yet visited this garden, we have visited the Japanese Gardens in San Diego while on our Home Assignments and visiting family who live there. You can find some pictures here that may be reminiscent of what we will find in Hasselt when, hopefully soon, we visit the gardens which are basically in our back yard. 

Whatsit Wednesday: Garden machines

Although we had to wait until the end of March to usher in summer time and the official time-keeping of Spring, Spring itself came a bit early this year. We always know that Spring is on its way when we see the crocuses at the bottom of our yard poke their heads above the ground. Beautiful little purple or whitish flowers with a yellow touch to them show up in clumps around our walnut tree. 

Of course the flowers are not the only things that start waking up. The cherry tree waits for some time to start blooming, but it is well on its way now in April. The weeds on the other hand have shown up with a vengeance. “Weeds”? I hear some of you saying: “There are no such things as weeds. Everything is useful.” Which may be true, but I have to admit that there are plenty of plants that I do not really want to see in my yard - and certainly not growing in the stones of my driveway. 

So I try to find time to do some weeding at times throughout the year. It isn’t nearly as often as Shirley or my neighbors might want, but it is what I can find. And I mow the grass. In May they have come up with a new thing: Don’t Mow in May. This is supposed to help the butterflies and bees and all sorts of other insects. It helps me because I do not have to feel guilty when I do not mow - a whole month long. 

Of course, but the time May is done, the grass is knee high and the moss is taking over the lower part of the yard. This is where the “scarifier” might come in. Although, to be correct, a scarifier is supposed to be used in the Fall, not in the Spring. But you may not even know what a scarifier is. 

I looked up the English translation. This is what I got. In Dutch it is a “verticuteerder”. Try saying that quickly three times. This machine is meant to loosen up and aerate the soil so that it doesn’t become mossy. It helps everything to grow better. I have to admit that I do not own a scarifier. I barely get around to using the mower. I would be adding guilt feelings to guilt feelings if I had a scarifier. Maybe that is why it has gotten that name. 

But as I said, one should not use a scarifier in the Spring. It would be like pruning your fruit trees in the Spring. This is what I did when we first moved here. I knew that I was to prune the cherry tree at some time, and it had been so cold in the Winter. So I waited for a nice day and pruned it then. Two older men walking by along the canal could be heard exclaiming at my ignorance for pruning in the Spring. 

The trees have continued blossoming (as they are now) and the grass keeps growing, no matter what I do to it. I use the weed pulling in the driveway as therapy. It feels good to be able to get a job done and see order.  And most Dutch or Belgian fathers, although they may look down on me, will not say anything. The Dutch will simply preen about their wel- manicured postage-stamp size front gardens. And the Belgians will simply brag about their newest tools. I can truly praise and be pleased with both efforts. 

Tomato Truths

The other day I was challenged by a picture from long time friend Amy Miller. She and her family have been encouraging people in so many different ways for quite a while. If you have never read her ‘Vomiting Chicken’ (the title alone is enough to make you want to know what it is about), go take a read. Also check out andhedrew.com with some really thought-provoking ideas and some great art.

All this to say that the picture is for Amy. On the 27^th I guess it was World Tomato Day or some such thing, so she challenged fb to show their tomatoes (with a HUGE tomato in her? hand). So I thought about ‘my’ tomatoes – but this may take a little while to explain. If you don’t have time, you are free to move on (and come back when you do).

Albert Heijn is a local grocery store, like the King Soopers, or H.E.B. or Albertsons (do they still exist?). They were giving out little cardboard pots with seeds of all sorts of vegetables at the cash register to all who purchased something. At the end of the action, they were simply giving them away. I have always wanted to grow things, but have never invested the time and this seemed like a great opportunity – especially since we are hearing so much about bad foods and such.

Mind you, I have no idea how good these seeds were, if they were GM (NOT, it is now allowed in Europe without mentioning it) or if it would even work, but that was the beauty of the whole idea. I could try it without any real cost, without any real guilt and practically without any knowledge. Each pot came with a set of instructions on what to do. Of course the instructions were the same for each pot – whether it was for salad, radishes, tomatoes, or broccoli. But there were instructions.

So I took the pots home, put them in my window sill in the kitchen (it was March, I think) and watered them. It was exciting to see something come up out the dirt pretty quickly. But I had to remember to keep watering them. Soon I would be able to put them in bigger pots and put them outside – but not yet. The ground was still freezing outside and all sorts of people told me not to put them out yet.

When I finally moved the plants outside (once they were big enough to handle it) I simply bought some dirt for plants and dumped it in the stone planters on the one side of our yard that gets a good bit of sun. Very shortly we were even able to enjoy a head of lettuce and several radishes. Amazing! I was eating something I had planted!

But the tomatoes were taking a while longer. I have come to understand that all of the things I put out have different seasons. (I told you – I have never planted anything. Of course I know about seasons, but I don’t know which season is for what.) So I was waiting on the tomatoes. But camp was coming and that meant two weeks away from the house. Would they survive? Belgium is basically rainy, so I shouldn’t have to worry about watering, but the weeks I was gone were some of the hottest and driest in years (centuries).

But we came back and – voilà – I had little tomatoes growing (they are cherry tomatoes). And they are delicious! Very meaty, very ‘tomato-y’ and juicy. And this is where I started wondering (anyone who knows me knew this was coming). I am amazed and thankful for this wonderful gift. It is amazing what God can do with so little. And of course it should not amaze me, but it does. Seeds from a package in dirt from a package, planted in perhaps too shallow dirt at the wrong time(?) survived my mis-watering and heat and weeds trying to strangle them to become these wonderful tomatoes.

God does that. He takes things that seem to be useless (or are useless and broken) and turns them into beautiful, luscious, useful, nourishing, helpful. And then I wondered about a few things. What if I had taken the time to learn more about tomatoes before I began? What if I had asked some people who knew more for advice? What if I had made sure that the basics were followed in feeding the soil and adding water? The tomatoes I have are great because God can do amazing things with anything. But He can do even more when we listen to the needs of the seed and the soil.

What if I took the time to feed my soil with faith and the word of God? What if I was accepting of what the soil needs to help plants grow? After all, Forrest said it and it is true: _ happens. But that’s fertilizer, helping us to grow. What if I made sure I was getting the water I need, especially in hot times?

And what about the church? How can we all grow? God is the one who gives the growth, we only plant and water – but that is important! And of course God makes delicious, wonderful things even when I make a mess – so why not put the effort into caring for and nourishing? My tomato isn’t much, but it sure has fed me well.