Farming

Getting Started: Growing Food and Memories

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There are so many reasons to start a garden. For us, growing food is as much about feeding ourselves and our family as it is about joy and curiosity, connection, empowerment, meditation, self-reliance, and resistance. We started trying to cultivate our own nutritious, organic food while living in New Mexico in 2016. Now in rural New Hampshire – five years, three gardens, and two climates later – we’re still growing, and of course, learning! This article chronicles how we built our gardens and provides resources for those in the early stages.

Once initiated, a garden takes on a life of its own. Memories are created each season tending the earth, savoring the fruits of our labor, and sharing the bounty with others. Seeds and soil remind us of our collective future and past, while the act of farming and gardening has the power to heal both people and the planet.

As an unsustainable industrial agriculture system continues to swallow up land worldwide, leading to deforestation, habitat loss, soil erosion, desertification, water pollution, land theft, exploitation, and countless other injustices, organic and regenerative gardening provide people with a way to combat climate change, sequester carbon, protect pollinators, embrace food sovereignty, and challenge the status quo.

Growing organically without the use of toxic pesticides, insecticides and fungicides has always been important to us, and even more so now that we are feeding two young children. We started by making some lasagna.

Squash, tomatoes, and green beans, oh my!

Squash, tomatoes, and green beans, oh my!

 The Lasagna Method & Raised Beds

Just as a garden nourishes us, it also needs to be fed. That makes nurturing the soil an essential part of the process. Living soil is filled with earthworms and healthy microbes that digest plant material, turning dirt into a fertile bed for seeds. Soil can be created and revived by adding compost, minerals, and manure, and growing cover crops.

We’ve used the lasagna method, also known as sheet composting, to build soil in our raised beds. This technique layers compost, mulch and newspaper or cardboard to create heat that transforms the materials into healthy soil over time. The process of creating the garden bed takes only about a couple of hours, depending on the size.

The Recipe

Step 1. Place cardboard or newspaper as the first layer directly onto the ground to block weeds. We used brown cardboard and removed all plastic tape.

Step 2. Compost, mulch, and (in our case) bagged soil, are alternated in layers, like preparing a lasagna. Watering the bed as you layer helps the material begin to break down. We’ve used food scraps as raw compost, and sticks and leaves as mulch.

Step 3. Start planting!

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The lasagna method using raw compost in our first raised bed (2018).

The lasagna method using raw compost in our first raised bed (2018).

The lasagna method layering cardboard, sticks, leaves, and soil in raised beds (2021).

The lasagna method layering cardboard, sticks, leaves, and soil in raised beds (2021).

The Result

In our first year gardening in the Northeast, we purchased a large amount of soil to fill the bed so we could plant right away. In our second year, we added just one layer of store-bought soil to the top of the bed at the beginning of the growing season to refresh it after the long winter (over which we did nothing to the bed). In our third year, we didn’t need to add any soil, and by this time we saw an explosion in earthworm activity when we began planting in the spring.

After three years of harvesting food and memories, we moved and left our single garden bed behind. As we put down new roots, we are revisiting the process. This time, instead of using raw compost in our raised beds, we used sticks and leaves as mulch when creating our lasagna layers.

We’ve had success growing in raised beds over the years, but realize many gardeners and aspiring gardeners don’t have access to land. Container growing can be more suitable for apartment living or for those with limited outdoor space. While living in New Mexico, we grew food in 5-gallon buckets under a clear plastic tent with very little knowledge. At that time, gardening itself was simply a thrill, and we were gratified with whatever we produced.

Though this year we are laying the groundwork for our most ambitious garden yet, that sense of gratitude remains. As has become tradition, each spring we love to admire the sprouts shooting up from the earth and take the time to appreciate the daily growth as the season progresses; wonders we have been delighted to share with our son.

In the garden we have found a classroom that we hope will also teach our children: a place to learn and make mistakes, where we can be bold, creative, and also humble in witnessing the magic of nourishing our family from seeds that have evolved with humanity over generations.

Why do you garden? Let us know!

Find More Gardening Resources Here:

Land Acknowledgement

Our garden is located on N’dakinna, which is the traditional ancestral homeland of the Abenaki, Pennacook and Wabanaki Peoples past and present. We acknowledge and honor with gratitude the land and waterways and the alnobak (people) who have stewarded N’dakinna throughout the generations.

Learn more about the Indigenous peoples of New Hampshire, past and present, here.

Whose land you are living, working, or growing on? Find out here.

Visiting: The Tegalalang Rice Terrace in Ubud, Bali

Indonesia

Tegalalang is a dreamy delight. Just 25 minutes outside of busy Ubud, emerald rice fields cascade from parallel slopes into a lush, rich valley, transporting visitors back in time. The pace of life slows down here once you dip off the main road that overlooks the terraces, which comes well stocked with taxis, tour buses, restaurants and shops.

With your back to the modern age, the countryside feels vibrant and alive in a place where man’s relationship with the land is the same today as it was over 1,000 years ago. The gentle flow of the subak, a traditional Balinese irrigation system, provides a soothing backdrop of trickling and bubbling that blends into the ethereal and picturesque landscape, providing a serene experience to its visitors.

 

The Subak System

Subak Tegallang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

Tegalalang relies on subak, an irrigation system built on Tri Hita Karana, a Hindu philosophy focusing on how humans can maintain a harmonious relationship between themselves and fellow man, their environment, and spirituality in daily life.

The subak system of cooperative water management obtained through the use of canals, tunnels and weirs is a cultural landscape consisting of five rice terraces and their associated water temples spread across 49,000 acres. The system, which comprises egalitarian and democratic farming practices, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that dates back to the 9th century. Not only does it support a dense population, subak is so effective that it makes the Balinese the most successful rice growers in Indonesia.

 

Getting There

Tegallalang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

From the center of Ubud, traveling to Tegalalang should take 20-30 minutes, depending on traffic. If your driver knows the scenic route through the farm country it will mean a shorter and much for pleasant ride for you.

Uber is available in Bali for a much cheaper rate than the typical taxi fare, but like anywhere where Uber is transforming the marketplace, taxi drivers abhor it. If you choose this option, note that your driver will want you to be as discreet as possible so as not to draw the cabbies’ ire. We booked our driver from a restaurant and waited inside until he was about to arrive. With Uber, we paid about $3 to get to Tegalalang, and double that on the way back to our hotel by taxi.

 

Entrance Fees

Bamboo Bridge Tegallang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

There’s no entrance fee to Tegalalang, but you will be expected to pay a donation of a few thousand Indonesian Rupiah at various check points manned by local farmers across the terraces in order to continue on your journey. This is to help support the system, upkeep bridges, and so forth. We saw a few travelers putting up a fight about the small fees, but to put it in perspective, 10,000 Rupiah is less than one U.S. dollar. Considering the amazing work being done and how much foot traffic Tegalalang absorbs per day, this is a small price to pay. (Note that you’ll only be asked to pay on your way up and across the terraces, not on your way down.) We spent several hours exploring Tegalalang and only paid twice.

 

Fees for Photos

Love Bali Sign Tegallalang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

You may encounter farmers offering to pose with you while balancing their rice basket on your back, or to take your photo at the ‘I Love Bali’ sign in exchange for a tip. In general, we’ve found that any local who offers to take your photo at a tourist attraction – even if they're a police officer or a park ranger – will expect money in return. Remember that you are visiting a developing country in which many locals are struggling financially, and especially those in rural areas. If you can shell out an extra dollar in exchange for that special photo, don’t feel bashful about it. Go ahead! At the same time, if that’s not in your budget, it’s lousy to feel like you’ve been duped by what seemed like someone’s kind gesture. Having this in the back of your mind can help you make a fast decision in those moments when you may feel pressured by locals and uncertain of what to do. Simply put, if you don’t want to pay, kindly decline the offer.

 

Exploring & Capturing This Inspiring Landscape

Balance Tegallalang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

Expect to see hundreds of fellow tourists during your visit, potentially even arriving by the busload. But don’t fret! Patience pays whether you simply want to enjoy this magnificent and historical treasure on your own, or if you’re in search of that perfect photo without another soul in your shot. The further you explore into the paddies, the fewer tourists you’ll encounter and the more intimate an experience you’ll have the privilege to take home with you.

 

Dining

Farmer With Rice Basket Tegallang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

After trekking up and down the terraces you’ll likely have worked up an appetite. Luckily, there are plenty of restaurants lining the hilltop above the rice fields where you can enjoy a bite or a drink with a gorgeous view. Finding the restaurants closest to the tour path to be the most crowded and expensive, we chose to wander further down the main road, and settled on the last restaurant in the row where we enjoyed good prices, free WiFi, and a relaxed environment with a splendid overlook. We highly recommend the coconuts, which come filled with ice and slices of lime. A Tegalalang specialty. Yum!

 

Making A Difference

Go Up Tegallalang Rice Terrace Ubud Bali

Your visit to Tegalalang supports hard working farmers and an ancient water management system that takes conservation seriously. You’ll leave with a new appreciation of where rice comes from, the labor that goes into growing it along with the extraordinary thought put into the subak system, and a sense of inner peace from simply being in this calming environment.

 

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