I’m so proud. Today I will be introduced on a Facebook Page with more than 55.000 Followers. This page shows gardeners around the world and it’s really interresting to so how other people grow theire own vegetables. And I now on it too! Ursula on Human who grow food The text:

Meet Ursula Schoerverth from Baden, Germany ??

„I grew up with fresh vegetables out of the family garden. Until I moved out I didn’t even know about salad from the supermarket. My father was the gardener in our family and I still recall his practices today. He set an example that inspires me today. I always owned plants but only started having a garden five years ago when I joined a communal gardening group. I realized then how little I knew about gardening! Two years ago, we were finally able to buy a house with a big garden, which is great for our younger kids. Every year I learn more and become more successful in harvesting my plants.

Technically I am an engineer with an MBA, but after having kids I had a hard time finding a new job. Now I live for my kids and my garden.

I really enjoy digging in the dirt. It calms me down and bringing the fresh, self-grown vegetables into the kitchen makes me very proud. I feel great when I finish building a raised bed. The additional side effect of having an abundance of healthy, non-sprayed and simply delicious vegetables is of course great as well. My husband is a very good cook and he shares the pride in having fresh food to cook with. And yes, being able to save money for our family is important as well. We would not be able to have the amount of good food that we eat now if we had to buy it.

We are very lucky that we already have a few old fruit trees in our garden that bring us cherries, apples and peaches. Apart from that we planted plum and pear trees and raspberries, strawberries and blackberries. But we mainly focus on vegetables. Almost everything I grow, I grow out of my own seeds. I grow herbs as well. However, the very special thing about our garden is that there are a lot of plants that my kids can snack off as much as they want. Especially the berries and small tomatoes are much loved.

From clippings, fallen leaves, green waste to left overs – everything is put into our raised beds. In the patches I focus on a variety of vegetables and flowers which attract a lot of insects. I also take crop rotation into account and let the patches have an uncultivated break every fourth year. It’s also very important to me to have a wild corner in my garden. In this corner more and more wild bees, sand bees, butterflies and bumblebees are assembling. We love that.

Since I joined Instagram my knowledge of gardening has massively increased. To be able to share knowledge with gardeners from all over the world is simply astounding! I would love to show people that gardening, even if only in a small space, can be a lot of fun and is setting a good example for our kids. Yes, gardening is a lot of work, but there are a thousand reasons why gardeners live much longer than non-gardeners. Even with your hands dirty, it gives you happiness!“

Humans Who Grow Food features stories of home gardeners and farmers across borders and cultures.