By Freya Rawlins
We welcomed ourselves back to La Bruguera for the first volunteering weekend of 2022! Three of us made our way over to La Bruguera for the day to help with veggie patch and agroforestry-system maintenance.
We kicked things off with a long day down in the agroforestry area reinforcing the raised beds. Using excess wood that was available, we built some low boundaries around each bed giving them more structure. Using soil that was made here on site from composting food scraps and garden prunings, the beds were topped up before adding worms and vermi-compost (super nutritious worm castings from our homemade worm composter). Worms are great as they boost nutrients that are available to the plants and enhance the soil structure and drainage. Finally, we then topped up the mulch to cover the newly laid soil and keep the carbon and humidity in. We finished up with each of us volunteers harvesting some homegrown and well-loved vegetables grown on site.
While it doesn’t sound like much, it took us all day and the results are awesome! As usual we stopped for “family lunch”, a wonderful meal cooked by Michelle and enjoyed by everyone as we chatted about everything from current reads, to what’s happening here at La Bruguera.
Volunteering weekends are some of my favourite ways to spend my time. I love hanging out with other individuals who are just as committed to doing their part and learning about the earth. I always find our time together is spent sharing ideas, knowledge, and I come away from the weekend feeling more peaceful and at ease with my eco-anxiety.
Spending a weekend or day consciously thinking about the impact each of us has on the environment and how we, as individuals, can make individual changes while fighting for system change gives me hope. This first volunteering weekend of 2022 was a nice way to start the year at La Bruguera!
Each weekend or volunteer day can be different. Sometimes it’s a day sorting resources, or planting, or tending to the various plants and vegetables on site. On occasion it’s an entire weekend where you stay on site, getting all the feels of life at La Bruguera.
While there isn’t a formal volunteer programme, if you’re interested in spending a day at La Bruguera with some of our volunteers, where we’ll be discussing everything from permaculture to degrowth, and working in the garden, kitchen or workshop, then please do get in touch via email.
Stay In Touch!
Stay up to date with the goings on at La Bruguera by joining our newsletter here! Sign up to receive a short update on what’s happening at La Bruguera, recommendations from the team, and a notification when a new blog is out. We promise not to spam you.
