I have a tuintje in my heart

The other side of living in Holland is when you have rich earth under your feet and brainy people who rent a small parcel of land for €7 a year to grow a garden or in Dutch terms: a volkstuin. In the farming region of Twente, such gardens flourish from April to October and are usually a maximum of 28 meters squared. Outside the lab, two Iranian students turn and till the Twente soil, escaping from the world of science. Once my research colleague and I heard about small land parcels, located inside the university campus, which students can rent to partake in agricultural activities. We were really surprised at first, because in all honesty, I hadn’t seen anything similar at other campuses or in Iran. We were tired of sitting all day, working on keyboards and gazing at emotionless faces, so we decided to ‘go fully Dutch’ and start our own vegetable garden. Surprisingly, the fertile land was waiting for our eager hands and careful attention, encouraging us to dig in with both hands and shovels. Last spring, we planted different seed varieties and bushes, occupying all our lunch hours and free time. We spent hours spading, plowing, irrigating and weeding – not paying close attention to the fact we were actually involved in more than gardening – but really integrating in the local culture. For a couple of computer-based scientists, the hard labor gave us a physical challenge and muscle fatigue at night. But when the first signs of vegetables popped out of the earth, we felt incredibly happy. It gave us the same feeling as in the times we had success in our technical research or the elated feeling that comes when a submitted paper is finally accepted for publication. The little allotment of land was a source of unexplainable pleasure and gave us hope all summer long – even into part of autumn. When the last cucumber buds froze in late October, during the first winter frost, it was a bit sad. But that was not the end of our farming dreams. We had sealed a barrel of fertilizer for six months and when we opened it this year, we were astonished to find a flower had grown in the darkness. I called it a ‘symbol of hope’ like the human heart that never dies. This year we have a full backpack of farming experience and plan to enrich our days in the Netherlands in our volkstuintje!