It may seem like a simple tradition: a Christmas dinner with vegetable garden volunteers, but such a meeting can have great significance. For example, for 62-year-old George from Suriname. He has only lived in the Netherlands for a year and the dinner means to him that he does not have to feel lonely. “Here, among these people and the vegetables, I feel at home.”
“Close the door quickly!”, is shouted from the garden shed, as the next volunteer drops in and swings the door open. The weather is bleak, the sky is dark and a strong wind rages across the vegetable garden plot. The condensation on the windows reveals that it is a lot more comfortable inside. That’s right: a wood stove crackles softly and the volunteers sit close together in the cozy space.
The Christmas dinner is an annual tradition at the Klein Hofland vegetable garden association in Beverwijk. Just like in the old days at school, a list is made of who brings what. Think of Oriental lentil soup, a salad with vegetables from the garden or mulled wine. It is a typical Christmas custom, but the social idea wanders here all year round. The volunteers produce vegetables for the food bank. “People there often have to rely on leftover products from the supermarket. We guarantee them fresh vegetables from the garden,” says Henk, who digs in the soil almost twenty hours a week.
The power of diversity
62-year-old George has also been a member of the vegetable garden club for some time. By working in the garden, he forgets his housing problems and his homesickness for Suriname and Aruba diminishes somewhat. “I have been living in the Netherlands for a year now. My children had lived here longer and said that, because of my diabetes, it would be better for me to be near them. So I came here from Aruba, where I lived at the time. .”
George worked in agriculture in both Suriname, where he was born, and Aruba. “From the age of 15, I worked in the garden after school and on weekends. I drove the tractor, plowed the ground and sold vegetables at the market. People took the food and paid a week later, that’s how it went.” When he thinks back, he misses it. Gardening is his great passion. By chance he walked past Klein Hofland, where his eye fell on the apples on the trees and the vegetables on the ground. He has since joined the club.
The volunteer group is very diverse. People from Sri Lanka, Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Netherlands work together here. “That’s handy,” says Henk during a tour of the garden. “That’s why we have many different types of vegetables and herbs. The food bank is happy with that diversity, because people come there with about seventeen different nationalities and therefore different tastes.”
Forget worries
In the garden shed, where the dinner takes place, the scent of the dishes spreads through the room. The Turkish Bersin has made Oriental lentil soup. Last time she made spinach in dough. This way she shares her eating habits with the rest. For her it is an enjoyable leisure activity. In addition, another volunteer helps her to improve her Dutch.
“Gardening connects people,” says Coby. “People from all walks of life come together here.” Mieke adds: “Some have a lot of knowledge from home, because they are used to having a vegetable garden and eating from what grows on the land.”
George also wants to put his knowledge into practice in the spring. “I am going to work on Surinamese vegetables such as long beans and large-fruited tomatoes. With a few small interventions, the quality can be significantly improved.” With his hands in the soil and among the people around him, he feels at home. “As soon as I close the door behind me at home, on the way here, I forget all my worries. You help the people at the food bank with healthy, pure products and I think it’s great.”
Learning from each other, as it should be
“The small vegetable garden family takes care of each other and learns from each other,” George explains. “They help me understand Dutch customs better. It’s a different system for me, so I have to learn a lot. And I’m slowly going to surprise them with my Surinamese cuisine. That’s how it should be: you learn from each other.”
For this Christmas he made a cake. “I first want to see what everyone is eating, then next time I can surprise them with something Surinamese. This dinner gives me a very warm feeling, because it shows me that I am not lonely.”