About
Laila
3 years ago I plucked my first homegrown strawberry and could’t believe the taste. I got to thinking that if a strawberry can taste this good how about other fruit and vegetables? So there started my love for gardening.
My name is Laila Noort, originally gardner of a 2×2 m2 garden, balcony and windowsill in Rotterdam The Netherlands. Now owner of more then 2000 m2 of grassland in the Ardennes of Belgium.
I used to work in an office as a secretary and feeling for years that this was not the job for me but bills need to be payed right?
2 years ago my husband and I decided to change our lives completely and leave Rotterdam for the countryside and build a sustainable house and have an profitable organic garden.
With the idea’s we had it became soon clear that it was impossible for us to do this in The Netherlands so we widened our search. For more information on the house we are building go to Four Elements House website.
Now here we are two years later, we live in a temporary home on our land while the house will be build, I have started with a few vegetable beds and left the rest of the land for the neighbors horses.
My husband Rogier and I live here with 3 cats, one crumpy old city cat and this summer I found two small abandoned kittens on our land which we adopted. We plan to have a lot more animals, a poly tunnel, more vegetable beds, an orchard and bees. We plan to sell our produce on local markets and live happily ever after….
Bridget
Up until five years ago I had no experience of growing vegetables other than encouraging my young children at the time to take an interest in GYO for a couple of years – mainly in an effort to get them out of the house and into the fresh air. We had a go at growing tomatoes, runner beans and a few potatoes up one end of a medium sized city garden but to be honest it was something I did for their benefit rather than my own and when the novelty wore off they diverted their attention to something different – knowing my two, probably computer games, music and clothes…
However, that was then and this is now – the kids have grown up and I have moved to a village in the heart of the Norfolk Broads where I live with Michael (of Eco-Shed and SplinterBike fame). We enjoy a large garden at the back of the house where we have a fruit cage (3.6m x 2.4m), a greenhouse (3m x 1.8m), lawns, flower borders and several raised beds for the growing of vegetables. We also have fruit trees including apple, plum, fig and peach – the latter two of which are trained against a south east facing wall. Most recently we planted a couple of vines (a Chardonnay and a Boskoop Glory) – both of which are outdoor varieties, apparently heavy croppers and can be used for wine making as well as dessert grapes… Finally, we have a large green roof on top of our shed, we harvest rain AND ground water and we are the proud owners of eight chickens (seven hens and a cockerel) who use a converted Morris Minor cleverly crafted by Michael, as a hen house. The eggs are sublime.
Of course my knowledge of growing fruit and vegetables (and hen keeping) is increasing all the time, with the help of the internet, gardening magazines, TV and radio. However, personal experience is the best teacher of all and it’s something you can’t hurry. In fact I don’t think you ever finish learning but what happiness life at Ladysmith Villas has brought and continues to bring me and I am really excited about sharing my knowledge and experience with others through the Sow and So website.
