A Garden Story

Sis. Enger cutting up a Kohlrabi

This past week we had a couple of memorable events.  We had our German class in Sis. Enger’s Kleingarten (small garden).  Here in Germany, especially in the city areas, people rent a small plot of land in a gated garden area.  Until now we’ve only been able to see inside of a garden area by looking through the gate entrance or through exposed sections in the fences surrounding them.

Garden areas can be several acres, but each plot is maybe about 1/5 to 1/10 of an acre.  Each garden plot is maintained differently.  Some grow vegetables only, some just flowers and others combine both, as Sis. Enger did with hers.  She has fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, and even a small beautiful grassy area where she can sit amidst her garden.

Small building

Some use all their space for gardening.  Many have constructed

Inside small building

small sheds to store tools and gardening supplies. 

Some even have small buildings where they can spend the night.  Actually we’ve heard that some people spend their weekends there.  Mind you there is no electricity and no plumbing, but there is running water.  I believe most garden areas have a port-a-john.

Sis. Enger has a beautiful living area.  It is just large enough to fit her small bed, table, chair, and a couple of other things.  It is about 10’ x 10’.  She even has a small patio outside the door of the living area which has an awning.  She told us that she spends a lot of time there on her little plot.  I can see why.  It is beautiful.

This week's class

Our lesson that day centered around a story from a town called Hameln, Germany.  Can you guess what the story was?  Yep, the Grimm brothers took this folklore story and wrote it as a tale.  It was what we know as “The Pied Piper of Hamlin”.  Supposedly there is some validity to the story which tells of most of the children disappearing from the village during a time that there was a rat infestation.

Giant Zucchini

Sis. Enger read about the story in German, then we translated some phrases associated with what she read. We understood bits and pieces of what she read.  Then she re-read it to us.  It is amazing how well we understood it the second time through.

That week she gave as one huge zucchini.  I baked her a zucchini bread and gave it to her when we returned this week.   She was so grateful, I think she thanked me 3 to 4 times.

The other memorable event was being invited to a work colleague's house.  His wife fixed a terrific dinner.  Their home was small, but so beautifully decorated.  The dinner was 3-course.  The first course was served on a beautifully decorated back deck.  I know that it was decorated especially for us, because I heard Diego mention to his wife how he noticed that she had hung the Chinese lanterns from the deck’s overhang.

The entire meal was made from scratch, even the salad dressing. She made everything to fit Diane’s special paleo diet.  We started eating our salad, smoked raw salmon, tomatoes stuffed with humus, and rolls made of almond and flax seed flour.  When we finished we were surprised to learn that this was only the 1^st of 3 courses.  By this time, a heavy wind sent us inside to finish eating.

She had made zucchini noodles smothered with a tomato based beef sauce.  There was more meat than sauce.  I had brought the desert to make the 3^rd course.

We spent the entire evening talking around that table.  Little did we know how late it was.  Every time I looked at their clock it said 8:30.  We kept talking.  When we finally got into the car we realized that it was about 11:00 PM.  The conversation was so wonderful.  We learned a lot about them.  She is German, and, of course, we knew he was Italian.  We learned about how they met and their conversion stories and many other things.

This night I have fulfilled my dream of being in a German home getting to know a German family.  It was absolutely wonderful.