An Amateur Farmer

From a clip in Youtube, I have learned how to germinate a seed of pumpkin. Cutting a small portion of the edge of a seed, it is placed in a wet atmosphere put in watered paper. It is kept in a plastic box in 2 or 3 days.  

Then a tiny bud comes out at the edge cut in the beginning shown as above. Isn't it lovely?

The germinated seed is planted in a pot. Commercially available culture soil is not used but compost rich soil from our garden is put in the pot.

Now it is growing like above. I have grown 4 of them at the same time. All of them were successfully germinated and are grown in pots. 

I am again impressed at this process of germination. It occurs as scheduled in the gene of the seed under subtle change of balance of hormones according changing environment. Just a materialistic process. But it is still moving. Something beyond our intellect is working there.

As written before, I am seriously afraid we will have shortage of foods or at least higher costs of them in the near future. I have decided to grow such as potatoes, sweet potatoes or this pumpkins in addition a lot of seasonal vegetables. Rice planting requires watered paddy and further harvesting and rice milling machines even though it is still our main food and growing it is favorable for us. I am learning the plants and vegetables are growing under very delicate and complicated balances of environment and/or nutrients. Farming is much more profound than I expected. If not using chemicals like herbicide, it is even more obvious to us. The more challenging it is to grow them, the more fun I am feeling with it.   

So I am more of a farmer now. It has something common with pediatrician doing with lives.