MEANING BEHIND NGUOI LAM VUON

The name “nguoi lam vuon” simply means gardener in Vietnamese. We often enjoy beautiful sceneries of gardens, but how often do we contemplate on the patience, care and hard work that goes into cultivating such landscape. “An qua nho ke trong cay…” is a traditional Vietnamese expression that can be interpreted and translated as “when eating the fruit, be grateful to those who planted the tree…”

Every flower, plant, and tree began as a seed that sprung into life from the soil of Mother Earth. Through the gardener’s tentative care and continue nurture, flowers, plants and trees grow and blossom to their full potentials. Like an artist with a blank canvas, the gardener with a shovel as the paint brush, can transform uncultivated land into beautiful garden tapestries.

The work of the gardener is rarely glorified and often underappreciated. There are meaningful qualities that can be learned from this humblest of profession. It takes humility, hard work and dedication to be a gardener. One must be willing to roll-up their sleeves, be comfortable getting dirty and complete laborious mundane tasks. Preparation is required for soil treatment to optimize the conditions for seeds to thrive in new environments. Organization and planning skills are necessary in designing a garden’s layout; in identifying methods of delivering water or transporting nutrients; and in the timing of when to plant based on factors such as weather and geographical locations. Nurturing from seed to grown plant involves compassion, caring and disciplinary attentiveness to the plant. Further, it demands patience and respect for the growth process; an acorn does not evolve into a large oak tree overnight. In gardening as in life, these elements are core qualities for realizing our own potentials. There is much to learn from observing the humble gardener…

Mother Earth… As the world continues in its rapid expansion towards global industrialization, deforestation and pollution are unfortunate repercussions resulting from a world of immense consumption. Every year, millions of people around the world die as a result of living in polluted environments. If not addressed, this continued trend will leave permanent scars on Mother Earth that will adversely impact future generations. From the air that we breathe, to the water that we drink, trees have a lasting impact on our environments. Trees inhale and absorb harmful pollutants from their leaves, and exhale and release clean oxygen back into the air. They are the natural world’s air filter and serve as Mother Earth’s agents towards reducing levels of carbon dioxide emissions. Through the plantation of trees around the world, gardeners build Mother Earth’s army towards addressing this global issue. Nguoi Lam Vuon Foundation wishes to make impactful contributions toward the global re-forestation objective helping the environment. There is much to appreciate from the work of the diligent gardener…