As I Walk with Beauty
As I walk, as I walk
The universe is walking with me
In beauty it walks before me
In beauty it walks behind me
In beauty it walks below me
In beauty it walks above me
Beauty is on every side
As I walk, I walk with Beauty.
Traditional Navajo Prayer
Here are some initial thoughts on gardens and gardening.
What is a garden?
For purists a garden is a specific and definable space usually set aside by clear bounds and set with a myriad of plants tended by human hands. For those of us less pure of mind and categorical imperatives, a garden can be, and often is, a solitary plant loved and cherished for itself alone. Though 'gardens' imply a human presence Some folks insist that the wilderness of an alpine meadow, or a cluster of chicory plants flowering along some railroad tracks could also qualify as gardens. Perhaps. Someone I read recently insists that, “Everything gardens”. Each and every creature, by virtue of its very existence shapes and modifies its environment to enhance its chances for survival and to increase its comfort. Everything from amoebae to earthworms, to squirrels, to pandas, works to make its environment more fruitful and abundant for itself. But humans are the only creatures who play with their environment with a deliberate sense of awareness. That is not the same as saying we do it sensibly or in a sustainable fashion. As humans, we have the opportunity to bring the spirit of intervention, organization and choice to the world in each and every action we take. In whatever we may do, we are constantly making selections; it is an inherent and unavoidable quality of our existence. We can learn to make these choices consciously or unconsciously. One way or the other we will make them; we must make them. It is our path.
To garden or not to garden is one of these choices. The acts of gardening connect us not only to the other creatures who share this planet with us, they also delivers us into the flow of life and time. So I choose to garden. Gardens reflect, always, the purpose or intent of their creators. And in this choice I opt for 'utility and delight'. I choose the way of the garden.
Gardens and Time
A garden is never static although it can appear that way in all of those lush photographs that usually grace the pages of coffee table books and gardening magazines. A garden is in a constant state of flux and change, of evolution from one state or condition to another.
In a very real sense gardens allow us, no, they encourage us, to become conscious about time. Gardens draw us into participating in time, not only time as flow and arc, but also time as rhythm and cycle. Gardens engage us as players in the ultimate turning from death into life and so on and so on. Gardens are revelatory creations.
When we garden, particularly if we are starting with seeds, we are working with time capsules. Seeds are locked up, stored, but accessible nascent energy. Seeds are bets on the future. Most seeds have a limited shelf life. Unless they are planted, their vitality wanes; the time they have bound up inside them ebbs away. For some it drains quickly, for others it can linger, but the decline is relentless. Unless they are deliberately and carefully stored under very precise and controlled circumstances, as in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault that nugget of time and life will be lost. Note these links:
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/lmd/campain/svalbard-global-seed-vault.html?id=462220
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/photogalleries/seedbank-pictures/
Gardens and Politics
Gardening can be a revolutionary and liberating act, especially in this culture, and particularly in this period of economic disruption and social unease.
Gardens and Energy
Gardens are a hedge against the 2nd Law of thermodynamics.
Gardens and the PM (prime Mover) - a toe-dip into theological waters
I’ve always thought it interesting that in the Judeo/Christian tradition one of the first things God chooses to make is a garden. So when I think of God or god or goddess, which I actually do very, very rarely – I mean, how does one “think” about God? But when I do, I indulge in visualizing a vaguely human entity, God, as the First Gardener. And not only was (S)he the first gardener, (S)he was the first organic gardener. Picture Eden: imagine it as a marvelously complex and intricately beautiful ecosystem, a carefully balanced, stupendous diversity of life forms all interacting in a glorious dance of constant regeneration. Then God made humans. What was (S)he thinking? (S)he gave them orders to be good gardening assistants, but apparently (S)he forgot to give the first folks any real instructions on how to carry out these orders. (S)he didn’t even give them a one-day adult-ed course or a weekend workshop. I guess (S)he thought we would learn best by trial and error. It seems to me that so far we’ve really only managed to muddle along through the trial and error part; we don't seem to have gotten the learning part.
Intentions
I hope to be disciplined about posting to this blog. As it is gardening season here in the northeast, I will be offering up some images, observations, thoughts, and opinions on gardening principles, practices, places and people that I encounter.
For instance, recently I have had to prepare some notes and gather images for a presentation on kitchen gardens. In the course of my nosing around for information, I came across some garden plans for a WWI "war garden", and an "allotment" garden in Britain during WWII. I also looked at a John Jeavon's Biodynamic/French Intensive garden and a tiny home garden suggested by Barbara Damrosch. Then I threw in the plans I had drawn up for a "home resilience garden" in a Boston suburb. Each of these gardens have an embedded set of assumptions, a point of view about what plants are important in a vegetable garden, a methodology of design and a set of practices that are worth looking at. I will try to put the information in a format that will work in this blog or provide access to it. It is instructive to make comparisons between them and draw your own conclusions.
