Healing Gardens

Week 1 Reflection

            This was the first week of the program healing gardens. We have been asked by our professor Marja to write weekly reflections about what we have read, learned, struggled with and gained during the week. Marja has chosen weekly garden topics that she would like us to consider in the context of our week’s activities and to weave those topics into our reflections as well. This week’s topic is cultural perspectives on gardening.  

            Firstly, this topic brings me to The Earth’s Blanket by Nancy J. Turner which I read in the early part of the week. Turner lives and works in British Columbia with the native peoples of the land. Her book is a masterpiece of stories that have been woven together. They are about different tribes and their love for the land, the folklore of their people, writings from naturalist, and a general history of native peoples and the destruction, caused by Europeans, of the natural world. What I have gained from the first few chapters of this book is an understanding of the native people’s great love and respect for their land. They ask us that when using the earth’s resources we do so with “careful and thoughtful attention (Pg. 21).” What they are asking is for us to connect with our mother Earth and to be aware that we do not strip her of her blanket. When they speak of her blanket they are referring to all of the natural resources on the Earth. They believe that you should take only what you need to survive and to leave the rest for others, the earth and her creatures.  In our culture it is rare that you find an individual who is aware of how devastated the land has become with our industrialized society. When shopping at the grocery store there is no indication that foods will ever run out, that land has been stripped, or that the salmon are disappearing. Why is this? It is a question I could spend the rest of my life pondering.

            Thankfully the second book that I read this week gave me hope that within our culture there is a subculture emerging that cares about the environment, sustainable living and bringing healthy organic food to our tables. The book is titled Fields That Dream: A Journey to the Roots of Our Food and was written by Jenny Kurzweil. When I began reading this book I knew it would be difficult to put down. In the introduction Kurzweil writes about her desire to know where the food she is eating comes from and that has lead her to the creation of this book. In each chapter she visits a different organic farm on the west coast of the United States and spends time with the farmers. She hears their personal stories of why they have chosen the life that they have and brings that information to the reader. Each chapter is an in-depth look at a different farm with a different story, but the context remains the same. These special farmers care about the environment, their communities, healthy food and sustainable living. Kurzweil writes that in the last ten years there has been an increase in farmers markets, but a decline in family farms. The multimillion dollar farming corporations are still running the market and receiving two thirds of the federal farming subsidies (Pg. 31). Fortunately many people are being exposed to organic food and its health and environmental benefits on a daily basis. I hope and dream that in the years to come more and more people will make the conscious decision to eat organic, support a sustainable future and join this emerging subculture of citizens that care about the earth and her blanket.

            On a more personal note this has been an exciting first week of class. I am happy to be working in a collaborative environment once again after two quarters of independent study. Working in small groups, sharing thoughts and ideas and creating together is a rewarding learning experience. I enjoyed our small group work on Saturday afternoon. It gave me a chance to meet some of my classmates that I did not already know. It was nice to hear what other students had to say about the different topics that we were discussing. It opened my mind and allowed me to see things in many different ways.

            Walking around the Longhouse was also an inspirational experience for me, though I was slightly concerned that I would not be able to work in the area that called to me in a soft voice. After class on Saturday I communicated my concerns with Marja and all was worked out. I am looking forward to researching composting, building a working compost container and creating an educational website for all to learn about composting if they want. My partner in this project is Megan from Massachusetts and she seems as excited about this project as me, which is always a nice thing.

            I must admit that I was slightly intimidated by the journaling aspect of the class. It took a day for me to be at ease with my journal. Now a week into class I have written/drawn four entries and look through them at all times of the day. It has been a great relief for me to find that my drawing skills are not as I remembered. I have concentrated on areas of my garden this week, but plan to explore other destinations in the following weeks. I am drawn to my garden because I am intimately connected to its plants and components.  It has been a wonderful experience to look at them more closely.

I look forward to expanding my philosophies about life and the environment through the course of this class and imagine that my cultural perspectives on gardening will evolve.

 Week 2 Reflection

             This week’s garden topic is “What types of gardens are there?” I have always thought of gardens strictly as flower gardens. I thought of vegetable gardens as farms. I considered the woods only as the woods. After spending time at my Longhouse site I have come to see the compost site and areas surrounding it as a garden. I have come to see the Evergreen woods, where I often visit, as a garden. The woods are a delightful mix of trees, plants, bushes and flowers. It is home to many creatures and brings light and love to those who quietly walk the trails. It has become a huge garden with new discoveries and delights at every turn. It was a pinnacle moment for me when I reached this conclusion in the early part of the week.

            During the past week I spent long hours getting acquainted with my site (compost) and the plants that dwell there. I touched their leaves, was cut by a salmonberry’s thorn, and learned through research that comfrey, which is conveniently located in abundance next to our compost site, helps to speed up the compost process.  I identified many of the plants in the compost area and have begun making plans in my head for the future design of the site.  Meghan and I wrote our site description and began looking at compost options.

            I feel comfortable when I am at the Longhouse and in the shade of the bordering woods as I record some of the plants that I have come to know in my journal. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from my garden site and to become friends with the plants and animals in the area. My philosophies and ideas about gardens and gardening are evolving and in turn I am growing as a person.

            I must admit that I was so engrossed by the book Fields That Dream: A Journey to the Roots of Our Food, that I read far more than was required last week. Good Girl/Earth mama began as an inspiring story, but as I read on and learned that the owner of the farm, Gretchen Hoyt, uses herbicides to help ease the time she spends on weeding I became devastated. I know how difficult it is to have a family farm and I know how time consuming weeding can be, but if she is really an “earth mama” she should find another way to go about the weeding process. She has made a choice to have her garden be a particular type of garden: it is a vegetable garden that uses herbicides. How disappointing.

            Fortunately for me my devastation was bandaged once I began reading The Village Herbalist, by Nancy and Michael Phillips. I was enthralled by each and every sentence. I have always been interested in natural healing and have envisioned a life for myself in the woods of Vermont, tending to my own organic vegetable, flower, and herb garden. I have dreamed of milking my own goats and making soap with the milk. I have seen myself growing organic herbs, singing to them softly in the mornings, cultivating them, and using them to heal myself and others. I have dreamed of sharing all of these gifts with preschoolers in my community to help raise awareness and appreciation for the earth.

           Between spending time at the Longhouse garden identifying plants, reading The Village Herbalist, and writing/drawing in my journal, I have had a great week. Everyday I notice something new about the earth and the gifts that she offers us.

Week 3 Reflection

     This has been a very busy week. I visited the Skokomish Indian reservation and had the opportunity to spend time at the Gifts of the First Peoples Garden.  In class I watched two documentaries. One was about the creation of the Gifts garden and the other was about Bruce Miller, the amazing Skokomish elder, to whom the garden was dedicated. In class I also worked on my web page, read chapters out of all three books, and discussed what plants will be available for our individual plant study. I also spent time at the Longhouse garden and have begun my research on composting. Everything that I learned about and experienced this week has been empowering and meaningful to me, my philosophies, and my future.

            The Gifts of the First Peoples Garden was an amazing experience. It was truly exciting to be there and to see the garden for myself after watching the two documentaries earlier in the day about its creation. Bruce Miller was a Skokomish Elder who had so much knowledge and love to give. He believed that all plants, animals, trees, and humans, are the same. He believed that we are all interrelated. It is an ancient philosophy and one to which I feel connected. At the garden I could feel his energy in the leaves of the trees that blew softly in the wind, in the dandelion roots that refused to come out of the ground, and in the snowberry bush with its delicate leaves and beautiful, dangerous white berries. His presence was undeniable. The garden itself was incredibly overgrown, but the plants appeared to be healthy and happy. Some of the original plants had disappeared, while others were so abundant that it took many people to clear them out. The class worked together as a whole to clear the paths and the overgrown plants. When we were leaving I took one last look at the garden and it appeared happier than when we first arrived.

             I brought home a small stem of two plants to examine and draw in my journal from the Gifts Garden. One was Wild Indigo complete with seed pods and the other was Valerian. After reading the chapter on different journaling styles I was motivated to try new ways of documenting what I observe in nature. Some people prefer the scientific style, while others prefer an artsy style. I like to think of my journal being somewhere in between these two techniques. When I sat down to draw the Wild Indigo I was entranced by its beauty. I decided to use a more scientific approach to drawing it and its seed pods. It was a new way to record a plant in my journal and I found it gave me a chance to look at the plant differently. I labeled its every part, drew a seed pod closed and open, and wrote about the changes in color that I observed the plant going through. When I was finished I returned the stem to my garden so that it could rest where it had once come from. That philosophy came from The Earth’s Blanket.

            This has been the best week yet. All of the readings, movies, and activities of the week were motivating, fascinating and thought provoking. I could reflect, reflect and reflect until I have created a novel of my weekly experiences, but I am going to stop now and let the rest remain in my mind and soul.

            I have just realized that I did not weave the “garden topic” into this weekly reflection and I am not quite sure why. Maybe I wanted to appreciate this week for what it was and nothing more. I just took a few moments to ponder the idea of, “Traditional Ecological Knowledge” and how that relates to what I have learned this week and found that it is connected to every movie, book and discussion that we had. Traditional Ecological Knowledge is a topic that is directly related to all aspects of our study this week; from the Gifts Garden and the medicinal plants that live there to the knowledge of the people who planted them.  And from Bruce Miller and his knowledge of traditional ways to the Native Peoples of coastal British Columbia who return their salmon bones in the river to free its soul, Traditional Ecological Knowledge has shown its value. 

Week 4 Reflection

         This week’s readings helped me to gain a better understanding of the different uses and approaches to gardening and farming.  There was no discussion of the books in class on Wednesday night, from which I learned something of different and equal value.  The discussion in class provided me with an opportunity to discover what other students in class were experiencing.  I learned of the changes in perception of nature my colleagues were going through.  We discussed unlearning what we had thought about nature to provide us a clean slate for a new nature-learning experience. I learned through this discussion that I was not alone in my feelings about my previous detachment from nature and my new ability to become closer and hear what it wants to tell me.  We discussed personal experiences to highlight this issue, which helped me to relate to the group in an extraordinary way.  After this discussion with my seminar group, I was able to comprehend the profound purpose of a garden.  Prior to the discussion and my enrollment in this class, the purpose of a garden was superficial and obvious.  Gardens produce food, clothing, and sustenance on the most basic levels.  Now, I can clearly see the true, internal and global benefits of gardens. 

Purposes of a Garden:

1.  Beauty- gardens stimulate and intrigue people by providing them with color and diversity. 

2.  Medicinal and Culinary Purposes-gardens provide people with natural health products and food.

3.  Habitat for Wildlife- insects, worms, and different animals have places to live and sustain themselves within varying gardens.