Healing Gardens

Week 1

From the time I was born I have been surrounded by plants and people who love them. Until I was about 5 my parents owned a greenhouse business. They unfortunately had to leave the plant business when it did not make enough money for our family to live off of. My parents did not lose their passion for growing plants though and continue using nearly all of their spare time to beautify their property.                                                                                                                                                       

Growing up on 15 acres I was surrounded by forests everyday, though it was not until this last week that I had ever considered them to be gardens. My parents focus was that of  building structural gardens in their yards filled with colorful and exotic flowers and I had used these examples to form my own basis of what a garden is. After reading The Earth's Blanket and seminaring in class I think about forests and other undeveloped land in a completely different light. It amazes me that Forests can accomplish on their own what many humans struggle to do every year. They create a habitat that works so well  succeeding where so often humans fail. I have never been able to fully appreciate the native lands until now and I know for sure that I will not take them for granted in the future. 

Week 2

I am so thrilled to read Fields that Dream. I have had a hard time putting it down lately and I find myself neglecting my other work so I can steal a few pages from this book. 

 In order to answer  the question, "what types of gardens are there?" I had to first ask myself to define a garden. I have pondered this question often over the past few weeks and believe I have come to the conclusion that my perspective of a garden is anything that has the ability to grow and flourish  and also helps bring peace of spirit and mind to the gardener who tends it. With this is mind there are probably countless types of gardens. The ones that I have most contact with are simple annual and perennial flower gardens and vegetable gardens.  I know of people who are mostly involved in creating water gardens or Asian style rock gardens. Then there are those of us who grow herbs in our windows and do not even realize we are tending to minature gardens.  I consider myself to have a symbiotic relationship with my gardens. If I care for it I will in return receive beautiful flowers or abundant supplies of fresh vegetables. Though on another level I feel so connected to the earth when I am on my knees working one on one with the soil. It creates a sense of inner peace I seldom feel elsewhere. 

Week 3

Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom is a very interesting concept to me. I feel that for for most people the word tradition relates to activities performed in their lifetime and perhaps during the lifetime of those who have raised them. I immediately think of my Christmas traditions. Though, I do not think that this is how tradition is meant to be taken in this context. I feel that what is meant here is tradition from a native perspective, one going back many generations. I believe Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Wisdom denotes that perhaps with the proper understanding of our environment the earth is capable of giving and taking in a very balanced way. I feel that it is veryimportant that if you do not understand this balance and only take without giving back then chaos could pursue and detrimental effects would be inevitable.  I feel that a lot of homeowners see the native shrubs and groundcover on their property as weeds and want to clear them out so that they can landscape and put in "beautiful" beds of tulips and lilies. I think with learning to appreciate these native plants rather than seeing them as weeds that need to be eliminated, we could use these plants for medicine while taking care of them so that they will thrive. If mainstream American gardeners began to practice these techniques, I believe we would have a lot more native plant gardens coinciding with flower and vegetable gardens thus helping us maintain the balance that our world so badly needs at this time.

Week 4

In my mind gardens serve many purposes. Just for my interests only, gardens are meditative. There is almost nothing better than working in the garden on a sunny day. I can clear my thoughts and focus on working with the earth. Also my vegetable garden provides me with food for nearly the whole year, which in these days I think is increasingly important. My flower gardens are my place of refuge after a long day at work or school. I can smell the wonderful scents and see the butterflies perching on the petals. I can cut these flowers and bring them inside so to remind me of this comforting place. I am now even seeing a purpose to the native plants that line the perimter of my property. While I had not considered them as gardens before, I now look at them with a newly acquired appreciation. Next year I plan on harvesting some of the Oregon Grape and Salal berries to make jelly.

Week 5

What is a garden? Without thinking too deeply about this term my mind says this is a plot of cleared land converted into a place to grow vegetables and flowers. However, upon deeper consideration, I believe a garden to be a source of life, a balance of taking and giving. Without caring for your vegetable garden, it will become malnourished and taken over by weeds and the plants will wither and die. This is true with all life. With that in mind, I do believe that the earth is a garden, and subsequently there are smaller sub gardens within it. I feel that where there is a balance of giving and taking or rather a symbiotic relationship among the members of these sub gardens then there will be a successful garden.

            I have mixed feelings about hunting as a form of gardening. While I have strong feelings against hunting as a sport, I do believe that hunting for necessity, if performed in a spiritual and gracious way can be considered a garden as I have defined earlier. To reiterate, I feel that gardens can come in many forms though to be successful, an equilibrium needs to be maintained.

Week 6

It is difficult to see the things that you love so dearly suffering and there being little that you can do to alleviate that suffering. This is something I saw taking place in The Earth's Blanket. The life they were raised with; the codependence that was so nicely balanced with the land and sea was disintegrating before their eyes. My emotions ran high as I read Looking After the Lands and Waters. For years the Native Americans took care of the land so that the land would in turn take care of them to see European settlers come and confiscate it as if the Indigenous people were juveniles needing to be punished.

I often think about my own home and its location at the foot of the Olympic Mountains in the Skokomish Valley. The forests on the hills were so lush and thick as I was growing up and suddenly these forests began to dissapear. And now there are clearcuts running along both sides of the valley's borders. It saddens me to see the nature that offered so much protection to the animals that make their homes there, but also to those who live at the base of these hills, where erosion and runoff make the river flow higher, often creating situations for us to flee our homes. I believe seeing this destruction lights a fire in our hearts telling us not to give up our land. We have to fight to regain that ever important balnce of nature and humanity.

Week 7

I loved the chapter called Grafting in Fields that Dream. I could not help seeing the correlation between the term grafting and the fact that Katsumi Taki and his wife have indeed grafted themselves into American culture and society. To me farming is such a romantic idea. The true American way of life. Decades and even centuries ago, immigrants would sail here and get a plot of land and farm that land to survive. And here we are in the 21st century where farming and farmers are looked down upon as hicks, Katsumi and his wife have the courage to commit themselves to a profession that does not pay great. Also growing fruits and vegetables organically in an area where that is not the norm is very daring. It is never easy introducing new products into the market. I believe this is how change comes about. Many people are satisfied with mediocre until they are introduced to something special. And I do believe that growing organically  is special and also a very large step in the right direction when it comes to redirecting our focus for nursing the planet and it's inhabitants back to health. While I am not saying that farming inorganically is bad but sometimes it takes trying something new to know there is something better.

Week 8

I found that the last chapters in both Fields that Dream and The Earth's Blanket really tied nicely with the nearing of the end of the quarter. I was so appreciative that each book came to a close with people using their resources to take a stand for what they believe to be a better earth. Often people believe they are powerless against the continued "progress" of our society and that there is nothing one person can do. I think it is important for people to understand that while it may be hard to  initiate a change,  the outcome is definitely worth the effort. There is an effort where I live to come up with ideas to help reduce the flooding in our valley. The meetings always end in no result. I realize that it is always the same 2 dozen people at these meetings and that none of these people will back off where they stand without new ideas to persuade them. The river flooding affects every single person in the valley ( approximately 100-200 people) yet these people cannot be motivated to come to these meetings and speak their opinions and concerns. This is very interesting and perplexing to me. I am not sure what exactly motivates people to move into action. Perhaps the threat needs to be so dire that it is life encumbering.

Week 9

Gardening is a very special practice. It is both calming and invigorating. It is hard for me to believe how out of touch we have become in our society that we do not even know where our food comes from. I have been growing my own vegetables for nearly 6 years and until recently I considered it to be a nice hobby. I have completely re-evaluated my motivations for growing food. I have now realized how lucky I am to know exactly where my food is coming from and that it is pesticide and herbicide free.I have a very strong affinity towards farmer's markets and the vendors who work them.   I definitely feel fortunate to have grown up in an area such as Olympia where there is a strong sense of community and people can feel pride in helping each other. There are many professions in which people can earn a good living, and unfortunately farming is not usually one of them so to partake in such demanding and arduous work, there has to be a love for the earth. Also it must be very satisfying to have a line at your booth at the farmer's market because people can't get enough of your organic carrots or your freshly picked cherries. I always think of it as being such a special treat when I can spend a couple hours browsing through the booths there. I know that these people are there because they have a special product that is superior to what I would find in the large grocery stores. I only wish more people felt the way I do and perhaps farming would be a more respected profession, because it is one of the most important ones.