Garden as Community

A cup of coffee for myself, and pots and pots of coffee for the greenhouse. My attempt at a therapeutic relationship with nature has often escalated into an emotional calamity. As a gardener, and regenerative agriculture enthusiast, nature has never ceased to throw curve balls and pose new challenges that invite creativity.

My current greenhouse is slug-ageddon - and this year’s crop of seed babies has been a multi-hundred dollar buffet for little mucus drenched monsters. As someone committed to being in alignment with the natural world, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers and tilling are not in my wheelhouse of tools and resources I use. Rather gardening for me is an adventure in applied design where processes found in nature are creatively used to enhance the yields of crops, address issues of water retention, and integrate a more harmonious relationship with all living beings. Though the slugs and I are currently not BFFs, my greenhouse smells like a Starbucks coffee shop because I had read that slugs dislike coffee, but I can assure you that they are enjoying being just as caffeinated as I am.

Non-synthetic chemical based tools like rakes, scythes, and shovels are essential - but scissors are the ultimate godsend. Easy to keep in a pocket, they allow you to remove diseased stems and leaves, and prune plants in a way that maximizes their energy for generating fruit and flowers. I can also be a lazy gardener, and often rather than search for the tool I need, I will whip out my scissors and use them in ways they probably should not be used. Need a trowel? Simply cut into the soil with your scissors!

Admittedly, scissors are best when harvesting scrumptious delights. There is nothing more decadent than roasted fresh artichokes, figs plucked from a tree, or saturating an omelette with chives harvested first thing in the morning. The gardens are also hugged by a forest of abundance, where scissors can helpfully and safely be used to collect chanterelles and other gourmet fungi.

When ensuring the health of soil microbial life and the structures within soil that promote vigorous plant growth, scissors can provide an alternative to yanking out weeds and disturbing the roots and ecosystems that lay beneath vegetables. Unknown to many gardeners, every time we disturb the soil in our gardens, we disrupt multiple processes that maintain nutrients and carbon within the soil. Over time, each disturbance reduces the amount of these nutrients as they get released into the air or washed away. There are also complex networks formed by fungi that help distribute water and nutrients within soil and can form relationships with plants that help them better adapt to dry weather conditions or periods of nutrient deficiency.

As you dive into the depths of soil ecology, you see that the earth in your garden is alive and that it is the basis for most living systems on the planet. Not only does it provide nutrition for the vegetables we consume, but it also contains inherent reparative functions that can be utilized to sequester carbon from the atmosphere, and if cared for, can help us create a world of greater abundance.

Nature has always been a refuge for me. I grew up in a chaotic and violent home, and the surrounding forests were a place I could go and simply be as I am and feel my feelings. Countless hours spent beneath trees, mucking through swamps, and watching the seasons, provided a direct and deep understanding of the interconnectedness of all things.

It was this intimate relationship with nature that inspired and fuelled my passion for gardening. It was also observing the natural world that showed me the importance of each living being, including each of us, in this magical web of life bursting with abundance and diversity. In some ways, being in alignment with the natural world is kind of like learning to be in community with hundreds of other beings. Each being has its own personality and needs, and keeping the peace requires a high degree of creativity and surrender.