In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about the letters that her grandmother used to write to her, filled with minute observations of everyday occurrences which, coming in on a background of difficult life circumstances, helped her grandmother maintain her sanity.
Because sanity, says Julia, lies in standing knee-deep in the flow of life and paying close attention.
I’ve decided to start a new series on Green with Purpose to document all the thoughts I’m thinking, all the care I’m taking and all the interesting things I’m reading about plants and the natural world. It’s a monthly journal of sorts, but all about slow living with plants.
Here’s what slow living with plants looked like in August
In the interest of slow and mindful living, I’ve been holding off on buying new houseplants since we moved into our current home. We’ve been focusing all our energy on the outdoor plants this summer, and managed to create three garden beds by removing around 150 tiles in our backyard. We don’t have a large backyard; these were just small tiles.
After months of work, we were so excited to enjoy the results. And for the most part, we are. As I’m typing this, I’m surrounded by an intermittent buzz from all sorts of fuzzy friends, so our plan of creating a pollinator garden worked to perfection.
But since this summer has been unusually cold, extremely overcast and very rainy (the wettest summer on record, by all accounts), let’s just say the garden didn’t reach its full food-production potential. I’m taking this as a lesson in gratitude (for what we did manage to harvest), hope (for more abundant summers to come) and letting go of expectations. Gardening is teaching me important lessons, once again.
Nevertheless, some plants have made their way into my care, and for that, I am as grateful as a squirrel well stocked up for the winter – because another side-effect of not having a proper summer is not having my batteries fully charged for winter. So I’ll need houseplants more than ever to keep me out of the claws of seasonal affective disorder.
I wrote this post about all the plants that came into my care in August, all of them as small and fragile cuttings from a dear friend who l wish lived closer.
What I read about plants this month
This article by Friends of Friends about sustainable projects in Berlin. One part of this series features the Marsano garden started by Maria Paz Gardiazabal to address the unsustainability of cut flowers that aren’t local. And about how one local growing initiative can benefit the land and the community. >>> this way
“We’ve been able to grow varieties of flowers we cannot find in the market: flowers that smell nice and have movement. These qualities cannot be found in flowers that have traveled across the world in standardized boxes, and have been bred to last longer rather than smell good.”
It’s always a delight to learn about plants (or see a mention of plants) in books on a different topic altogether. In reading The Comfort Book by Matt Haig, I found this passage about Purple saxifrage.
“The hardiest plant in the world is purple saxifrage. It has delicate-looking flowers with purple petals that seem as though they might blow away in the wind, yet it thrives in the Arctic. The flowers survive by clustering together, low to the ground, offering each other shelter against the hardest conditions on earth.”
One of my reading goals for this year has been to read 100 books written for kids (mostly picture books). I’ve written three picture book manuscripts of my own, in various stages of completion, and I think that one of the most educational endeavors a writer can be absorbed in is reading every day. I’ve read 50 books so far, and even though not all the picture books were about gardening or plants, I did manage to dig out quite a few on this topic.
Written by Cheri Uegaki and illustrated by Genevieve Simms. A heartwarming story about the connection between Mayumi and her grandfather. Despite living across the world from each other, they share a love of Japanese gardens and the contemplative nature of landscaping them. When Ojiichan’s old age prevents him from enjoying his garden, Mayumi comes up with a creative and portable solution.
Maple is the name of the protagonist and, not coincidentally, the name of the tree planted to honor her birth. Maple and the maple tree become best friends – she sings for the tree, and sways for the tree, and they even play together (although maple tree is not very good at snowball fights). Until one day, when Maple becomes a big sister. And even though she tries her best to be a good sister, the real sibling bonding happens when Maple shares her secret spot under the tree.
Written by Pat Zietlow Miller and illustrated by Anne Wilsdorf. I cackled out loud with delight reading this book. It was either one of those days which warrants cackling, or the book is that funny. I suspect it’s the latter. Sophie is tasked with picking a squash at the farmer’s market. But instead of said squash ending up as dinner, it ends up as Bernice, Sophie’s companion.
Sophie takes Bernice everywhere – to the library, out to play, out in the garden. Let’s just say Bernice has a full and thrilling life. Until one day, when things get … smooshy. Luckily, Sophie takes the farmer’s advice and gives Bernice a much needed rest in the garden with plenty of fresh air and good, clean dirt. There’s nothing like good, clean dirt to bring more Bernices into this world.
What I watched about plants this month
Miss Potter (2006) with Renee Zellweger, Ewan McGregor and Emily Watson.
After watching Miss Potter again, I’ve decided I want to read more books about Beatrix Potter’s life and work. Apparently there are quite a few books written about her, so I’m slightly paralyzed by indecision at this point. I think it will depend on what books are still available in print in my neck of the woods.
This series on the Indigenous science of permaculture on KCET. >>> this way
I’ll just leave an excerpt here:
“What is at issue here is the importance of recognizing that permaculture’s roots lie firmly and deeply in the ancient, fertile, organic soil of indigenous science. To overlook and ignore that is to leave permaculture at the mercy of the dogmas of mainstream science, and the latter’s view of the manifold, complex systems in nature as nothing more than resources to be exploited. From this vantage point, humans control, degrade and exploit the land to become obedient, consummate consumers; and the indigenous science of cultivating a reciprocal, regenerative relationship with the Earth, in which the human acknowledges her innate connection to Earth, is dismissed as “unscientific” and empirically unsound.”
This documentary from Happen Films. (I highly recommend their YouTube channel.) Fools and Dreamers: Man spends 30 years turning degraded land into massive forest – Fools & Dreamers >>> this way
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