Gardening With Nature

Two things became clear to me last week – both part of a transformation that’s shaking every corner of my life. I’m going to share them here, because moving forward, I expect this website to take a turn – along with the rest of me!

The first insight came at the depths of my frustration with humanity. Have you noticed an increase in the level of insanity around you? I sure have. I never thought or believed that things were working too well with humans – either individually or collectively. But recently, I see things growing much worse.

I’ve been searching for a context for living my life – something bigger and better than playing some role in this human game. As I expressed my frustration with some dear friends, I found myself saying that one good thing about being human is experiencing Nature – because Nature gets it right.

It dawned on me later that evening that I am Nature – that Nature can serve as  the context for living my life. I’m happy to give up the idea of being human as the pinacle of my existence in form and seek my role in Nature. That feels good.

I was reminded of a message I received on a hike one day. I was glorifying in Nature and this strong feeling of how connected everything around me appeared. I expressed my amazement and wonder at this beautiful connectedness and the way everything cooperated. To my surprise, Nature answered: “You are part of this too!”

I didn’t know what to make of it at the time – it just felt great to be acknowledged as part of this undescribably whole. Now it’s getting clearer.

The second shift is away from Gardening With Nature. The purpose of this website has been to advocate for a new gardening paradigm – moving beyond gardening against Nature and gardening like Nature to a co-creative partnership with Nature. It’s time for a new paradigm: Gardening AS Nature.

As we move forward together, I’ll be exploring this idea of living in the context of Nature and writing about what’s showing up for me.  I’m excited by this uncharted territory. Maybe I’ll even find some charts to share with you!