My life in some aspects has been a series of tasks I don’t particularly enjoy, in exchange for money which I hate, to pay for products and services I borderline despise or feel guilty about.
I realise I’m not alone in this. I’m not saying everything in life should be enjoyable and fun 100% of the time. But what is amazing to me is the glaring contrast between our accepted state of general unhappiness and the happiness that can be found in the garden.
The garden is the opposite to the annoying parts of my world. It’s a place where I can do tasks I quickly learned to enjoy for various rewards both instant and long term.
Over the last five years or so it has become apparent that growing food and looking for economic opportunities within the garden is rewarding for more than one reason rather than a sum of its parts. More than the physical routine that makes me feel strong and capable. More than the nutrient-dense food that feeds my microbiome and gives me confidence in my body and mind.
It makes sense to me. It stops me from carrying out tasks because ‘that’s the way life goes’ or because that’s the way it’s always been. It makes me question modern life and all its contradictions and leads me away from the noise to a place where things make sense.
The garden frames the big questions and gives them a practical application. Biology interacts directly with physics and those two connect beautifully with chemistry. Your actions manifest themselves in taste, smell and the most amazing visual representations imaginable.
What more is there to ask for. An action and a reaction. Either good or bad but always understandable. The outrageous complexity in the natural world means it’s not all plain sailing but with some perseverance and a keen eye, it all makes perfect sense. Why?
Because in biological systems there are beautifully simple, elegant patterns, that control everything. In modern life, these are fractured. Our education systems lead us to believe Physics and Biology and Chemistry all belong in their own little boxes. But this reductionist, commercial view of life has devalued the whole, the oneness, the interconnection between it all and risks blinding us all together.
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