{"id":296,"date":"2016-02-24T03:32:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-24T11:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mytruths.ca\/?p=296"},"modified":"2016-02-24T03:34:10","modified_gmt":"2016-02-24T11:34:10","slug":"on-gardening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mytruths.ca\/?p=296","title":{"rendered":"On Gardening…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Garden<\/a><\/p>\n

This blog is written with unreserved apologies to all my family and friends in Ontario and Alberta and other places across the country eastward of the Fraser Valley \u2013 i.e. all those places that are beyond Hope (sorry, couldn\u2019t resist \u2013 just a little wet coast humour). But it\u2019s the middle of February, and here in Sooke that means it\u2019s time to start working on the garden. The broad beans need to be planted, and the early peas, and some greens. And it\u2019s time to start germinating other seeds in the greenhouse, to be ready for when the soil warms up in April.<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m not a particularly avid gardener. Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 I love the idea<\/span> of gardening, I\u2019m just not quite sold on all the work that\u2019s involved. It\u2019s actually my partner, Sandra, who loves to garden; and I garden because I love Sandra. Makes sense to me. And besides, I\u2019m coming to believe that it\u2019s everyone\u2019s duty as a citizen to also be a gardener. We take and take and take from the earth, and it\u2019s high time we all put something back in to restore and replenish and rebuild (the new 3-R\u2019s). Everyone. It\u2019s not someone else\u2019s job, it belongs to each of us.<\/p>\n

My gardening motivation got a major boost a couple of years ago, when we attended a presentation from Vandana Shiva. What a remarkable person! I was taken by her amazing ability to cut through the crap; to take enormously complex issues and focus in on the essential truths, making our world and our options so much clearer. Among other things, she talks about gardening, and about how the act of growing our own food, saving our seeds, and not dumping all kinds of manufactured chemicals into the earth in order to sustain ourselves should be recognized for what it really is: an act of rebellion. It\u2019s a simple matter of pushing back against the corporate domination of our lives \u2013 maybe it\u2019s just small steps, but those are small steps that everyone can take, and those small steps add up. \u201cIt is true\u201d Shiva says \u201cthat the concentration of power is more than ever before. But I think the awareness about the illegitimacy of this power is also more than ever before. If you take into account the number of movements, the number of protests taking place, and the number of people building alternatives, it\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

And gardening is on the leading edge of that awareness. It\u2019s something everyone can do in some way \u2013 on an acreage, in a garden plot, in a box or in a pot. Everyone can grow something. \u201cIn planting a seed\u201d Shiva says \u201cyou are one with the cycles and regenerative capacity of life\u2026. A seed sown in the soil makes us one with the Earth. It makes us realize that we are the Earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

So as we come together in the coming years \u2013 as we will, as we must \u2013 to set things right, let\u2019s start by planting a seed. Grow a veggie and nourish your body. Grow a flower and nourish your spirit. Grow a tree and nourish your grandchildren. Put your hands in the soil and get them dirty\u2026you won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>\n

Gotta go now, it\u2019s stopped raining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This blog is written with unreserved apologies to all my family and friends in Ontario and Alberta and other places across the country eastward of the Fraser Valley \u2013 i.e. all those places that are beyond Hope (sorry, couldn\u2019t resist \u2013 just a little wet coast humour). But it\u2019s the \u2026<\/p>\n

Continue reading<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ians-posts","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOn Gardening... - My Truths...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mytruths.ca\/?p=296\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Gardening... - My Truths...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This blog is written with unreserved apologies to all my family and friends in Ontario and Alberta and other places across the country eastward of the Fraser Valley \u2013 i.e. all those places that are beyond Hope (sorry, couldn\u2019t resist \u2013 just a little wet coast humour). 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