11.14.2015

A Community of Gardeners, is a physical and virtual community of members engaged in organic gardening, working in scales from greenhouses and backyard gardens; through containers and vertical gardens; to small kitchen gardens.  Their site of choice may be outdoors, or in, as necessitated by their individual circumstances and preferences.  As a community, we will exploring the aesthetic and practical experience of gardening, while exercising self-agency, self-determination, and self-advocacy over our access to a quality, wholesome food supply.

Gardening as Art and the Art of Gardening

Living in the DC Metropolitan area, I can tell you with certainty, there is no shortage of inspiration for gardening as an aesthetic experience.  DC Gardens website provides plenty of resources for getting out and getting inspired. If you're worried that its too late in the season to take the best advantage of our "natural" resources here in the Capital, just check out their November calendar which has several suggestions.  

I imagine that one could simply take the approach of just digging some holes and popping in some seeds, making sure that they have water and sun.  I sincerely hope that as a community, we will take advantage of this opportunity to tap into our highest creative selves, and explore the aesthetics and energetically balancing experiences that designing and cultivating our own personal gardening spaces can provide.

While we spend time reflecting and restoring ourselves over the winter, I will be posting some resources to assist you in contemplating your artful foray into designing what I hope will be your own sacred space for cultivating wellness and personal empowerment.  If you're an "Apps person," Gardenista has shared an article recommending 10 Apps for Garden Design; I also found an online Plan-a-Garden resource from Better Homes and Gardens.  I hope that these are a useful start for you and look forward to sharing my journey, and hearing about yours.

Gardening as Health and Well-Being

Whether or not you view your garden as a sacred space is an entirely individual choice.  However, it would be difficult to argue the virtues of maintaining a garden where health and well-being are concerned.  My grandmothers who lived (happily) to be 96, and 101, both had gardens in their yard.  I can't help but believe in the benefits of gardening for my body, mind and spirit.

Gardening as Community Action

That aside, much of the food that we eat today does not maintain the same nutritional standard of that of previous times.  Between nutrition depleted soil, GMO foods and seeds, produced picked way ahead of its ripeness, pesticides sprayed on and grafted into plant seeds... is it really even food that we're eating... or something else.  Gardening is one way to choose what you eat and know what you are eating.

The Call to Action

This blog, is not just another blog.  It contains a call to action, for YOU to become involved with a creative social engagement.  A Community of Gardeners is a socially engaged collaborative and interactive art experience which involves physical and virtual communication and activities, between and among gardeners in designing, participating and documenting the experience of becoming more Sustainable Human(s) BEING... through our co-creation of gardens, community experiences and a gardening yearbook (interactive e-book with print options).  Please join me in taking this step toward sustaining a quality life as a human being in the 21st century.