Witnessing disconnect

-

Hello garden makers, 


It has been a while since I wrote to you. I cringingly used to write to Monty Don but then Sarah Venn pointed out that that was a bit sycophantic! ( Quite right ) I always struggle with the ego within. I suspect Mr Ego plays his part in all our lives to a greater or lesser extent if we have the ears to hear him.

What grounds me is the ground. This amazing planet we tread upon that is our life : water, air, food and pleasure (as well as heartache if our expectations are unrealistic).





This last couple of years I have stepped back from writing about our small back garden, partly because I'm still tired and partly because there are so many that are frankly more eloquent and knowledgeable than me about making gardens. 

This morning however, I read a post on Instagram by Jo McKerr (@jo_pratensisgardens) In which she eloquently described the growing disconnect society has with the land we live on. What struck me most was that this disconnect and dispassion is a symptom of our consumerist lives. It results in a  throwaway mentality, that nothing is worth caring about, including our fellow human beings (especially if they are different to us). We even throw them away if we have the will to do so. 'Our ' political leaders who should be pointing the way to living a wholesome and fulfilling life, instead send strong messages of dispassion and hard heartedness in the guise of security and growth for the tribe.

Our obsession with click bait and AI is part of this alienation from reality. 

I walked with Sue on her 65th birthday this past Saturday to a local National Trust site within the Bannau Brycheiniog. We witnessed drinks bottles, baby wipes, food containers, cans and other forms of consumption thrown into the vegetation along the path and in the river which forms a string of waterfalls. When we reached the main waterfall it was even worse. Many of the visitors were coming to see not the beauty of the flora and appreciate the water, but to see, witness, and record the unreality of Batman's Batcave ! 



I know that many of us that tend a garden understand this connection we have with the soil, with growth and with care, fundamental things. Grounding things that keep us humble. Oh for that connection to be taught and nurtured in our schools. For there to be a dangerous revolution where being alive in all our senses, appreciating limits, understanding disappointment as part of the journey but above all seeing what is right there in front of our eyes everyday we breathe, and feeling the connection, feeling the love and hope. Where politicians finally realise what terrible messages they are sending by not standing up for the vulnerable, and for the land that gives us life.




Paul.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Monty, where does the road take us ?

-
Image
Monty, I see you have returned to France. Your film reminded me of my visits to Paris as an art student between 1981-83. It is a city that cannot fail to make an impression with its wide open streets, avenues of trees, the river and public gardens. I particularly remember Versailles with its long canal. At that time I was not aware of having a particular interest in gardens, but the gardens at Versailles were astonishing. I saw them in early morning light, when there were not that many people there. I also remember being intrigued by the garden at the Musee Rodin. Strangely for an art student, it was not the sculpture that caught my attention but the garden with pyramid shaped topiary. Perhaps what I was responding to was the sense of order, balance and harmony. It almost feels as though I was meant to visit, and that the encounters I had which were sensually intense, were pre-ordained. There is one incident, which has great significance only to me perhaps, but which was of ...
Read more

Letter to Monty Don 48

-
Image
Dear Monty, I know that despite these rambles being addressed to you, they never reach your eyes or heart, but this question is most certainly directed to you : Can nature be ugly ? I am pondering this question sitting in my cupboard of a 'studio' where I am putting the finishing touches to paintings of  British native orchids, pollinators and butterflies for an exhibition next weekend. Now I believe that you understand perfectly well the response you may get when you make statements on GW - including the one about spent buddleja flowers being 'ugly'. I too have always deadheaded my buddleja for the same reason, and as you said to promote new flower spikes. But this ugliness is an intrinsic part of nature - it sets seed to create the next generation, the flowers last but for a few days. Is this ugliness a kind of acknowledgement of the frailty of 'beauty' .... and the cutting off and tidying away a kind of denial ? ( Perhaps I think too much.) I ...
Read more

Pity the cabbage white

-
Image
Dear Monty, Having seen you protect your newly planted cabbages from cabbage white butterflies - it made me realise that I haven't seen many this year. Despite warmth yesterday - a brief interlude with blue sky and a light wind there was a dearth of butterflies in the coal tip garden. There were honey bees, bumble bees, wasps, hover flies, a gangly legged wasp, one hedge brown, one speckled wood and a common blue - that is all. Oh and a frog sheltering in the shady hosta and a silent peregrine falcon swooping overhead. What has happened to all the insects ? What has happened to all the aphids this year ? Is it just me that is missing them ? I have seen no ladybirds or ladybird larvae - because there have been so few aphids - was it the birds that have snaffled them ? I worry about the lack of insect numbers. We walked through a wild meadow full of meadow cranesbill and meadowsweet with the purple haze of knapweed in the grasses and yet there were one or two meadow br...
Read more