There is a way that nature speaks; that land speaks.
Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough,
to pay attention to the story.
Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough,
to pay attention to the story.
Linda Hogan.
American poet, environmentalist and academic.
American poet, environmentalist and academic.
Yesterday I built a raised bed to use as the container for the Metgrow wild flower garden. Originally I wanted the bed to be placed on the area where the greenhouse installation was for the last three months. However, on consulting the manager of the building, I decided that it would not be an appropriate location due to the fact that it may be too exposed to accident (see "Disaster" post) When the greenhouse was damaged, it was simple to fix, however I want this garden to stay in one piece so as to not disturb the plants as they fill the raised bed in the next few weeks. The small wildflower garden can be found tucked in a sunny corner which people can enjoy as they sit on the tables surrounding it.
I really like how small it looks in comparison to the rest of the surrounding buildings. It looks so fragile, which is indicative of their 'story' so far, to quote Linda Logan. It was amazing talking to the participants of the event who were so surprised that anything had grown in the greenhouse. The raised bed has been filled with the forty plants and looks great so far. I hope that over the coming weeks and with the right weather conditions, the wildflowers will begin to fill out and bloom. At the moment the garden looks very new and the plants look so small. It acts as a metaphor for hope and a reminder that nature and life will find a way to manifest itself even through the most unusual of circumstances. Linda Logan's quote above speaks of people not being 'patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story' of nature. I hope now that this garden will act as a reminder to the people in the building that the process of a seed germinating and becoming a fully fledged plant takes time, but it will happen. You can't control it like we can with so many other aspects of our 21st century lives. We have developed a culture of being used to immediacy: fast food, the Internet, convenience products etc, that this wildflower garden serves to remind us that the simplest of acts, planting a seed, takes a slow, natural pace. This project is entirely time based. Its such a simple process, and so many people did not think that the seeds would grow: which indicates how perhaps people who live in a city are unfamiliar with growing things and being in touch with nature.
Mohandas K. Gandhi once said "To forget how to dig the earth and tend to the soil is to forget ourselves."
I want to encourage more people to remember themselves through this process of planting. To not forget the small pleasures in life whilst working so hard in an office surrounded by deadlines, quotas and meetings. There is more to life than that. If I can hold an event where people simply rip up a metro newspaper embedded with seeds, house the pots in a greenhouse on a rooftop in the middle of London, then getting back in touch with nature can be done anywhere, with or without access to a garden space.
I really like how small it looks in comparison to the rest of the surrounding buildings. It looks so fragile, which is indicative of their 'story' so far, to quote Linda Logan. It was amazing talking to the participants of the event who were so surprised that anything had grown in the greenhouse. The raised bed has been filled with the forty plants and looks great so far. I hope that over the coming weeks and with the right weather conditions, the wildflowers will begin to fill out and bloom. At the moment the garden looks very new and the plants look so small. It acts as a metaphor for hope and a reminder that nature and life will find a way to manifest itself even through the most unusual of circumstances. Linda Logan's quote above speaks of people not being 'patient enough, quiet enough to pay attention to the story' of nature. I hope now that this garden will act as a reminder to the people in the building that the process of a seed germinating and becoming a fully fledged plant takes time, but it will happen. You can't control it like we can with so many other aspects of our 21st century lives. We have developed a culture of being used to immediacy: fast food, the Internet, convenience products etc, that this wildflower garden serves to remind us that the simplest of acts, planting a seed, takes a slow, natural pace. This project is entirely time based. Its such a simple process, and so many people did not think that the seeds would grow: which indicates how perhaps people who live in a city are unfamiliar with growing things and being in touch with nature.
Mohandas K. Gandhi once said "To forget how to dig the earth and tend to the soil is to forget ourselves."
I want to encourage more people to remember themselves through this process of planting. To not forget the small pleasures in life whilst working so hard in an office surrounded by deadlines, quotas and meetings. There is more to life than that. If I can hold an event where people simply rip up a metro newspaper embedded with seeds, house the pots in a greenhouse on a rooftop in the middle of London, then getting back in touch with nature can be done anywhere, with or without access to a garden space.
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