This garden season, Giving Tree Gardens is proud to announce a working patnership with premeier Minneapolis permaculture hardscape designer
Andrew French
and his new company,
Make Giving Tree Gardens or Shadow Dance Stoneworks your first call for
Earth Friendly Landscaping!
"The poison and pollution in our environment affects how clearly we see things. We need to use our intelligence and organize our consciousness and our perceptions of reality. This is hard work, but it must be done. We are in an evolutionary reality. We are never given something we can't handle. It's about activating the thinking process, about the real value of our ability to think. I say don't believe anything the corporations hand us, whether it is TV, ads or the news as they tell us it is. I am a human, a member of a tribe, not a subject for corporate mining and exploitation. I don't trust their corporate "democracy". We humans must think for ourselves. That's what we need to give to the next generation."
"We must go beyond the arrogance of human rights. We must go beyond the ignorance of civil rights. We must step into the reality of natural rights because all of the natural world has a right to existence and we are only a small part of it. There can be no trade-off."
“It's about our D and A. Descendants and ancestors. We are the descendants and we are the ancestors. D and A, our DNA, our blood, our flesh and our bone, is made up of the metals and the minerals and the liquids of the earth. We are the earth. We truly, literally and figuratively are the earth. Any relationship we will ever have in this world to real power -- the real power, not energy systems and other artificial means of authority -- but any relationship we will ever have to real power is our relationship to the earth.” ~ John Trudell
Charles Darwin tells us that “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”
Well folks, change seems to be knocking at the door to humanity demanding it’s way in. Between changing economies, climate change, and changing social values, our species is facing a paradigm shift so drastic in scope that every living human culture has begun preparing for a different tomorrow.
Maybe you’ll agree that within only a few hundred years of industrialization, we’ve done an incredible amount of devastation to our delicate home. Our warring cultures demands for efficiency has lead to an attempted homogenization of natural human processes throughout the planet. Here in America industry gives us food and water, and industry carries away our waste. Industry helps us birth our babies, raise our children, store our wealth, wed our lovers, occupy our adults, hospice our elders, and burry our dead. All of these interactions have been designed by the industries offering them to take wealth and power away from the folks who purchase their products and services and put that power into the hands of industrial leaders in the form of money and brand devotion. All of these interactions also represent a sort of degeneration instead of the evolution we’re gonna need to undergo to keep our species kickin’ around on this planet we call home.
Now it might strike some readers that here, the owner of a company offering landscaping services is essentially telling folks to stop shopping. I suppose I have a slightly different view of landscaping then most others in the trade. Giving Tree Gardens seeks at all turns to empower community, clients, and anyone that will listen with the knowledge, resources, and methods that will help them engage with and honor their world a little bit more. We offer services to those without the time or ability to do the work themselves, while encouraging a do-it-yourself mentality through our various forms of consultation, our community classes, as well as our newsletter, blog, and website.
Inspiration is among our most precious resources.
John Trudell is one abundant source evolutionary inspiration. Mr. Trudell is a brilliant author and public speaker. Perhaps the most striking thing I heard him say while he gave a speech in Minneapolis a couple years back touched on the concept of revolution vs. evolution. John shared the notion that revolution based on the word “revolve” will only get us back where we started just as the Earth finds itself back in the same spot every new year. He said that we should become evolutionary instead of revolutionary. He helped me understand that if we are to move on beyond our problems, we must do the changing because our problems won’t just change for us. So what kind of changes should we make in our landscaping habits? Sure I’ve got some ideas for you, but I wanna hear your ideas too. The full answer to the question of how do we all honor our environment together will only be found when we all explore together a few more basic questions.
Who am I?, Where am I?, and What am I doing here?
Who Am I?
This question is important because who you are informs your needs, and your environment should be able to provide your needs. The answers to this question include things like your ancestry, community, tastes, family, point of view, relationships, age, personality and more. To take a step further into the landscape we begin asking questions such as: What plants are culturally relevant to you? How have your ancestors traditionally raised or gathered food? What are your favorite flowers? These questions and many more will begin to show us what we need from our environments, and the next question will begin to show us how those needs may be met.
Where Am I?
I love this question. My answer to this question begins with one well-annunciated word. America! I see such a heavy European influence in the local landscape from sod grass lawns to man made ponds to parking lots and freeways, that I find myself often needing to remind folks that indeed we are in America, and that if we are to honor this place so that it may support us, we should recognize the needs of the land beneath our feet.
Every place has plants that are native to it. Here in America, native plants fed wildlife and people for millennia before the conquistadors, pioneers, and settlers (some my ancestors) invaded this land and started causing widespread damage here. If these American plants fed folks for such a long time, why shouldn’t we who call ourselves Americans eat them again? What are the native plants in your region? What are the uses of these plants for you and the native wildlife? To honor your space you must know, respect, and support the life that was there before you arrived.
What Am I Doing Here?
Just what are you doing here? This is a pretty big question. We spend our days and nights eating, working, traveling, visiting, sleeping, purchasing, communicating, any number of normal and abnormal human activities fill our time. Just what are these activities? Are they good for this space? Do our actions honor our environment?
Every one of our actions impacts our environment. Some of our actions have a positive impact in our environs, some much less so. What are the local, regional, and global environmental impacts of some of your landscaping decisions? Are the plants that are culturally relevant to you able to live here without damaging this space? Are you able to live here without damaging this space? How can you do what you need to do and still live in harmony with the land around you?
A rain garden can filter rainwater to recharge aquifers that we all drink from, growing even just tomatoes at home can reduce the amount of petroleum it takes to make your meals, and native tree plantings can support migrating wildlife from around the globe, these are all small, locally made decisions that have profound positive impacts in the larger ecosystem. So what are you doing here?, and what are the impacts of the actions you make? Are you acting with honor towards this place that supports you?
Inspirational sources abound in this world. A friend and former neighbor Bob Milner is yet another inspiring mentor in my life. Bob is a marketing wizard and a community activist since….., well he may have invented marketing and community activism, but Bob and I were sitting and chatting marketing strategies one afternoon when he turns to me and says,
“Russ I want to give you something, ……Evolutionary Gardening, that’s what you’re doing, that’s what you should call it, you should trademark this idea, it’s yours, I’m giving it to you”.
In honor of Bob, and his really good idea, I’m happy to go ahead then and tell the world what I think it means to be an “Evolutionary Gardener” as he so eloquently put it. I’m probably not going to go for the trademark though, I just can’t find it in me take any credit for a process as old as time.
If you click on any of the pictures on the side of the page, you’ll be shown some of my favorite do-it-yourself methods for evolving your own yard and landscape. I love these particular methods because of their simplicity. I suppose simplicity is important because evolution is the process of tiny, simple changes one after another working together to create harmony.
With so much change in the forecast, I’m ready to do my part to make allies, share ideas, and develop the bonds of community that will help this land that I love so much, thrive in the face of change. By honoring our environments we honor ourselves, so my question to you now is, How do you honor your environment?
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The Seed Vol. 38 May 20, 2010 A Giving Tree Gardens Newsletter
Photos by Russ Henry ©2010 ,
Text by Russ Henry
©2010 by Giving Tree Gardens, all rights reserved.
It has been said that the journey of a thousand miles begins with just one footstep. I suppose that’s true. I also figure that if I’m gonna be traveling a thousand miles, that first footstep should be pretty well aimed. The evolution of both the garden and the gardener represent a journey that takes place not in distance, but in time, and as a garden and landscape educator I understand that I’m responsible for giving out the best information and resources to guide folks along the path toward a healthier environment. So, if I were standing along the trail you travel and you happened to ask me which direction you should aim your energies to find a healthy thriving landscape, I’d gladly point the way. If however you asked me to map the evolution of your garden, my response might be a little more mysterious. The map I’d hand you would have nothing but the following question written on it,
“How do you honor your environment?”
Get ready for Growth with a
home consultation from
Giving Tree Gardens.
We'll help you turn your yard into an
oasis of health and beauty!
Thinking of Going Green? Start by Growing Green!
These organizations can help residents, neighborhoods, and organizations in Minneapolis and St. Paul learn to eat and grow sustainably!
Mother Earth Gardens: The best plant selection, locally owned, and expert organic advice. One stop garden shop!
Midtown Farmers Market: Shop for locally grown organic foods, and meet your farmers and neighbors!
Diamond Stone Oriental Medicine: Your first wealth is health. Treat your body with love, care, and expertise!
EVOLUTIONARY LANDSCAPING
Food for you, Food for the wildlife! The robust radishes above are one of the first annual crops ready year. While the Swallow Tail Caterpillar below is welcomed to munch away wherever it should please!
Sister's Camelot provides free organic food to folks in need throughout the Twin Cities!
Kids learn to grow, cook, and sell food. Sharing skills that will sustain for a lifetime!
Offering on-site energy and sustainability consultations for families, businesses, and non-profits in Minnesota!
Why so much mystery? Evolution is the process of adapting to change, and work that honors our environment is the best tool we have to help our planet adapt it in these changing times. Truth be told, I can’t tell you how to honor your environment. I’m happy to show you some of my favorite ways to give admiration for Grandmother Earth, but your answers to this tiny question of global proportion will be both as common as our human experience and as unique as our varied personalities. I have been blessed to visit so many great landscapes and gardens in my time, each a unique reflection of the gardeners who created them and the environments where they are growing. In these gardens I’ve seen hundreds of methods and means of achieving healthy harmony in earthen environments. So, while the bad news is that I have no one right way to show you, the good news is that I have seen many right ways that I can share with you, and I can tell you that allowing yourself to change your garden habits in any way that will create healthy habitat for yourself and the local wildlife is an evolutionary concept worthy of praise.
This months newsletter is dedicated to a very old notion with a fancy new name…
Evolutionary Gardening!
Scroll down if you’re ready to evolve!
Rainwater is not only the best water for your gardens, but it's free! Don't let another drop go to waste!
"Be the change you want to see in the world."
Seed Bombs are fun and easy,
Rain barrels are a highly evolved idea!
Worms are fun, gross, and good for the Earth!
Potato Stacks In Potato Sacks,
it works as well as it rhymes!
Compost Tea is AMAZINGLY GOOD FOR PLANTS!
We all need a little help from our friends!
Compost is fertility! Turn Garbage Into Gold!
Composting coffee at home builds rainforest fertility into your back yard!
Sod lawns are like a wound on the Earth!
