Conscious Gardening 101

  I

Petunia walks meditatively among her gardens. Well, really, they are not my gardens, I am simply the care taker, she thinks fondly.  

A mint plant shimmers in the sun, winking up at Petunia. As she resonates with the little runaway plant, far from its original bed she had planted mint in four years ago, she is filled with the beauty and joy at growing that the little plant has. And who ever said that plants don't walk obviously never cared for plants through several seasons, she thinks. It always amazes Petunia when a plant shows up, far from its parent. Nettle travelled a good ten meters under the sod and soil, to show up in another bed. Petunia loves it when plants make themselves at home. When they feel comfortable enough to make babies and walk around, finding the spots where they can root and grow and be happy.

Is it really only four years now since she took over the caretaking of this property? It's hard to imagine what her life was like before she arrived here. She considers briefly her childhood in the city before university in the city. Except that the university had hired Prof Bolo to teach plant and animal sciences and he had offerred oportunities of field trips out to the country. This property is a recent purchase by the university that was made possible by an endowment as a result of some of his "field studies".  

After Petunia had done a season of field trips with Prof Bolo, she was hooked to the amazing wild or cultivated world outside of the cities. What an incredible learning process this has been for her. Mind expanding, for sure. She graduated just as the university was purchasing this property. Prof Bolo offered her the caretaking and research management job.  

The first plant study they did was of the bully plants. Petunia chuckles to herself about how these plants feel like pets to her now. She is very fond of these amazing beings. They grow quite comfortably in the large field Petunia has to work with. They just need space and lots of attention and conscious interaction.

She thinks fondly of her neighbours, the elderly sisters, May and Martha, who have shared their understanding of plant consciousness with her and given her strategies for working with the plants.

She thinks especially fondly of May's son Robert, away for the school year now, taking his last year in a Naturopathic course. Petunia marvels at the chances of that. Finding the love of your life living next door to a long term employment project. Next year, when Rob sets up his practice next door, if time holds their heart's intentions true, she looks forward to living in the studio-guesthouse with him, giving up her little apartment in the old house on this property, as a guest dwelling. She suspects Prof Bolo would be happy to spend more inclement weather time here, when his tent doesn't provide sufficient shelter, and have a place to house guest lecturers.

She is amazed, how this property has developed over the last four years, since the university aquired it. For three years, she had lived mostly by herself in the large old farmhouse. Then, last summer, a work crew had come, converting one corner of the house into a little apartment with it's own entrance, while the rest of the sizeable farmhouse was renovated for offices and seminar rooms.

The newly conceived conscious gardening course that she has been asked to teach, is taking place out here, along with various other science classes.

What is her lesson plan going to be?

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