{"id":1577,"date":"2013-09-01T11:53:51","date_gmt":"2013-09-01T15:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2013-09-01T11:53:51","modified_gmt":"2013-09-01T15:53:51","slug":"the-gardeners-shadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/2013\/09\/01\/the-gardeners-shadow\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gardener’s Shadow"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"034\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gardens are a form of autobiography.\u00a0 ~Sydney Eddison, Horticulture<\/i> magazine, August\/September 1993<\/p>\n

So if that\u2019s the case, what happens when a gardener moves, or becomes ill or dies?\u00a0I took a photo walk through the community garden at the senior housing grounds where my mother lives recenty.\u00a0 It\u2019s about two dozen semi-raised beds that are gardened by some of the residents and I can tell you exactly what happens.\u00a0 Weeds.\u00a0 And more weeds.\u00a0 And even more weeds.<\/p>\n

\"039\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The juxtaposition of healthy gardens to weed beds is in direct correlation to the members who have become ill, disabled or died.\u00a0 It\u2019s a heart break.\u00a0 I could barely see through the lens to capture the reality but it has also given birth to a new mission.\u00a0 I know, you\u2019re shocked.<\/p>\n

I intend to find out exactly how these plots are allocated and make it my business to volunteer.\u00a0 I\u2019m at this senior housing building almost every Sunday and if I can weed my own neighborhood I can certainly weed some of these tiny plots of soil.\u00a0 I can just imagine being among these people next spring when they begin their work. \u00a0It\u2019s been said that the more one gardens, the more one learns; and the more one learns, the more one realizes how little one knows, Vita Sackville-West. \u00a0The base of knowledge to draw from excites me beyond\u2026these seniors know more tips and tricks than any five gardeners I already know.\u00a0 They\u2019ve probably forgotten more than I\u2019ll ever know.\u00a0 And yeah the forgetting part may become a problem\u2026just sayin it\u2019s yet another reason to make myself available.<\/p>\n

\"019\"<\/a>\"014\"<\/p>\n

I wonder if the on-site housing management knows when gardeners have taken ill.\u00a0 I wonder if these plots can be temporarily reallocated.\u00a0 I wonder why the other gardeners don\u2019t jump in.\u00a0 Is it because of the very personal and peculiar habits of all individual gardeners?<\/p>\n

Whatever the reason I just can\u2019t resist the temptation to get my hands dirty, share (ok more like abscond away with) all the collective knowledge of these senior growers and to preserve the integrity of these gardens through the season.<\/p>\n

\"007\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The reality of the people living in this complex is not lost on them.\u00a0 They understand that they are in the twilight of their lives but I can think of nothing more distracting than to see it brought to light in the form of an overgrown garden.<\/p>\n

\"001\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For the residents to be able to walk among the plots of living, flourishing nature has been proven over and over to lift spirits and provide hopefulness and positive anticipation. Hans Christian Anderson said, \u201cJust living is not enough, one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.\u201d \u00a0I know like I know that I will certainly get more from this than whatever amount of backache it gives me. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n

\"069\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gardens are a form of autobiography.\u00a0 ~Sydney Eddison, Horticulture magazine, August\/September 1993 So if that\u2019s the case, what happens when a gardener moves, or becomes ill or dies?\u00a0I took a photo walk through the community garden at the senior housing … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[299,300,241,301,302],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pause-points","tag-community-garden","tag-gardeners","tag-gardening","tag-senior-gardens","tag-volunteering"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p27hQ5-pr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1589,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions\/1589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ordinarylegacy.com\/word\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}