Gardening has been the most amazing healing practice over my lifetime. It is an incredibly empowering and grounding practice when taking our rightful place working with nature as our ancestors did.
I come from a family of gardeners and gardened as a child as an extension of artistic expression. When we moved to our current property there was an overwhelming amount of space and most of it was on a pretty serious slope, not uncommon in Dunedin. I have come up with some wonderful ways to work over time and with nature to bring huge vision to the ground in ways that feel nurturing, rewarding and authentically, that I would like to share with others. My passion for the process of gardening as a healing journey is the point of difference here. It is much bigger than creating magazine worthy scenes (although there is no reason you couldn’t) that might just be a fabulous side outcome. I am all about authentic spaces that tell stories and reflect the people and place of each unique piece of earth.
Over the decades I have learnt and failed a lot, which is an important part of becoming a gardener. Gardening teaches life lessons in gentle ways and we get to try again or be creative with an unexpected outcome. We are always a learner and we never arrive at a destination- we are part of a process. I have two horticulture qualifications and a certificate in landscape design but consider myself as ultimately an artist and explorer interested in collaborating with people enthusiastic about what gardening can bring into the whole of their life.
Our first consultation will involve talking, making a rough plan, taking photos and I will make up some visual plans for an area of focus. I will then come and help implement this with you and your family if it is a team vision. The overall cost can be reduced if you complete tasks without me over the course of the project, cost is per hour so you have control over when you call me in to help, for learning and motivation based on your budget. Most of the projects can be completed using what you already have, slowly connecting with the space around you. Part of the process is tapping into your natural human abilities, being resourceful and using solutions from your own environment, creating closed loop systems with zero waste and providing for your garden from your own property with your own compost for example.
Sharing my garden and holistic life helps me connect with other people who are excited about embracing abundance, health and creativity in defiance of concepts and structures that modern society has tried to sell us and do not enhance health, do not support our strengths and purpose in right relationship with the natural world. The best activism is being healthy, enthusiastic, knowledgeable, connected, generous and ready to co-create with other enthusiastic and loving beings.
If the seed of garden medicine is germinating in you email or text to discuss how this journey might work with the support of Unalome Therapy Dunedin. There are limited spaces for this work and it is only possible on Friday mornings.