"Healing starts in the garden". This is one of my favourite quotes. It might seem simple, maybe cliché. You can imagine some old lady sitting in amongst her fragrant roses feeling surreal, whispering this secret to some small child.
However, I seldom think of this quote without feeling moved. Because the story behind it is so moving. It’s a story of two girls in the Netherlands who with their parents hid and helped Jews escape. In their home during WWII the family built a secret room in which they hid the Jews from the Nazis, but the family was betrayed and arrested.
After the hiding place was found the whole family was sent to concentration camps. Their story is told by one of the girls, Corrie Ten Boon in her book The Hiding Place. They survived many hardships that I find hard to imagine in my nice cushy well-fed, warm-bed life in 2011. But they never gave up hope.
While in the notorious Ravensbruck concentration camp they talked about how, when they got out, they would open a big house for other survivors to come to, to rest, to be renewed, to be healed.
Corrie survived Ravensbruck and went on to open the home, but her sister, Betsie, died in the camp. Before she died, Betsie told Corrie that as soon as people arrive at the home she should put them to work in the garden, "healing starts in the garden" she told her. Corrie later writes that she found this to be true. People who had been through so much, lost so much, found healing amongst the flowers, the cabbages, the fruit trees. It still amazes me that something so simple can be so powerful.
In my life I have reminded myself of this truth from time to time. When I feel low, when something has sapped my strength emotional or physically, I find rest in my garden. As I breathe the sea air, take in the majesty of the mountains, the simplicity of a flower, the fragrance of the orange blossom, the first little leaves of a new shoot, the simple bird song, something happens to me. Stress starts to leave and rest starts to enter.
Its not just me either, more research is being done the effects of nature upon us. For example, Roger Ulrich and his colleagues at Texas A&M University found that people who commuted along scenic roads recovered more quickly from stressful driving conditions than those who saw billboards, buildings, and parking lots. Ulrich also noted something he termed an “inoculation” effect: Drivers who had taken the scenic route responded more calmly to stressful situations later on. More research shows that surgery patients that see trees and greenery out their hospital windows need less painkillers.
In Australia they have taken this one step further with building a 'park within a hospital and a hospital with in a park. A hospital for children where they are "spaces infused with nature" that can 'speak to children and aid in the healing' (http://www.hphpcentral.com/article/royal-childrens-hospital)
I could turn this blog into an essay this week there is so much research in the effects of nature upon our mental, emotional and physical well-being....but I won’t.
I have a horrible stinking cold at the moment, and a looooooong list of jobs to do. The two combine to make me feel extra dreadful and slightly overwhelmed. I suddenly felt extra grumpy when I saw the dog jump the fence and go after the farmer’s ute as it went by with the hazards on......meaning only one thing......around the corner sheep or cattle were about to appear.
With my arms tightly wrapped round my tired body, a grumpy look on my face, my slippered feet shuffled down the drive way and out the gate to make sure the dog didn't get into trouble. The fluffy creature joined me and we strolled down to the beach. There we stood next to each other: the sun warming and soothing the stress lines on my face, the sea’s rhythmic motion bringing calm to my soul, and the relaxed sheep trotting passed us up to the pastures on the hills seemed to bring a slower pace to the day. In those few moments as I paused to drink in the creation around me my troubles lifted, I felt a little better. This has been my experience many times through my life. As I plant a seed, spot the first seedling, then first bloom of blossom, it brings peace.
So if the aftershocks have got to you, or the job is stressful, or the housework is piling up, take a moment! Walk outside, find a green area, relax, unwind. Buy a pack of seeds, plant them and watch them grow over the next few weeks. Get a plant for your desk, make a change!
Bring creation into your day in big or small ways and take the time to stop and smell the roses.
I don’t have a recipe for you this week just an unchangeable fact that something grown by you, from seed, is the sweetest tasting thing there is. So dig a plot, or get a small pot and plant a herb and keep it in the kitchen. Trust me, theres healing in your garden.
My daughter with a home grown apple
