Inwood Eden
May 2019
Inwood Eden has been a personal journey in learning about nature through participation and connection. The garden serves as a model of aligning with nature and “allowing nature”, while still bridging to the needs and desires of the domesticated human individual.
It is my suburban Houston Permaculture garden, a 2/3 acre lot without utilities. It began in 2013 as a cleared field, dry and brittle. Through the use of organic matter, timely planting, and loving awareness fruit trees were established. As life expanded the soil was shaded and more life could be supported.
The dominant use is that of poly-culture orchard with chickens and ducks run underneath. There are ponds and bees and wild rabbits run freely.
As I recognized my disconnection from nature and the other living beings on this planet it became imperative to find my way back. I could feel myself light up when a dog bowed to play, or watching a bird build her nest. I could feel the gift when a flower was opening and I knew that I was part of their world. But I grew up in a culture that treated them as separate.
That they were “nature” and I was not.
I first learned to control them. Like any good farmer I learned to manipulate them and impose my will. But in that process I became closer to them. I wished to dominate less and nurture more with every garden.
There is an intelligence that runs through all life. It is how a plant knows to make its flower, how a dove knows when it is time to lay eggs, how a caterpillar knows which leaves to eat.
It is this order that governs and guides the “garden” of life.
It is more powerful than any tractor, and more intractable than any headstrong human will.
I believe that when we align with this wisdom we will no longer toil in the fields and “eat of it by the sweat of our brow”(Genesis 3:18-19)
That’s ^ why I call it “Eden”.
So if we came from this garden and have this intelligence inside of us, how do we get back???
The first steps are small such as “planting a seed” or “walking in a park”.
It starts with a recognition of connection and LOTS of interaction.
I see so many yearning to garden and reconnect with nature, to participate in relationship with all of these other intelligent living beings.
I am here to serve that purpose, and it makes me smile.
I hope it inspires you to begin an Eden of your own. To reconnect with and allow the garden to flow in you and around you. You are nature.
I share educational content and inspiration from my garden @Inwood Eden on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook.
