May Day - the ancient celebration of Spring, in Gaelic traditions known as Beltane, is upon us. Spring- as we know - is celebrated by all cultures and species over time and space - each in their own way), and today we celebrate in conversation with Australian plantlover, gardener, and writer - Georgina Reid. Her work under the name of The Planthunter finds truth, beauty. chaos and what it is to live an important life – in constant relationship with plants - in all their seasons.
“What I’m trying to do - really – is seduce people into falling in love with plants, that’s the big picture thing. So yes, it’s about connections and highlighting connections and telling these stories that don’t necessarily have a place to be told anywhere else, but the real vision is to encourage people to see and value the world around us through the very domestic topic of plants and gardens,”
Georgina Reid, The Planthunter
Georgina Reid – known as George - is the founder and director of the online magazine The Planthunter which is based in Australia but is about life - with plants - no matter where you might live. Recently, George published a book of the same name - The Planthunter - subtitled Truth, Beauty, Chaos and Plants.
Follow along with Georgina's work at The Planthunter.com.au; on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theplanthunter/; or on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThePlanthunter/
THINKING OUT LOUD this week..
One of the things that sticks with me here are the combined thoughts in George’s early remark in our conversation when she says: “I think people respond to the work so much because my heart’s there. I think anytime you really speak from a place of truth and you take the ego out of it - I think people genuinely really respond to truth - whether they necessarily believe it’s their truth or not.” And then her later almost resigned voice of “I don’t know, maybe I’m just a broken record.”
The truth is that for those of us who are in this longterm relationship with plants, they are truth. As George writes – "they are beauty, they are chaos" – and as I would say – our gardens at their best and most engaged and mindful - are our own loving responses to all that plants bring to us and our lives.
And we in turn – make a difference, we really do. You might catch yourself saying something like Just a gardener, just gardening – but don’t fool yourself or let anyone else or our culture fool you – we – especially connected and together - make a difference.
This gardening impulse makes a difference to our individual intellect, health and well being which we radiate out into the world, we make a difference to our larger environments which all together create a patchwork quilt of regenerative connectivity, we make a difference to our families, communities and cultures on economic and well- being levels across the board. So broken records that we all may be – keep it up, keep singing, keep playing, keep inviting others to circle round the sun with you on this garden-life journey.
The work of The Planthunter of Georgina and all the contributors to it’s mission is not dissimilar to us here at Cultivating Place – it is about sharing this love of and constant learning we’re engaged in with our life in plants. If you haven’t had the chance to go to the Planthunter.com and check out more – definitely make some leisurely time to do this. You’ll enjoy it fully – I promise.
IN order to connect – it starts by sharing forward – someone shared Georgina’s work with me, I share it with you and on….and on….
And it is in connection that we grow and cultivate strength and resilience – as gardeners, as humans. So I’m going to ask you to do this: SHARE Cultivating Place, with people you love, people you happen to find yourself chatting with and who you think might like it – when you feel inspired or moved by a conversation or a moment in our weekly conversations, please write a review at Cultivating Place on Itunes, or follow along with us and make a comment on Instagram @ cultivating underscore place (where I’m active pretty much every day) or on Facebook where I’m active weekly. I’d love to share your thoughts with others. Along with sunlight, regular watering, and some care and attention, word of the mouth is the best way for this podcast to grow and all healthy growth comes down to connecting – and nurturing this soil of us. Beautifully and meaningfully…..
Happy May Day!
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