Jarod K. Anderson is a poet and nature enthusiast - his book, Something in the Woods Loves You– “the story of the darkest stretch of a person’s life, and how deliberate and meditative encounters with plants and animals helped him see the light at every turn,” shares how the more-than-human lives around him were among Jarod's primary allies against chronic depression.
One day in his mid-adulthood, after many years of battling debilitating depression and thoughts of suicide, Jarod witnessed the presence of a Great Blue Heron fishing in a creek in the woods near his home. In the opening pages of his new book, he describes this transformative moment of meeting this “poem of ancient slowness” as a “bridge to when nature was family.” And this sense of belonging allowed his first step on a path to seeking and accepting help in his deeply personal journey to healing.
Jarod is also the poet and nature enthusiast behind the popular scripted fiction podcast The CryptoNaturalist - about real love for imaginary nature. In Something in the Woods Loves You (out this week from Hachette), Jarod poignantly shares how real nature, and its lessons as to our place within it, helped to bring him home to himself.
Jarod joins Cultivating Place this week to share more about his love of nature, his garden life, and thoughts on how an improved relationship with nature is key to everyone’s health (mental and physical), including the health of the planet we live on and her nature.
Enjoy!
You can follow Jarod's work online at:
And on Instagram:
HERE IS THIS WEEK'S TRANSCRIPT by Doulos Transcription Service:
All photos by and courtesy of Jarod K. Anderson, all rights reserved.
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JOIN US again next week, as we prepare for the Autumnal Equinox on
Sunday, September 22 nd, we turn to seed. We’re joined in this by the inimitable Erin Benzakein of Floret Flower Farm fame sharing her deeply personal journey from flower farmer grower, to flower seed grower and breeder – in part to nurture a healthy floral and seed economy and culture. That's right here, next week.
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Thinking out loud this week...
SO many things come up for me in the context of this conversation with the very brave, humble, and funny Jarod Anderson.
But the resounding message is this – always this: our health is tied to the presence and health of Nature whose health is tied to us….
There is only one thing to do with this message – to take better care of both and all – to always work toward taking better care of and for both and all. All of us included in all of that…..we are nature and nature is us – if she is sick, we are sick – if we are unhealthy, history illustrates, Nature’s health suffers with us – because of us….
And once again a lesson from our gardens daily comes to us here with Jarod as well – we are never alone, we are never a singularity, we are always a plurality in life – in sickness and in health – from the bird song to the beneficial (or not) mycorrhizae – we are in this together.
Keep growing together….say it with me…
garden it with me!
And yes –
the gardeners can be the heroes….
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