Peace of mind doing yard work produces smiling happy gardeners.
The Japanese Zen design philosophy of Wabi-Sabi is perfectly suited for giving gardeners peace of mind, and at Home-Grown Food Network we are carrying out some experiments to prove this. Our experimental house is an expression of the Wabi-Sabi philosophy of design. In our project wabi denotes simplicity and quietude and sabi refers to the concept that changes due to use may make an object more beautiful and valuable. Applying this to our garden is an ongoing process.
We have a thriving tomato patch with healthy vines growing all over. Over the years we have used many techniques for supporting tomatoes, and there are hundreds of such techniques out there. (see a list of the 120 most common ones here)
We received a donation of two beautiful bird cages recently, one white and one black, and we decided to use them as tomato vine supports. That was a good expression of the Wabi-Sabi philosophy. We have only put the white one to good use yet as we are waiting on the vines for the other one to grow a bit more. The white bird cage looks stunningly beautiful in the middle of the flourishing tomato plants.
A visitor recently remarked that using it to support growing tomato vines is a better use than as a cage for a bird. Every time I sit out near the wabi-sabi bird cage now I find my mind wanders over that visitors point of view. I hope the birds appreciate our conversion of a cage into a source of food as a gesture of friendship and leave our fruit trees alone! Ooops-there I go getting all philosophical already.
That’s what wabi-sabi is all about, a deeper appreciation of the cycles of life and careful, artful mending of damage. Perfect for anyone wanting to improve their living space for a very small cost and improve their ability to enjoy life on a more satisfying level.
Wabi-Sabi for Recovering Shopaholics
(Do You Have A Wabi-Sabi Home? take the quiz)
This post was first published on Home Grown Food Network’s website
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Filed under: Gardening for the Baby Boomers | Tagged: low cost gardening, low cost living, meditate while you grow your own food, wabi-sabi quiz
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