wisdom from the garden
About 10 years ago I started a thing called Harvest Swap. A gathering to swap homegrown / homemade / excess things. There are no rules, no money changes hands and the unit of exchange is honesty.
In the beginning it was just me, sitting on a chair, wondering if anyone would turn up. Often nobody did! Then it was me and some supportive friends pretty much just sharing cake and conversation (which was absolutely wonderful).
Then slowly, slowly, more people started coming.
For a long time new people would come once, see that it wasn’t very big, and not return. That was a bit frustrating.
I went through times of wondering why I was doing it. Was it just a waste of time? Was it something people even wanted?
I posted that very question on the fb page and the answer was a very loud ‘Yes, please continue!’
I started moving around each month and holding the gatherings in different places… Community gardens, cafes, nurseries, private gardens.
More people started coming. They told their friends, and it started to gain its own momentum.
We’d share morning tea, garden and life wisdom, and go home with a basket of goodies in exchange for the spare things we had.
Then we started featuring a guest speaker / presenter on anything from sourdough bread making to edible weeds and everything in between.
It got big!
It took on a life of its own. Over the years I’ve done radio interviews, newspaper articles and lots of social media… But now all I had to do was set a date and location, send out an email to let everyone know, and then turn up to a large group of eager people.
It got a bit exhausting honestly and I started to notice that the sense of community had started to go down as the number of people went up.
I started to encourage others to start their own swaps. And had many conversations with others wanting advice.
In the last couple of years many new swaps have sprung up from Gympie to Brisbane and out West too.
It’s been such a joy to see this concept germinating and growing seedlings in many different places.
Our group had its last swap for the year a few weeks ago. I didn’t widely publicise it… I just let our group know where and when.
And I didn’t arrange a guest speaker. Instead, we sat in a big happy circle and I asked everyone to share some wisdom from the year.
Here’s a summary of what the group shared…
I announced to everyone to grab a chair, sit in a circle and that today everyone who wanted to speak
Space for all
Birdsong opens the stomata
Need discernment - to find truth
Be in harmony with garden
Garden is therapy
Don’t force things - garden, rships, if not working then do something different
Be kind to young people.
Be grateful for what we’ve got, be in moment
Moringa - soo good for so many things! Google it!
Community - learn so much
Live in the moment
Go with the flow, treasure every moment
If I take myself out of the equation, everything works!
Be present!
If you seek connections you will find them!
Learn to use what grows well!
We learn from each other
Do everything with love
We are all teachers if we believe in ourselves. We all have something to share.
When people gather something magical happens!
Have 30 fresh foods a day!
Learn to speak from the heart. Realise everyone is dealing with something.
Speak to the plants!
Garden sustains you when life is challenging
Be kind to everyone. Life is too short.
Be open and don’t have preconceived notions. Opens space for wonderful things to happen. Any experience can be wonderful if we don’t label it.
Live in moment and have gratitude
Plant in diff places - confuses the bugs
Important to celebrate! We get a bit too serious about life! Song to the plants!
If you take something out of the garden you have to give something back.
Don’t judge. Be kind.
Edible weeds - good everywhere!
Make sure you wake up every morning in the right side of the grass!
