Who's Yard Is This?

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When I work with energy diagrams, landscape designs or any aspect of the outdoor environment, it all begins with tuning into the land, plants or other various kingdoms. What comes in clearly to my awareness is an abundance of information related to plants, color schemes, container shapes, garden bed lines, hardscapes, etc. I find that each small section on Earth will gift me with a totally unique perspective. Literally, the energies and designs can weave themselves . Over the years my goal has been to simply be still enough that I can perceive the inherent garden waiting to take shape.

This is absolutely something we all can do. I have personally found this requires me to tune in to the earth area with an open mind desiring balance , and that I work outside of expectation on how this will turn out . For example, while I have some formal training in gardening / landscaping , mine is not a show garden. It is , however, abundant with much wildlife in all formats and has the vibrant almost wild fragrance that can only come from a harmonic mingling of plants which have been allowed to meld together in somewhat natural ways. There is a feel to my yard that I find intoxicating as well as restful - and utterly revitalizing for my soul.

For many years now I have considered myself more the hands than the brain of my yard. I am the mobility behind the operation at large, the part of the whole who is most able to move and do and bring. My desires do count too, of course, but in a more modest proportion. As I have taken my ego regarding caretaking away from "owning" and into a more balanced state, I have seen the flows for overall sustainability in my yard skyrocket. I definitely feel the vitality that hums through my yard as I have stepped into a far more demure role as merely one part of this community-in-process. Basically what this means, is that I tune in. Anytime I am considering an action related to my yard, I tune into my yard to give myself context. At the nursery I tune in to bring home the plants that are in the flow for my yard. While looking through seed catalogs I tune in to sense what will truly be in the flow this year for my yard. Each year leads me to discover some entirely new plants or to work with some that I have long known of but hadn't before felt were correct for my yard. Or to bring back a variety I had grown years before whose time has again come to shine. It is always a new canvas, an incredibly fulfilling journey-in-process.

I tune into the plants that are in my yard at each stage of their growth to know when, exactly, to plant, water, trim, deadhead, harvest and pull out. Often I will find that I am working with the moon cycles, yet sometimes I am working to the cycle that is completely that of my yard. I consider that tuning into our yard, at that precise moment, yields the most valid actions for our yard, or that earth spot. Even if I did not have a compost pile, I would have needed one, because often the annuals and perennials in my yard will want to stay where they are at, for much longer than our city landscape recycling teams are collecting for in my neighborhood. I honor the plants' desire to be wherever they are. Plants have their own life cycle and I do not own it or them even though I may have planted them.

The small animals, birds and insects are revered for the joy they infuse in my yard. I also respect and honor and them for the sometimes dramatic and not so joyful clues they can leave as they respond very directly to the flows in my yard each day. I have left very prominent areas of my garden beds totally wild during some years. And may find that the next spring dawning will find the flows for those areas to again be included in more formal designs. I also have areas that have been wild for as long as I've been caretaking my yard. There is not one centimeter on Earth that is alike. My goal is to celebrate this as fully as possible so that I can foster true sustainability. The plants, small animals, insects , microorganisms , soil factors and basic design are perhaps the largest areas to work with in celebrating balance.

Through many years of tuning into my yard and other earth spots, I have learned how important it can be to gain a sense of the basic percentages of the main facets in our yard. For example, to look at the balance between structure (home) and the land surrounding it. To balance the percentage of concrete to more permeable materials, including pavers, flagstone, grass or gravel. In urban areas especially this can be quite a considerable imbalance, as there are many neighborhoods where concrete usage is very high for walkways as well as driveways. In strict terms of the overall urban perspective, concrete and other solid formats can create massive amounts of runoff and soil erosion. In our grass, or even paver walkways, precipitation can permeate to some degree thus preserving - and nurturing - soil. In a sustainable area, I do find that there needs to be a good balance between permeable and impermeable ground coverings. Between hardscape and softscape in general. This is not always immediately evident through looking. Each earth spot is different in it's composite of the main Elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Wood and Metal - and this seems to be a large factor in how the overall percentages will balance together. I have seen very structured and largely impermeable landscape designs that were perfectly balanced. More often though I sense the opposite.

What percentage of grass to garden bed? For each plot of Earth , the percentages are different! For each area the amount of woody plants to herbaceous ones are different, as are the percentages of shrubs to trees, of willowy plants such as lemongrass to the more rigid ones that the wind does not caress so visibly. How many containers in our yard? There is a balance there too, not only in how many, but in the materials they are made of. When we place anything we are working with the earth energies that are there. When I tune into a yard to place an arch, doorway or other entry point, I will be drawn to place it in such a way that an energy stream or other earth energies are maximized by the placement. Arches are powerful amplifiers of earth energy. Boulders are as well. We can know this simply by tuning into the power of any stone circle or of Stonehenge. Placing gazebos, benches, labyrinths and all manner of structures as best fits the flows in your yard can light the entire area with dazzling energy.

Co-caretaker, steward or partner - by whatever name we may prefer, this is the beginning of true community and of a sustainable, joyful relationship between we "owners", the Earth and all the kingdoms.

* - Earth System Science is the study of individual parts and whow they interact as a complex whole. There are four main parts or spheres considered: the Lithosphere which contains all of Earths' rock. The Hydrosphere, which is all the earth's water. The Biosphere which contains all the living organisms, and the Atmosphere which contains all the earth's air.

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