Our First Book!
"Gardens and wild places have long been recognized for their ability to influence the human psyche. Gardeners and non-gardeners alike will enjoy the authors' own story as they set out to create a public place where people come to visit, sit, relax and experience the peace and joy found in nature. The authors chronicle their own path, seeking to live lives of peace and balance and to make a living at doing something they love. Judy and Michel spoke with a Nobel Prize nominee, an internationally renowned expert in sacred landscape and scores of ordinary gardeners in an effort to define the nature of peace and sanctuary. Along the way, they met ordinary people who share their own stories, and how the simple act of gardening changes lives and individuals. You do not have to be a gardener to enjoy this book!" (Sacred Gardens' ).
Here it is! We have books to sell at the store and by mail order. Click on the link below to order, and we'll send your order right out.
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What we
did and didn't want
"When we were approached to write this book, we gave a lot of thought to what we would like to read about the subject. We read lots of books, or at least parts of lots of books about "spiritual gardening", "sacred gardens" and the like. We knew we wanted ordinary people to be inspired by the stories of other "ordinary" people. We wanted people to look at the pictures and think, "I can do that. That would look good in my garden". We looked at pictures of absolutely stunning gardens that had been created as spiritual works of art. How could you not be struck by the awesome beauty of England's Prince Charles' "Carpet Garden" based in style and color on an oriental rug owned by the Prince, for example? But, you couldn't really reproduce it yourself, could you? In addition to never really figuring out how to address a prince in a letter (we thought we might be given some leeway, here, being American and unwise in the ways of protocol and good manners) we decided not to focus on the gardens of the rich and famous. It also seemed to us that some of these gardens appeared to be void of emotion, that is, they didn't appear to reflect the emotional makeup or character of the person who lived there. We could be completely wrong about this, clearly not being acquainted with the rich and famous residents of these perfect gardens. Maybe they reflect the precise characters of the residents.
So, the book took off on its own, with "ordinary" gardeners like us popping up everywhere.
The world probably doesn't need another gardening book. And a book professing connection with spirituality, well, it's probably all been said as well. We also struggled with the word "spiritual". If the same source energy flows through all things, as we think it does, how do you separate the spiritual from the non-spiritual? By judging what we designate "good" as spiritual and the things we call "bad" as non-spiritual? There's clearly no universally accepted definitions of "good" and "bad" – just look around the world and see how quickly that becomes obvious. So that didn't work for us. A landscape designer friend of ours considers himself an atheist. But he loves plants with a capital L, and his work, particularly his home garden, "feels" full of this love. Not "spiritual"? Instead, we decided to take a broader view. Could it be that when you are in love with anything – a person, your dog, your cat, your garden, an armadillo, anything at all – you are fully connected to the one force that is creating the universe? In the end, we had to let go of our previously held views of people and their paths.
It's been so darned much fun to talk with people, to photograph them and their special spaces. To write a book was just the next logical step in our own journeys. Something to do for fun. Something to share with others. What fun is doing your passion if you can't share it with others? As our journeys, both as gardeners and as human beings, have been guided and inspired by others at various times, we hope this book may serve the same for others.
Several years ago, we made the decision that if it wasn't fun we weren't going to do it. It took a little while for our decision to take hold and manifest as our reality but that's often how things happen, we think. We imagine it's possible to plant a seed and have a full-grown plant the next day but it doesn't often happen. We've read of instantaneous manifestations in books like Behaving as if the God in all life mattered and The Magic of Findhorn but we've found we often have to grow into our new belief systems and new realities. Both Judy's mother and father died within three weeks of each other in the spring of 2005. One day soon after their passing Judy was sitting quietly, trying to "make contact", trying to feel their presence and communicate in some way. She very clearly heard her dad say, "Survival is not what it's cracked up to be, Judy. Go out and have more fun." It was not until she heard or felt these words that the decision we arrived at several years before really took hold in present day three-dimensional reality. And so we began having more fun. We started showing up at performances of our many musician friends. We started dancing. We started holding barn dances. One little thing led to the next. The collector plant nursery and public garden we call our business, which used to have us so tied up in knots each spring, is happily going on its merry way. It has gotten lovelier, more organized, drawing more energy to itself and putting more out."
"Filling up and spilling over. It's an endless waterfall"
Chris Williamson