Owen’s Garden

A child’s garden is an especially beautiful thing. Watching children tend and observe their special and fertile place is nourishing to our soul as it is to their’s. The unkempt side of the yard; that side where stuff gets stashed that is maybe a bit more hidden from public view: this is where Owen’s garden thrives. Unkempt does not mean unproductive. In ecology, quite often, exactly the opposite is true. Complex relationships between plants, fungi, the unliving and living components of the soil. Weeds, a trowel, the kiddie pool – a wonderful mix of created and manufactured ecosystem participants interact in this space. Here the hollyhocks, the tomatoes, the hawthorn tree, and the petunias converge in a beautiful world of green, a world of fragrant earth and leaves. The good Lord’s provision is often superficially messy. The truth is, like good poetry, Creation is so complex we can be tempted to want to manicure it. Rather we should accept its messiness, get our hands dirty with its richness and explore the little bits we are capable of grasping.