Initially there was a little uncertainty about how this weekend and planned activities would
develop. Weather forecasts weren’t favouring a weekend suitable for gardening so I advised
those people who indicated they might come, that they could opt out if they wished,
particularly those coming from Christchurch. Fortunately a rainy forecast didn’t seem to
dampen everyone’s plans for a stay at the Centre. So the Centre and the garden were
blessed with lots of good dana giving energy over the long weekend
Georgia, Dan, Mark, Hadleigh and Nicole arrived from Christchurch
Rosie and Freya from Golden Bay
Roger, Anna, Josh and Jesse and Danielle from Nelson
And James from Blenheim
For James and Nicole it was their first time at the Centre. Everyone else had been at the
Centre many times and are ‘well versed’ in the way things work and since I was wanting to
focus my energies on the garden work, it was gratifying to know the preparation of food and
other important household duties were taken care of seamlessly.
Fortunately a rainy Saturday didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for keen gardeners and though
those people keen enough to ’brave’ the rainy elementals got quite soaked, the work we
were doing was reasonably appropriate for the day and no one seemed to mind being wet.
Ironically there was almost a grand opportunity to have an ‘enforced’ workforce for some
days because as most people now know, a large slip formed on the driveway on Saturday
evening and prevented anyone leaving on Sunday morning.
We all strolled down Sunday morning armed with shovels etc. but one look was enough to
realize that shovels and picks were not going to move the large rocks easily and I think it
dawned on everyone they might be in for a longer stay. Tracy convened a ‘what do we do
now’ meeting to check out the feelings and needs of everyone who might or might not be in
for a longer stay!
The ‘silver lining’ was that Glenn just happened to have his front end loader on site and by
Sunday afternoon he’d made the road usable. So much for keeping the workforce on site,
perhaps I should’ve had a quiet word with Glenn. The reality was however that really
everyone did have other commitments. A big thank you to Glenn for that, especially from
everyone who needed to leave.
And also really big thanks to everyone who came and offered their energy and support to the
garden and the Centre. As we all know Dana is a living breathing entity, a living energy of
exchange, a communication between beings. How can we possibly know about this endless
flow of Dana between those who offer and those who receive. The Centre is both a great
source/resource of Dana, a dance, a dancing flow between innumerable beings.
How wondrous to know even just a small part of this.
Anyway, over 3 days the garden got transformed, yet again. Compost was spread. Another
compost heap was turned and yet another compost was made, composing itself as
composts do, over the next months. Seedlings were sown, green manure cut down, seeds
were sown, the process of digging up couch grass and convolvulus continues ad infinitum.
Fortunately the hot composting method I use cooks everything and magically with the help of
uncountable and largely unseen micro organisms a living soil is being created. The ultimate
process of Dana.
I reflect on this ‘garden’, this indescribable process of livingness and transformation. I reflect
on how the garden began. I believe it was Ana Dorrington who over 25 years ago was the
driving force, the inspiration for this garden, and so with the help of Mike Elliott and others
who I can’t personally name in this moment, a budding garden was birthed, using rocks from
the river bed and poles from the amazingly durable Robinia pseudoacacia, all of which are
still standing strong after all these years. A great tent of wire netting enclosed and covered
the garden, protecting it from rabbits, wekas, and pigs. A prototype 3 bin composting
structure was made, still functioning after all these years, even though some of the timbers
are now showing signs of being part of the composting process.
Another significant aspect of the garden that many people are aware of, was how the
garden beds were laid out in the form of a mandala.
So years have passed, the cycles of the seasons have come and gone, so too plants and
crops, caretakers and gardeners, volunteers, this garden of livingness, countless human
gardeners and innumerable lives of creatures largely invisible and unknown have all ‘made’
the garden what it seemingly is.
Retreaters, visitors, volunteers, many have eaten of the garden, of its livingness, this grand
cornucopia of salad greens and roots and flowers and seeds, lives feeding lives an endless
stream of participation in life.
One could be forgiven for believing that this cycle of gardening would just continue ad
infinitum as gardens and gardeners do, growing, eating, composting but nature or life has
other plans, something to do with COVID-19 , something to do with just how much a
caretaker or caretakers can manage sustainably.
The garden did, without a lot of human intervention, did what gardens do, it sort of rested. In
farming terms the garden went fallow. As far as nature is concerned the garden became
more natural, wild if you like, but still a living entity in its own right-full-ness.
How does one create a recognisable garden once again out of that resting wildness.
That was the question that Amber and Jacinta asked of me in 2022.
A request became an invitation, seemingly to take on the role of kaitiaki.
Two years later, the mandala has partially been dismantled. Some garden beds are ‘resting’
under a blanket of black plastic. I’ve made compost, sown ‘green manure’ crops. I’ve made 3
trips a year from Golden Bay, most often with a fully laden car with plants and compost,
horse manure, seeds and tools. Much gratitude to a very durable ‘workhorse’, my old Toyota
Corolla diesel s/w. The garden is slowly being transformed into something that is practical
and useable for caretakers and retreaters, and in a process of co creation.
I’m endeavouring to use the wire mesh to grow climbing beans and grape vines. Crops
planted are more of the varieties that respond to regular picking rather than crops or plants
that only produce a one off crop.. I’m establishing crops that self seed en situ so they
develop a sort of perennial nature.
The hot composting system is working ( it’s a living working system of innumerable beings
giving Dana, whole heartedly) really well and is feeding the garden beds. Consider this brief
period of time of these gardens and the ancient nature of the separation point granite that
the gardens sit on. This sliver of earth and compost feeding endless mouths and bellies.
Wondrous!
This is one grand practice of kaitiaki, a nurturing and feeding of beings multi dimensionally.
So far I’m able to orchestrate this from Golden Bay. My visits allow me to take refuge at the
centre and in the garden in meditations on this unfolding livingness.
However I’d be happy to pass the kaitiaki on to some other dedicated gardener/s
