The NOW of Gardening

"Life is now. There was never a time when your life was not now, nor will there ever be."
-Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

For awhile now it's been very in vogue the talk about 'the NOW'. I don't know who started it, but Eckhart Tolle certainly gave it a serious push in recent years and in the groups of people I end up spending time with the subject is still brought up with a certain about of reverence. It makes me wonder though, why aren't people gardening if that's what they really want?

Gardening is all about the here and now. Sure there may be considerations about how the plants might grow, how big they'll get, their yields, etc., but in when it comes to the acutally doing of working in the soil there is nothing but the present moment. When I go walking in the front yard, which more and more resembles a jungle with it's giant squash and rhubarb plants, everything has a very present quality. Plants, insects, soil, and weather all can change in moments and noticing them requires a certain quality of attention to what is happening in the moment I am there. There is so much to pay attention to in fact that all of the concerns about past and future can slip away in the midst of getting lost in the wonder and infinite complexity of growing plants.

I honestly believe that if a person wants to feel closer to something the best place to start is in the dirt. Working in the soil is a work of promoting life. It can be humbling, soothing, difficult, ecstatic, or any other number of things in succession. What never changes about it for me though is that as soon as my hori hori hits the soil I am transported in a place where only the moment matters, for better or for worse. Nothing more can be said for any other experience of enlightenment than that. If you want to 'Be Here Now', then get out in your yard. It's not a yoga studio, but it can feed you in more ways than just leaves and fruit.