Gardening has very recently become something of great interest to me, and is an endeavour that I consider to be very esoteric in nature; at least potentially so.
That said, my engagement with it to date I think would be more rightly considered 'cleaning or clearing', rather than gardening per se, but the essence of it has touched me.
I have relatively recently (being a couple of months) moved where I am living from one situation to a new one. There is a shared garden in the place that I have moved to, which I found upon moving to be in a state that I cannot adequately express in word. The whole thing was smothered in what must have been a two foot sea of old plastic, rubber, broken glass, rotting wood from discarded furniture, cans and all manner of things which had just been dumped and in turn covered in weed, twigs, soil, leaves and cut branches.
Having spent a few weeks seeing and scowling at the state of it, I decided that I would actively try to do something about it by clearing it. Over the last few weeks, I have dedicated what time I have been able to, to clearing and cleaning the state that the garden was in. A few weeks on, many mounds and bags of rubbish/recycling and numerous journeys to the tip and recycling centre later, and I now find myself with a garden that is clean and clear of the rubbish that I found it in, and in some what of a state similar to a blank canvas.
Whilst I appreciate that this is not really gardening in a growing, planting and landscaping sense, I can see how I have mentally mirrored the process of this physical effort to clear a space of cluttered mess, and I have found meaningful fulfillment in it. The process of physically clearing all this manifold waste and clutter provided a very direct and singular focus, which in turn allowed for a deeper look at the mental clutter that filled the body trying to clear the physical one in front of me. On many levels, this happened subconsciously.
It allowed a relatable activity and a space within which to deconstruct mental clutter, and just like the cleaning of the garden, gave a structured and singular process of accepting the mess, deciding to face it, preparing how to do so, collecting and then separating all of the different kinds of waste and deciding what of it can be recycled and where as well as what of it is fit only to be tipped and then taking all of these decompartmentalised piles of accepted waste and disposing of each individually as appropriate.
I think there something very esoteric in the nature of this, and this no doubt continues with the process of then looking to plan and plant things for growth.
I cannot help but make a nod to the following relatable article, written by sister Heith, which is published both on the public blog as well as within the second Unseen Fire; Flora, Fauna and Terra, in case it remains unknown to anyone. I have always found it fantastically interesting, but find great joy and meaning in returning to it now.
http://www.azazel.fi/lucifer/2015/05/on ... gardening/