“Il faut cultiver notre jardin.”

I haven’t posted for a while. Maybe you hadn’t noticed. Those bizarre lockdown days, distorting time and imposing space constraints… We’re all different, so the many ways we react to this crisis have been different, yet there are patterns in responses, from denial and anger to acceptance, just as there is in grief.

Grounded, I am grounding myself, earthing myself in my tiny garden. It is a beautiful Spring. Nature in its bounty offering us a new flower opening everyday, showing us beauty and perfection in small things, demonstrating hope through new shoots and growth. And this renewed wish to produce food from our gardens, whether a vegetable patch or just some chives and lettuce in a window box. Growing food, a skill so essential, yet so often neglected…

“Candide”, a philosophical tale by Voltaire, is the journey of an innocent through a cruel world. Finding that the world is not as well as it could be, and that boredom is as painful as physical torture, Candide finally decides we should tend our garden: “il faut cultiver notre jardin”. Productive, practical work, in touch with nature. Growing flowers is good for eyes and bees, growing food is good for body and soul. And of course, culture and cultivation share the same root… Many artists, like me, finding that the world is not as well as it could be, put their brushes aside for a while, to cultivate their gardens. Wherever you are, whatever you do, do it as well as you can, and do it with kindness. Thank you.