The Give-away Garden at the Bottom of the World

I discovered this blog when I read an article in the magazine, Organic NZ, about planting spuds without a lot of digging or hard work.  Anything like that appeals to me! 🙂

So I rummaged around the blog and discovered this priceless article that was so well-written and so beautifully thought-out that I just had to share the link.  http://roadgarden.wordpress.com/category/the-roadside-garden/

Diana Noonan is an author and a gardener, as well as a traveler.  Here’s how she introduces herself: “I’m Diana Noonan, and on the edge of the road outside my house, on a strip of land not owned by anyone, I grow a garden filled with vegetables. Everything in it is free. There are no rules, no regulations, and you can harvest from it whenever you like. This is the story of a garden that grows happiness, here in my village at the bottom of the world. It’s the story of how it began, why it continues, and everything else in between.”

I was so inspired by it that I wrote to her and said, “In a day when people are mostly fearful and grasping, your roadside garden gives me hope. The thoughts that created the garden, the heart that sustains it, and the spirit that enlivens it … all of these add a dimension to gardening that I never saw before. Gardening as an act of social activism; a tribute to the resourceful poor; a fist raised against living small and tight-fisted; a silent elegant experiment in giving and reciprocity.”

We all know gardening is hard work, but Diana lets all her neighbors reap the fruit of her labors and harvest vegetables for free.  I love this way of living with an open hand.

Read her story.  It will get you thinking.

What creative venture could YOU initiate to release butterflies of joy into the world?

Diana Noonan and son, Max, in the Give-Away Garden
Source: http://roadgarden.wordpress.com/category/the-roadside-garden/