Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
How to enjoy the full-body experience in the garden
This past Tuesday was a perfect summer day: hot, with bright sun and humanely low humidity. With the heat index predicted to be over 100 degrees the next six days, I wanted to spend as much time outside on Tuesday as possible.
In the morning, I wandered far from my neighborhood, through wooded areas and past open fields and pastures. Part of my route took me past a single mature pine tree. I paused to savor the sweet aroma that fallen pine needles give off when they’re warmed by the sun. In that moment, I was transported back to my childhood, to a picnic area in a pine grove at a local state park. Along with the piney fragrance, I remembered the feel of cool shade, the spicy taste of hotdogs, the blend of voices of my family, and the soft feel of the forest floor underfoot.
As all of these remembered sensations flooded my mind, I found myself thinking: no wonder gardening feels so good – unlike any other activity, gardening is a full-body experience that engages all of our senses. Let’s take a look.
Sight: More than anything, we garden because we love the colors of flowers and textures of petals, leaves, and bark, their sheer beauty. There’s a constant, subtle interplay of light on plants as the sun travels through the day and the bold changes we see as we travel through the seasons.
Touch: We can’t garden without touching things. There’s the texture of the weeds we pull and the vegetables we harvest, from smooth, polished eggplants to roughskinned beans. The way that cherry tomatoes yield to our teeth in a burst of juice. There’s the feel of seeds and soil in our fingers, and the cool refreshment of a spray of water from the garden hose. There’s the heat of the sun on our skin and the feel of the earth beneath our feet. The roughness of stone. The beads of sweat that drip down our face, the itchy bites of mosquitoes. Even the feel of the handles of the tools we use, and the tug on our muscles.
Taste: When we grow our own food, we search for the most delicious varieties of vegetables and fruits we can find. Nothing beats the flavor of a sun-warmed, just-picked tomato, a potato baked just after being dug fresh and crisp from the ground, or the flavor of freshly-harvested herbs.
Sound: We may not always be paying attention, but the sounds of nature are always falling on our ears when we’re outside working in the yard and garden. The call of birds, the rustle of leaves, the chirping and rasping of insects—what a symphony we’re treated to every time we step out of doors!
Smell: Here we are at the inspiration for this column. Along with the aroma of sun-warmed pine needles, there’s the deep, richness of freshly-turned soil, the tang of tomato leaves, the particular smell of each season. More than anything, aromas have the power to conjure up memories. An article in Psychology Today helps explain why smell is so powerful:
“… smells are first processed by the olfactory bulb ... [this] has direct connections to two brain areas that are strongly implicated in emotion and memory: the amygdala and hippocampus. Interestingly, visual, auditory and tactile information do not pass through these brain areas. This may be why olfaction, more than any other sense, is so successful at triggering emotions and memories.” (Jordan Gaines Lewis, Ph.D. January 12, 2015. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-babble/201501/smells-ringbells-how-smell-triggersmemories-and-emotions
All sensory experiences have the power to flow into our psyche without involving our active brain. We don’t need to name flowers or butterflies to feel a transcendent joy in their beauty. We don’t need to know the ancestry and science behind a variety of tomato to feel deeply nourished beyond the actual eating of it.
Pam Baxter is an avid gardener who lives in Kimberton. Direct e-mail to pamelacbaxter@gmail.com, or send mail to P.O. Box 80, Kimberton, PA 19442. Share your gardening stories on Facebook at “Chester County Roots.” Pam’s book for children and families: Big Life Lessons from Nature’s Little Secrets is available on Amazon, along with her new companion field journal, Explore Outdoors, at Amazon.com/author/pamelabaxter.