Bugs and climate change inspire our Christmas list
While visions of dumplings dance in their heads, we will leave the kids to make their own wishes.
Chances are, none of them are dreaming of dumplings. Or even know what they are. Adults may have their own dreams. And wishes. As it turns out, we have a few. Perhaps we have a wish or two that will inspire you to make a few wishes of your own.
The lesson of Christmas, of course, is to never stop believing. And, in the spirit of Christmas giving, here are our top four wishes: 1. We wish for a pollinator-friendly world. Imagine if birds, bees and myriad other insects — all responsible for pollinating more than 30 per cent of our food — were not under threat. Come the warmer months, there is a buzz in our gardens that is as sweet as honey. Sweeter still, since this buzz is the sound of workers who never take a day off or complain about their task. They just get out there and buzz the flowers that produce the fruits and vegetables that feed us. It may be hard to imagine a threat-free life for pollinators when we so seldom think of them at all.
Truth is, they are easy to overlook. A mason bee is so small that you would have to bend over and concentrate to see one buzzing in your balsam.
Our wish is that all of us become more considerate of what we do to this planet, as it relates to the protection and nurturing of nature’s pollinators. They are, after all, the cornerstone of our
existence. 2. We wish people would stop pointing fingers. Mature people point at young people and demand they act more responsible. Young people point at boomers and ask them to change their habits (we thank you, climate-change activist Greta Thunberg, Time’s 2019 person of the year). While both sides have their points, this is no way to change the world. Change starts with action. Grandparents want their grandchildren to know that they do care about the world they are handing over to the next generation. This is why many of them in the GTA will walk in the GrandTrees Walk with Nature at Evergreen Brickworks this coming Mother’s Day, May 10, 2020. Grandchildren (and their parents) are invited. 3. We wish more people would embrace rot and decay. These are not words that garden communicators of the past would use to describe a great garden or a wonderful gardening experience. But gardeners have changed. A visit this past summer to Great Dixter House & Gardens, in the English village of Northiam, East Sussex, showed us a great example. One of the most popular public gardens in the Queen’s realm, Dixter features a compost pile so old, and so high, you can drive a tractor through it.
What’s the point? At the foundation of every great garden is an equally great compost pile. Or some source of rich, organic material. To plant and nurture a garden without it makes less sense than growing the same crop on the same soil every year without replenishing the organic material that is drained from it each season. This is strip mine farming — and it is neither sustainable nor smart. Rot and decay are our friends. 4. We wish for sunshine, roses, amazing sunsets and rain when needed. Of course, none of these things will occur quite when we planned. The sun will roast your potatoes mid-summer, roses in Southern Ontario are now susceptible to Japanese beetles (thank you climate change), amazing sunsets will occur just enough to leave us breathless, and rain will fall on someone’s parade.
The fact is, nature is in control of nature. You can prove it by moving out of your house for a year and not cutting the grass, weeding the patio stones or cleaning your eavestroughs. When you return, you will see thistles for lawn, hay for a patio and trees growing in your rain gutters. That is the power of nature.
Our Christmas wish for you is that you will find nature in ways that never occurred to you. We believe that all of us will. And it can happen by simply putting the phone away, and sitting in the garden.
Mark and Ben Cullen are expert gardeners and contributors for the Star. Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkCullen4