Let's talk about driving

What does driving have to do with gardening? 

Well, for one thing, when I am in my garden I can hear the dull roar of cars driving along East End Road. It is amazing how much noise a car makes when it is driving 45mph. Trucks and motorcycles are even worse! 

I don't even live that close to the road. I can imagine how not relaxing it would be to garden if I lived right next to a busy street. Not to mention breathing all those toxic fumes. Diesel is stinky and our bodies instinctively know to avoid it, but gasoline fumes are just as toxic, we just can't smell them. 

No wonder many people don't like to be outside! No wonder people don't want to garden! 

Ironically, people move farther out of town to get some peace and quiet, creating more noise and pollution for everyone else as they drive back and forth. 

But the noise and pollution aren't the most damaging part of cars. Having our lives and infrastructure built around vehicles has driven us further into separation from nature and from each other. 

Throughout history, our lives have always been about our relationship with nature and with each other. We lived with the land and were interdependent with our neighbors, creating connections as we interacted in the village, on the street or in our daily lives. 

Now we get into our cars, sometimes without even leaving the house. In our cars, we are separated from life and nature by our windshield and metal bubble. We can't hear the noise or smell the pollution we are creating.

We are separated from each other, and can no longer stop to chat on the street. We are taught "defensive driving," assuming the worst of other drivers. We feel no qualms about yelling at these other drivers, and have even developed ways to insult them from the safety of our cars, such as flipping them off. 

Furthermore, the people within the cars start to become one with their vehicle, and all we see as we drive down the road is other cars, not people at all. 

We have built such dependency on our cars that many of us no longer even have the option of walking to get our basic needs met. We must get into the car to go visit friends or pick up food at the grocery store. 

That makes me feel really uncomfortable. 

Thanks to the wonderful influence of my beloved, Max, I have been biking more this past year than I have in a long time! It is amazing how fast your body builds up strength and endurance. And it is SO FUN!! You may have seen me riding around with a huge smile on my face! 

The boys and I have been biking more this summer, working up our endurance so we can bike to town on a regular basis. We are lucky that there is a bike path the whole way. The boys were able to bike to town yesterday to hang out with a friend, giving them freedom and autonomy.

A few weeks ago I biked to town to deliver lettuce to the free fridge and run some errands. It felt... amazing. Energizing and empowering. I noticed the gorgeous lupin on the side of the bike path and said hello to other pedestrians. 

Besides incorporating more biking into my life, I also try to consolidate my regular town activities to one day a week. Tuesdays are for piano and chess and I try to get any other errands done while I'm in town. Occasionally other activities call us into town but we try to limit these and have at least a few days where we don't get into the car at all. These home days are so wonderful, we all look forward to them! 

So here is your invitation... how can you drive less? Make fewer trips to town by planning ahead more, or saying no to events and activities. When can you walk or bike? When can you carpool with others?

In other words, how can you slow your life down, reconnect with nature, your body, and those around you to improve your life, your neighborhood, and the world around you? 

This is the Garden Revolution!!