Natural Happiness

Use Organic Gardening Skills to Cultivate Yourself

This is a highly engaging read, especially at this sowing time of year. Alan’s original experience was in business where he was used to being in control, but such an approach does not work for gardening (he calls conventional agriculture ‘forced farming’). He made a fundamental switch in his 40s to organic farming and education, the autobiographical fruits of which are elegantly set out in this book. The chapter headings are indicative: nurture your roots, use natural energy sources, compost your troubles, shaping uncertainty, cultivating community, growing through climate change, and natural inspiration. Readers are encouraged to see themselves as both the garden and the gardener in a process of co-creation – and there are many illuminating case histories throughout. The book begins with roots and your ground condition – is your soil compacted or are you depleted or waterlogged? How can you cultivate fertility and resilience in a natural cycle of elements? Are there areas of your life that need pruning or rebalancing?

I loved the idea of composting your troubles and getting rid of mental and emotional waste, and there is an arresting and entertaining account of such a process that can also be structured into conflict resolution. Gardening is an avenue for co-creation (see principles on p. 63), and there may well be times to ‘send in the pigs.’ Alan explains his six-stage diamond process of change, which he himself has successfully used and taught. He has also learned important lessons from Findhorn. Cultivating community is critical for our time, and Alan points out that gardens, farms and forests are also communities – for humans, intentional communities with shared values are central, and here he lays out important ground rules. The chapter about climate change focuses on deep adaptation, regeneration and resilience, drawing on a range of resources from a bottom-up perspective, though without mentioning centralised WEF and UN plans for forced change, especially in relation to agriculture and food. Alan’s outlook is fundamentally optimistic while providing many valuable tools, also in terms of spiritual inspiration, self-care and guidance. And there is an impressive list of further resources. Highly recommended.