June 24
NCJW Salon: Can Gardens Save Us? How The Power Of Nature Can Change Life As We Know It
June 24, 7:30 pm
Last spring, when the nation abruptly shut down in an effort to contain the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, we found ourselves alone and unsure of what lay ahead. Hunkered down in our homes, socially isolated and with nowhere to go, many of us turned to nature, finding respite in walks outdoors, where we felt both free and safe. We witnessed the changing seasons, reassured by the knowledge that nature carried on, even as so much in our lives stood still. In nature, we felt alive. And normal. At times, even better than normal. We brought more plants into our homes and spent more time in our gardens. Gardening centers struggled to meet growing demand as we snapped up plants and seeds. In the midst of great insecurity and uncertainty, we found comfort and grounding in nature. Now, emerging from dormancy, we wonder what compelled our need to get back to the garden, and, perhaps more importantly, we want to know how to retain this connection to nature when our lives return to full speed.
For this salon, we have an ideal guide in writer Tracey Minkin, whose article “Can the Garden Save Us?” looks at the human impulse to turn to the natural world in times of crisis and explores the garden’s healing effects on the body and mind. Does the garden really have the power to restore us? transform us? Indeed, to save us? In her exploration of nature’s life-changing power, Minkin affirms that, yes, the garden can save us and shares some of the many important ways in which it does so.
Tracey Minkin is an editor and an award-winning freelance writer whose work has appeared in both a number of national and local publications and online, including Better Homes and Gardens, Self, and Veranda. She currently works as Senior Travel + Features Editor at Coastal Living.
Click here to register
If interested in exploring this topic further, links to additional reading:
Can Gardens Save Us? How The Power Of Nature Can Change Life As We Know It
The Garden Has Lessons For Us In This Quarantine, If We Are Willing To Stop And Listen