Gardening is a labour full of tranquility and satisfaction; natural and instructive, and as such contributes to the most serious contemplation, experience, health and longevity.
Interpretation
Gardening offers a peaceful and fulfilling experience that benefits both the mind and body.
This quote by John Evelyn highlights the profound impact that gardening can have on individuals. It emphasizes that gardening is not just a simple task, but an enriching activity that promotes tranquility, satisfaction, and contributes to overall well-being. Engaging with nature through gardening fosters deep contemplation and can lead to improved health and longevity, making it an essential practice for a fulfilling life.
In practice
A speaker at a community gardening event could use this quote to emphasize the benefits of gardening.
The Hellish and dismal cloud of...Coal...perpetually imminent over (London) ...that her inhabitants breathe nothing but impure and thick mist...corrupting the lungs and disordering the entire habit of their bodies; so the Catarrhs,...Cough, and Consumption, range more in this one City, than in the whole Earth besides.
I wonder about the trees._x000D_ _x000D_ Why do we wish to bear_x000D_ _x000D_ Forever the noise of these_x000D_ _x000D_ More than another noise_x000D_ _x000D_ So close to our dwelling place?
When I was born, my parents and my mother's parents planted a dogwood tree in the side yard of the large white house in which we lived throughout my boyhood. This tree I learned quite early, was exactly my age - was, in a sense, me.
The subtlety of nature is greater many times over than the subtlety of the senses and understanding.
The sea is only the embodiment of a supernatural and wonderful existence. It is nothing but love and emotion; it is the 'Living Infinite.
The whole of nature cries out at our mistreatment of her. If the planet were a patient, we would have treated her long ago.
You know what a lima bean does when it's attacked by spider mites? It releases this volatile chemical that goes out into the world and summons another species of mite that comes in and attacks the spider mite, defending the lima bean. So what plants have - while we have consciousness, toolmaking, language, they have biochemistry.
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