Furlong and Dickinson

Places: The Garden

The most influencial book of my life is Wise Child, by Monica Furlong. I have to admit, no book---the Bible--Shakespears's plays--Invisible Man--no book has shaped my thinking about life, religion, and me, as this young adult fantasy.

The title is the name of the main character, Wise Child, a spoiled, quick witted young girl in a small village. Her father is away sailing, her mother is a witch that lives in a mansion somewhere. Wise Child lives with her father's mother. The plot begins when Wise Child's grandmother dies and Juniper, a single, educated, church avoiding woman takes in the homeless girl. This woman, Juniper, is the person I dreamed of growing up to be. Juniper is educated, tells stories, plays music, and cultivates an amazing garden. Oh yes, she is also a doran, a woman pocessing mystical powers, which she uses primarily in the art of healing.

What Juniper uses her powers for is inspiring. She works hard, learns much, and is self-confident. Something about her garden attracts me this spring. The garden cultivates her livelihood--food and herbs for her medicins. Most of her summer life is spent tending to the garden and setting aside provisions for the winter. The winter is a time of less physical work, soo Juniper and Wise Child read and think more. Of course, there are many people sick in the cold weather, wich also demands their attention.

I wish I could live like that somehow. Growing enough of my own food to be almost entirely self-reliant. My family, for several summers, had a large enough garden we bought very few vegitables during the growing months, and sometimes our squash, potatoes, and carrots would last through the winter as well. Could I make that happen for me? If homeowning is part of my future, I would like a very large yard, that I can transform into a large vegitable and flower garden. I would like the practicality of my childhood gardening, and the aesthetics of Dickinson's gardening, an art which inspired so much poetry. I wonder if I would like it as a fulltime occupation, because the amount of gardening I imagine could very well be.