Heading to the garden to seek refuge from the White House's nonsense

"The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul." 

 — Alfred Austin—

AUBURN — As I watch an administration implode in Washington, D.C., as well as spread its drivel via Twitter, I retreat to my backyard, where well-tended gardens serve as my sanctuary from an embattled White House that revels in the spectacle of self-inflicted mayhem — which also brings joy to nations trying to undermine America.

I am hoping my garden and our constitution will withstand the forces of nature and a presidency clearly in disarray.

This administration conjures up never-ending diatribes from a leadership that feeds on its own hostility. This virus of indifference that comes from top has infected the country. Our leaders are acting like bar-room brawlers and our citizens’ intolerance to newcomers sometimes ends in violence.

I believe my vegetable garden and that living document we hold so dear to us will weather anything nature or misguided politicians can throw at us this summer.

According to numerous articles, a backyard loaded with trees, flowers and vegetables can reduce stress immediately. A long hike in the woods also has the same effect on the human body.

Tell me something I don't know!

The bonus here is you can tune out American politics that features hollering, boasting and narcissism. Read any controversial story online and observe vicious trolls rise up like an angry mob and spew their hatred in a long scroll of abhorrence.

Talk about garden therapy is not nonsense or FAKE news. Flowers and fresh vegetables are like aspirins to relieve pain. Nature’s splendid colors whittle away the day’s stress.

Trust me on this one.

According to the American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA.com): 

“Horticultural therapy is a time-proven practice. The therapeutic benefits of garden environments have been documented since ancient times. In the 19th century, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and recognized as the "Father of American Psychiatry," was first to document the positive effect working in the garden had on individuals with mental illness.

“Horticultural therapy techniques are employed to assist participants to learn new skills or regain those that are lost. Horticultural therapy helps improve memory, cognitive abilities, task initiation, language skills, and socialization. In physical rehabilitation, horticultural therapy can help strengthen muscles and improve coordination, balance, and endurance. In vocational horticultural therapy settings, people learn to work independently, problem solve, and follow directions.”

Planting vegetable and flower gardens keeps me balanced, inspires me and provides an excellent workout in the warm June sun.

I view my gardens and yard like naturalist John Muir, who believed forests and other wild places on earth nurture the soul. 

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul,” Muir said. “Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”

Perhaps, the current administration should listen to Muir’s prudent words.

Muir, a spiritual man, believed the forest was his cathedral   — a place to contemplate and pray.

My yard and the Maine’s numerous hiking trails give me natural a lift without taking pills to confront life. Gardening is also my antidote to my stress. When I tend to my yard, I put the radio on and listen to the Red Sox or Mozart in the summer sun. In the woods, I have my camera with me as I huff and puff up a gravel trail where nature’s senses sooth me.

Whether I am toiling in the yard or briskly climbing up Mt. Apatite in Auburn, I enjoy the exertion, the chance to sink my hands into the rich, black earth of my garden and mingle with nature on its own breathtaking terms.

I will continue to seek out nature’s salubrious benefits in my yard as the insanity, spitefulness and shabbines in the nation’s capitol peeks.