Some believe that the story of man began in a garden and that we all might still be carelessly frolicking there had it not been for one tempting piece of produce—that apple. Others believe that our relationship with gardens started around 23,000 BCE with the Neolithic Revolution when humans abandoned a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and began to rely upon agriculture and domesticated animals for survival. For thousands of years thereafter, people spent their days working shoulder-to-shoulder with their families, tilling the earth and reaping its rewards. Through the centuries, gardens were an important part of daily life.
Only recently have things changed. Never before have humans been so disassociated with nature, removed from the environment that sustains and nourishes them, and from the earth and the plants upon which their very lives depend. This change has been quick and it has been drastic.
The shift began at about the time of the American Revolution. Back in 1776, 90 percent of all Americans, including nearly all the Founding Fathers, were farmers. They worked the land just as their ancestors had before them. But fast-forward just 200 years. Now, less than two percent of th...
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The Native Flora of Chile in The Traveler’s Garden at Heronswood by Dr. Ross Bayton
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