By Bob Grylls
Special to Whitewater News
LA PASSE — The fourth and final Garden Show, another event with a funding grant from the New Horizons for Seniors Program, was held at the home of Paul and Gayle Stewart near La Passe. Their property is truly a nature’s garden.
The cultured part near the front of the house was ferns and a variety of flowers, in their vivid colours. As Ms. Stewart remarked, “It took a lazy approach to gardening to get the largest impact.”
The formal garden had no vegetables growing, thus keeping most creatures away and less creatures to get rid of. The Stewarts never clean up their formal garden in the fall, letting nature take its due course, another lazy approach but a beneficial one.
Their 880 feet of river frontage is environmentally protected. It has a long point and the lagoon in the middle is where ducks can nest, birds are attracted to and plenty of turtles come to Turtle Bay to lay eggs on the rocks, all with relatively little risk.
The property includes a maintained trail through the wooded area and follows the contour of the point and river. The whole 3.5 acres contains some of everything that a nature-loving person would desire; from water, sand, rocks, vines and to plenty of ash trees and more.
Guest speaker for the afternoon event was Steven Martyn who lives on the Madawaska River near Golden Lake. His 30 years experience of living co-creatively with the earth made an impact on the nearly 40 seniors who listened attentively.
After surviving eight years in the bush, totally on his own and alone, Mr. Martyn emerged knowing that he should “step lightly” when it came to respecting the earth.
He went back to school earning a M.A. (in traditional plant use), and B.F.A. honours.
He began an indigenous practice of gardening which was cultural rather than the technical approach of most. He said, “Most of us are living in an out-of-whack-time and in the age of ignorance and not knowledge.”
He went on to explain that everything we eat; we don’t know where it came from. Apples for instance could have began in Greece 5,000 years ago – in the lifetimes of Socrates and Plato and passed from generation to generation to finally the Indigenous people. Primary agriculture is still practiced today by aboriginals.
In fact, he believes our food sources originated with a divinity foundation of sustenance.
Through time he became a wildcrafter, builder and teacher, living co-creatively with the earth all the time. He learned to forage and trap, but always if he took, he would leave something behind to aid nature. He expanded on his knowledge with a visit to Mexico where 150 diverse species were planted at once – natural sustenance.
Mr. Martyn said that there are a hundred little ways to help the earth: Better for you, easier on the animals and an abundance of growth. So, if we were focused on production of the land and blind to everything else, that would sustain us.
“Practice love and care but not be attached to the outcome,” Mr. Martyn said.
