22. Expanding our understanding of gardening and the joy that nature brings us -- with Jennifer Jewell

Jennifer Jewell is an author, speaker, radio show and podcast host, and a fellow gardener. She has always been around nature and gardening, and she learned to appreciate plants when she was a young child. Her mother was a professional gardener and florist and her father was a wildlife biologist, so she was always surrounded by plants and nature’s beauty. We talk about how everyone has their unique experience and journey to connect with nature and how great it is that so many things can spark that interest.

She discusses how important a connection to the joy of nature is in her life and that (in her opinion) nature’s best hope is us changing our minds about what is valuable. She talks about how gardening calms and fulfills people and provides a positive mindset with which you can better interact with your world.

Jennifer gives a wonderful piece of gardening advice, especially for people who are new to gardening or thinking about starting, which is to remember that gardening is not a destination, it’s a relationship. It’s like any relationship in your life, and it’s going to take practice. There is no perfect garden and there’s no finished garden.

If you haven’t already, you should definitely check out Jennifer’s book The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants where she highlights women whose work is expanding what we understand gardens and gardeners to be. The women in her book have taken their different passions and leveraged them to improve the world, and reading about each one of them is a true joy!

Jennifer's links:

-- Website: www.cultivatingplace.com

-- Instagram: @cultivating_place 

-- Cultivating Place Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cultivating-place/id1116782774?mt=2 

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