Bargain shoppers finding new fun in gardens
At what point did shopping morph into a recreational activity? When did we become a nation of shopaholics? Was it the birth of the great American mall? Was it earlier, when the Industrial Revolution drew our population from the farm to factory? Or maybe the roots of shopping go much further back, to a more primitive time when women gathered — not from stores but from nature and the garden.
In those days, they couldn’t go to stores for what they needed so the more ingenious the woman, the more comfortable the home. She learned from her mother how to reuse and recycle and repurpose. She knew the plants and animals that fed and cured and seasoned her life. And when she grew her plants in the home garden she would be freed of trudging through the countryside to gather from the wild.
When times are hard and money scarce, we have to rethink how we spend our time. What gives us the thrill of hunt and acquisition without stressing a dwindling bank account? If we go back to our roots as gatherers and creators, and share these skills with our daughters, the most natural choice is to return to the garden. There we can grow and create what we formerly purchased, saving those dollars for other necessities. And this becomes a sacred activity we can learn from our own aged mothers and include our daughters in a more lasting pastime than strolling the mall together.
Gardening has never been expensive. Plants are downright cheap, particularly if you learn the simple art of propagation, which is how women have enlarged their gardens since the beginning. In early American communities, they shared seeds harvested from plants and flowers at season’s end. These are now the heirloom varieties grown since colonial times that come from seed year after year.
A woman enlarged her garden, expanding its diversity with those seeds she traded for new varieties. In the process, women got together at important times in the gardener’s year to share their excess and enjoy a greater sense of community. This plant exchange is the reason why old-fashioned garden clubs could be found in every early American town and still exist so widely today.
Old roses were also spread across the states this way. Whenever a rose was pruned, the cuttings were rooted into new plants. Many older rose varieties are quick to root, making the spoils of each pruning effort the beginnings of many new plants in someone else’s garden.
The modern shopper peruses stores for that great bargain or the unique item that will fit perfectly into home or wardrobe. In the past, and even today, the gardening woman has a trained eye that spots a plant in bloom that appeals to her. It may be in another garden, naturalized in the wild or a volunteer in a vacant lot. She would remember where the plant is and go back when it was likely to set seed, or while it was dormant. She’d gather root or seed or cut to establish its beauty in her own yard without spending a penny.
If you’re a shopaholic and are going through withdrawal, perhaps the best therapy is to return to gardening, to create new life and celebrate natural beauty. For a great philosopher told us long ago: When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.