Love is at the heart of the Dragonfly Garden.

In 2002, we responded to an inner "call" to create a garden in our meadow. Taking that step was an act of trust, and one that has taken us on a journey of ever deepening levels of caring and connecting to the natural world and to ourselves.

When we started the garden, Anthony and I agreed that we would stay open, pay attention, and let the garden show us what it wanted to become. One day, it occurred to me that what we were doing was "honoring the soul of a garden". Although I had grown many gardens in the past, I had never felt this type of feeling about a garden before. With this new awareness, we established a relationship with the garden that centered us in caring for it as a "living being".

Many of our choices from then on, came from our focus to care for the garden in this way. We nurtured and loved the garden as a whole, as well as all of the things we started to grow there. Before long, we could see that our actions were very similar to caring for a precious child. It all started to make sense.

Both children and plants respond to the universal laws that govern growth and thriving. Regular watering, feeding, recognition, loving—all make a difference! I had read that Luther Burbank, in his plant propagation in the 1920s, loved a cactus so much that it stopped growing its thorns! No wonder he felt that there was much that humans needed to learn about caring for "the human plant".

So, we praised the plants for their amazing ability to grow from such tiny seeds, we paid attention to their needs through observation and listening, we admired them, and felt reverence for their beauty and sacred geometry. We eventually became aware that the more we opened up and loved the garden, the more the plants could express the full potential of what they were designed to be.

This "conscious cooperation" was like unkinking a garden hose. A greater level of energy and dynamics started to abound in the garden community. Plants were bigger, more vibrant and colorful than most people had seen before. An unusual harmony was apparent throughout. We were asked what we were doing, what special fertilizers were we using, what were our secrets to make this happen. Many people started coming to the garden and were inspired to love their gardens more fully.

People seemed to be especially influenced by the garden's energy if they were to eat something from it. A walk through with light grazing would noticeably uplift a person's energy. The power in the food itself became another dimension of the garden experience. The abundance of food was like a fountain of delight from which we harvested with respect and tender loving care. We thanked and blessed the plants for sharing their lives with us. We felt the joy and gratitude in being able to experience the real qualities —the fresh and invigorating flavors—and the Life Force that are the true essence of what each plant offers to us.

Participating in the synergy of Love and its activation in the garden dynamics, has given us the opportunity to grow and expand in our awareness. We have come to realize that we aren't so separate from the garden in reality. Sometimes, the perceived boundaries between the garden landscape and "Self" melt away into a wonderful sea of creating, flowing life energy. The great sense of peace and oneness and the feeling that "All is Well in the World" is the energy of Love that flows in this garden.

"Love is a River, Drink from it." — Rumi