Tag Archives: Washington DC

Finding Eden

18 Apr

Hands holding a fern about to be planted.

Bringing nature to our doorstep represented in planting this Oyster Fern. (Photo: Rebecca Harned - Washington DC - April 2011)

I’ve always found internal peace when in nature.  I look at a walk in the woods as time to be with God, or mother earth, or pachamama, or whatever other way you characterize a higher power.   Quite simply, I see God (or pachamama as I prefer to refer to her) in the fern heads popping-up from the earth, in the little brook trout, and in the bromeliad that coexists on the branch of a strangling fig in the rainforest.  And when I feel any of these intricacies of nature a sense of peace comes over me.  It is kind of hard to explain but I think many of you know this feeling.

Over the past few years I have come to see how important it is to help bring nature out in all of us and in our communities – even if we live in the concrete jungles that define our urban landscapes.  I’ve been trying to find ways that I can spend more time with pachamama as I live each day in the bustling city of Washington, DC.  I could take a day trip to the National Arboretum or bike up Rock Creek Park, all are just a few miles from my house.  But finding the balance in my life is really about how to bring nature to my door step and make it a part of daily life – and a part of the daily life of the community I define as my neighborhood.

A small cement slab serves as my back patio area.  No real potential for nature there until its time for major patio renovations.  But I do have a small, postage stamp size, front yard that faces a busy artery leading to the downtown area. That is where the transformation occurred.  It was nothing more than a wasteland of crab grass and a few sink holes.  Now its exploding with life.  Colors, flavors, aromas, and textures.  I found Eden right here in Washington, DC – and right at my doorstep.

Today there are a variety of herbs growing among arugula, praying mantis, lettuce, eggplant, earth worms, daffodils, broccoli, sparrows, ferns, roses, bumble bees, and raspberries.  Its kind of like an urban permaculture that serves many purposes: 1) it provides organic fresh clean foods, 2) it nurtures an ecosystem, 3) its my personal sanctuary, and most importantly 4) it inspires our community to nurture nature.  The woman a couple of houses down, Gloria, planted cabbage and collard greens this spring.  Another man on the block over planted two blackberry bushes for the first time after living here for over 25 years.  We all plan to share our small little harvests with one another, and this has become the primary topic of our weekly conversations.

I’ve found Eden in my little patch of earth amid a sea of concrete, brick, and asphalt.  We’ve nurtured a little sanctuary for pachamama that is a part of daily life.  And we’ve started to inspire our neighbors to bring this urban ecosystem back to life.  I hope our community finds gratification in the peace that comes from nurturing nature.

Baby broccoli plant emerges from the earth in an urban oasis.

This baby broccoli plant is exploding with life from the nutrients in the earth, sun, and rain. It embodies the beauty of my urban Eden. (Photo: Rebecca Harned - Washington DC - April 2011)

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Power of Human Connection

9 Apr

Black and white photo of a young girl in Nicaragua

The aura of this young Nicaraguan girl represents to me the power of human connection, across ages, cultures, economic divisions, and ethnicities. (March 2003)

Current Location: Washington, DC

The single greatest motivation behind my restlessness to experience all the world has to offer is quite simply the power of human connection. Something happens to the soul when we find connections among each other and other people living different lives in different lands, of different cultures and with different traditions. There is no better way to learn who you are than through the power to connect.

In every step across a new culture, and new people, I’ve had many moments that proved to me that we do transfer our energy (or prana) from one to another, in even the smallest of interactions. Every time we make eye contact with a stranger, we are making a powerful human connection and a transfer of energy occurs. Human connections are not just these small instances with strangers. Its also about the human connection that occurs when befriending a stranger. One of the reasons I love being a Washingtonian is that this city is a microcosm of everything the world has to offer. I don’t need to get on a plane and cross an ocean to experience the power of human connection.

Everyday I make sure to “travel” to some place new. So how do I travel in this city that is little more than 63 square miles? Two of my favorite past times, that are naturally a part of my daily life, are 1) doing my grocery, and 2) taking a taxi cab at least once a week. I know what you are wondering… what am I thinking? Let me tell you a story from my trip to the grocery store last week, since it really reflects a similar “travel” opportunity I find in my daily routine. It was Saturday morning and I made my weekly rounds running errands around town. Next stop was grocery shopping I went through the store as I do every couple of weeks, selecting the freshest in-season veggies and fruits along with all the staples. Then at check-out (this is often the fun part) I went through the line and then it was my turn to ring-up my groceries. I had a lot of groceries this time, which meant a good 15 minutes with the clerk. What better way to spend the 15 minutes at the grocery store check-out than engaged in good conversation? His name was Vlad (short for Vladimir), he was lean young man of African decent, and certainly not Russian as his name may have suggested. Vlad had some stories to tell and I was listening. He was a hard working young man, studying electrical engineering at a near-by community college, working part time at the grocery store, and living with his Father and a few other people in an apartment. And he was also very committed to environmental sustainability. His first change making endeavor was trying to get his Father and roommates to recycle. And a struggle it was for him to change the way they all live. But he was committed and wasn’t going to give it up. His dreams didn’t stop there. He was hoping to use his education in electrical engineering on wind energy development. Getting to know Vlad was a refreshing moment in life. He reminded me how much we can have in common with people all around us from different walks of life. It was a simple every day, yet powerful, connection. And I hope that our exchange somehow gave him an extra drop of inspiration or planted a new idea.

Hopefully now you can see what I mean about these moments of interaction with strangers and how the power of human connection can be found in daily life, through trips across this 63 square mile area I call home. When venturing across borders these simple moments of human connection bring us closer to knowing what it really means in that there is only one race, the human race. And no matter how different we see the world, and how we live our lives, we are still so deeply connected to one another in the humblest of ways. As for the weekly taxi cabs… I’ll leave it up to your imagination and share more in a future blog.

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