Do you keep track of the weather, rainfall, new plantings, etc. in a garden journal? We just had a class here at Edwards on keeping a garden journal. The most important point made in that class was that a journal of that type was whatever you, the recorder, wanted it to be—temp. records, thoughts and musings, the location of the water shut off valve—anything. It could contain drawings, or photos or pictures cut out and pasted in.
One of the most famous “garden journals” is “The Natural History of Selborne” by Gilbert White. It is the fourth most published book in the English language. It is a collection of letters by a 18th century English cleric on local natural history. “...his book , more than any other, has shaped our everyday view of the relations between man and nature, not just because of the accuracy and percipience of his observation, but because of the sense he gives of birds and animals as living things sharing a living situation with each other and with man.” Here was a simple cleric, recording his world and making history. This is not a book you could consider a page turner, but reading it slowly and savoring it a letter or two at a time may make you look at your own world in a new and wonderful way.
One of the animals observed by Gilbert was a tortoise he named Timothy. Verlyn Klinkenborg, author and columnist for the New York Times, takes that lowly character and gives him a voice. Timothy shows you Gilbert's world from a tortoise’s point of view in “Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile”. “Was it an escape? I was eighty-one years old at the time. ….A better question. How do I escape from the nimble-tongued, fleet-footed race? It helps if they leave the wicket gate open. The true secret? Walk through the holes in their attention.” Again, this is a book to be savored slowly, enjoying the wry, wise musings of Timothy.
