What we call the Birdhouse Community Garden is our local manifestation of a desire to find others who feel the time has come to search for a way of life that’s in keeping with laws of nature, where we find purpose in being of service to each other and the plants. It is the plants that bring us together.
I’ve been a gardener for a long time, but it wasn’t until I read The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan that I understood something differently. In my mind, I was making choices about what to plant and tend to because I liked their flavor or their color or their nutrition. But Pollan suggests that, to the plant there may be no difference between me and a honey bee, we are both doing our part of the work of tending to the plant and propagating the species. We are seduced and answering to its call.
This was, and still is, very exciting to me, to see my impulses as part of something much greater at work. Especially because it came at a time when what I was doing as a filmmaker had lost its sense of importance in the face of this world full of broken systems. Everywhere I looked, I saw humans causing suffering to each other and the delicate living planet. I felt powerless in the face of things.
I resolved to do something about it and I hooked up with friends, started a PAC, raised a million dollars. We went to swing states and made political ads that helped get Obama elected. We made a difference, won awards and thought the job was done. Obama would save us! Less than four years later, I realized that politics is not the place to look for change. Change had to come from people who had the freedom and the motivation to ‘live the change we hope to see’.
It became my priority to use what knowledge and resources I had to explore further this Botany of Desire, this call for something that wants to be. It turned out that almost everyone I talked to had this feeling about the state of the world, and was looking for a way to transition away from the systems that require us to go against our values and desires just to make a living. It has been said that this desire to find community is the planet itself acting through us – finding our part in this movement to heal, is nature at work.
I met Cameron in our six-month permaculture design course with Larry and Elijah Santoyo, and we decided to work together. About the same time, Bella met Jessica Perez in her one-year plant medicine course of the Gaia School of Healing.
Plants are what have brought us together. Being in the service of plants and this movement that wants to be. We have been blessed with this urban sanctuary in the heart of Hollywood, where we are learning the patterns in nature, and from each other.
Murmurations are what birds do, flocking in the sky, dancing about, expressing collective intelligence. The word Murmur is defined as “The quiet expression of a particular feeling by a group of people.” We aspire to that kind of communication and shared intelligence. We’ve started to offer what we call Salons, which are gatherings of groups of 15-20 to murmur about these things that bother us. Intentional conversations that provide the space to consider how to be response-able, able to respond in the face of our common challenge.
What drives BirdHouse projects is addressing this question, How do we live a life that the planet earth now demands?
How can we be of service to what is wanted and needed?
Cameron stewards the land and Jessica directs the educational programs. Maesa leads us in song and story with the Band of Singers. Bella brings folks together to make plant based medicines and share knowledge.
The Web site is online. Thanks to hard work by Bridie MacDonald. You can find information about upcoming workshops and events. Photos and info on the grey-water systems that green this place. All the local waste streams we tap into such as the abundant lawn cuttings, manure from the horse stables, and post-Halloween straw, feed the soil. The building is done with building materials, wood, glass and broken concrete found in the area.
On our YouTube Channel, you can find episodes of an interview we conducted with Stephen Jenkinson, one of our Wisdom Series speakers. The interview was conducted by Cameron Miller and beautifully shot by Peter Hastings.
