I remember the sliver of land well. Adjacent to Fernwood Road and part of a too small yard–unfenced and neglected–it played host to feral morning glory, clump grass, cigarette butts and lost, blown away plastic grocery bags for at least two years before they came.

“They” were a vibrant group of youth. You know the kind… fire hula hoops, evening laughter, outside gatherings of people for spontaneous summer brunches; strains of guitar and coffee mugs on porch steps. One day they’d begun hacking away at the concretized soil and before I knew it, they’d planted kale, swiss chard and tomatoes. Soon a sign went up, indicating that this was more than another playful, impromptu gesture–it was a calculated act of resistance and an invitation to all of us to join their cause! Food for thought, I mused, but would the garden last?

Being young and relatively carefree, their length of tenancy wasn’t long and they moved out (to another plot of land, as it turns out, where they have secured a larger plot of land to grow food on in trade for gardening work!). Somewhere in between, the garden provided sustenance for those involved in supporting the tree sit on Bear Mountain and later a different group moved in. These ones posted little signs in their windows for all passerbys to read “nice night, isn’t it?” and “breathe freely, live freely”–the little niche garden was taking on personality and inviting us to engage with it. That group was followed by another who included a fellow studying ecology and soil reclamation who really developed and enriched the garden last summer.

Currently a mother has moved into the space. And conscious of the need for both food security and for the need to provide her children with an experience of “growing food and enjoying the taste of a real non-gmo, locally grown tomato”, she has thrown her back into the project with power. This year, the garden will host lavender, rosemary, oregano, purple sage, strawberries, zucchini, peas, tomatos, blueberries, rhubarb, garlic, spinach, lovage, celery, as well as flowers that attract “beneficials”. Not being the brightest rabbit around, I asked her what “beneficials” were–to which she replied “bees, butterflies, and creepy crawlies that are good for the soil.” She says that she “loves watching people walking by harvest greens and calendula”, but then she goes on to remind me, perhaps because I am eyeing her garden hungrily, that while she is happy to share the bountiful harvest with all of us, the strawberries and the tomatoes are for her kids only.

As I’ve watched, this garden has flourished. The other day, I saw a walker-by stoop down, pluck some greens from the stem and walk on, eating them merrily! With the help of several different groups of people, the garden has continued to grow and develop, as does its relationship with the people who live around it.

I first saw this garden while hopping down Princess Street with my bunnies. We were on our way to play at the playground when we came across this magical garden which seemed to appear from nowhere on the side of the street. We felt a bit like Hansel and Gretel when they saw the old witch’s colourful, abundant and enchanted house arising from the dark forest. Who could have made this wonderous collage of colour and texture?

On our way back from the playground, we met the creator. The sun was slanting at that perfect angle before sunset when all is sheathed in golden rays and he invited us to talk with him awhile beside the garden. He sat on the bench and told us all about bees and debated the merits of their portrayal in “A Bees Life” with the little rabbits. As we bantered back and forth, I realized that this was truly one of the precious kind of moments that make living in Fernwood special. After it started to get cold and we began to  prepare to go on our way, he looked long and deeply at us and then he went to get something. A few moments later, he reappeared at the door with a telescope, which he presented as a gift to my children. They were thrilled, and they have gotten a great deal of education and entertainment from it since then! As we walked away, he called to us that we were welcome any time to go and sit on that bench and enjoy the garden.

The Oneness Heart Park hosts over 700 species of plants. The creator has planned to make it the “most intensely beautiful place in the world for it’s size”. And I think that he’s already accomplished it! For the past two months, it had a beautiful heart shaped planting of clear pink primroses and currently, it features an uprorious planting of yellow daffodils. His next plan is to build up the soil, using granite slabs to hold the soil in and he assures me that the best show is yet to come in mid summer. I walked there tonight, taking him up on his invitation to just come and sit. I sat upon the appropriately wabi sabi bench, next to a gargantuan pot of daffodils shining brilliantly golden in the setting sun contemplating the garden. It was beautiful and peaceful. The creator of this garden has created a landscape of peace and harmony within a cacophony of colors, shapes and textures and he has carved all of this out of what used to be (according to his neighbour) “nothing, bare, not even grass, just bare dirt.”

It really is heartening.