HUMANS’ DEEPROOTED CONNECTION WITH NATURE

By Chloe Jones

The benefits of gardening are endless, varying from mental health to physical. A nurturing commitment anyone can make, even without a garden we can start with inside potted plants and herbs. Growing our own food and plants can cultivate patience and create special bonds with food. It can reduce stress, increase confidence, and give us motivation.

Even the microbes in soil have been shown to have a similar impact on our brains to antidepressants without the side effects and chemical dependency potential. Soil microbes and human health now have a positive link that has been found to be verifiable. The substance under study is Mycobacterium Vaccae and is found to mirror the effects on neurons as Prozac. The bacterium is found in soil and may stimulate serotonin production which makes you feel relaxed and happy.

The antidepressant microbes in soil cause cytokine levels to rise which results in higher levels of serotonin. When tested on rats the results were increased cognitive ability, lower stress and better concentration on tasks. Gardeners will inhale bacteria, have topical contact with them and get into their bloodstream through cuts and grazes. This impact on our brain health can reduce the chances of dementia by 36%. This could be due to it engaging with our creative thinking and problemsolving skills; thinking up ways to improve our gardens’ overall health and deterring pests.

Balancing our focused attention and fascinating attention is important for managing stress levels. When we become too focused on one thing it can become distressing. Gardening can provide fascination as well as focus. Strengthening the bond with our inner child, creativity and nature. For children it can create environmental awareness, allowing them to experience the process of the growth of their food.

The similarities between plants/trees and humans go beyond our physical characteristics, that we stand up straight with a crown on top and mobile limbs stemming from a central trunk and our tubular branches in our lungs are similar to the root system of many trees. We share a ubiquitous need for sunlight, nutrition, and water and engage in some sort of respiration. Also being made up of cells with the same parts; The symbolism of flowers as a sexual metaphor, so much so that in Victorian times, women were not allowed to work with flowers as they coloured reproductive systems and this still remained taboo. Women were eventually permitted to work only with ferns as ferns were less sexually symbolic. However, the opportunity for women to go off on fern escapades together ignited more liberation and togetherness than Victorian men had planned for. Our connection with nature is an instinctual thing and in 2023 we feel further away from it.

We have become consumed by fast pace living and abusing natural resources, and our respect for nature has depleted. But still, nature will show us tacit acquiescence and continue to find ways within its own systems to repair and provide for the planet. An example of this is The WoodWide Web, although this subterranean social network is known to be 500 million years old, it must be working harder than ever as the forests, jungles and woods are suffering.

Millions of species of fungi and bacteria swap nutrients between the soil and the roots of trees, forming a vast, interconnected web of organisms throughout the woods. This symbiotic relationship between fungi and trees means that the trees can use the fungi network to pass on nutrients to baby-sprouting tree’s up to miles apart. When a tree knows it is going to die, it gives all of its last nutrients to other sprouting or unwell trees via the fungi network. This in itself is seemingly humanistic and very spiritual, it’s similar to our act of writing a will when we die.

There are hackers of the Woodwide social network as well though, similar to human networks, a species of Orchids have the ability to commit a fraud-like act! By sending false signals of needing nutrients, fooling the fungi network and receiving the nutrients of the tree. These fraudster orchids take advantage and interfere with the symbiotic relationship between fungi and trees.

The next issue I will discuss how our community is engaged with gardening, nature, and its effects on our well-being.