Customer Reviews

Gardening at the Dragon's Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is simply amazing, I could not wait for next time I could get into bed with it and a cup of tea and follow along with Wendy Johnson on her rich path of discovery through the garden and through life as a Zen person. The writing has a few too many words at times, but the fact that this was simultaneously a how-to book on gardening and a spiritual memoir full of deep Zen teachings makes it something very special. Wendy Johnson shows herself to be the real deal here, willing to take chances with her life and willing to get her hands dirty for the benefit of others and for the benefit of the planet.

This book springs from rich earth. It digs into an era through the gardening and Buddhist practice of Wendy Johnson. It's so detailed and beautifully blended that, after a session of reading, I would marvel at the mere undertaking of writing this part-gardening, part-spiritual-journey and part-history of the times memoir. A real joy to be relished slowly.

Gardening At The Dragon's Gate is for the Earth Starved - I love gardening and do not take the time to do it enough; however, Wendy Johnson's well written, heartfelt, intelligent, humorous, historical and motivating novel has brought me back to my own love of the earth - Each day I read it, I vow to go back to dirty fingernails and the rich taste of earth dust as I crawl around digging and planting - This book rivets you back to your own lovely moments communing with your own garden, however great or small it might be - This book is informative too. I lived in San Francisco and visited Muir Beach and the area many times - I wish I had known of Green Gulch - I plan on visiting now - Any one who has any affinity to the earth, to gardening, to eco-consciousness and to living a life near the soil of their home will be completely pleased, and engrossed in this timely and lovely rich writing and teaching of how to love, and to care for our earth, simply by loving it where ever you are -

It's been a while since I have come across a book that I do not want to see end, and this is such a book.
I am about a third of the way through Gardening at the Dragon's Gate and already I am sad that it will eventually end. I do know, however, that once I have read it through I can have the pleasure of opening it at any point and enjoying it again, and again.
It is a book about gardening, about nature, about life, written beautifully, at times touching, at times funny. More than once I've found myself sitting on the bus reading it with tears suddenly stinging my eyes.
In fact, what am I doing sitting here, when I could be reading!?

The beginning of the book is absolutely lovely sharing the history of the areas and the author's beginnings as a gardener, including her move from the the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the Ventana Wilderness, east of Big Sur, where she started, to Marin County at the Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center. As the book continues, though, it gets increasingly detailed. So much so, that I started skipping parts in an effort to get to those portions of chapters that had information I could use in our small garden. The author's gardens are a huge undertaking and her accomplishments are amazing. While I hope to get to the end of the book, I'll never get all of it read. The writing is outstanding and the book is a testament to the author's love of the earth and gardening. A perfect version of this book, for me, would have been the beginning exactly as it is followed by a condensed version of the balance. For those who enjoy Gardening at the Dragon's Gate or are looking for a book that is an easier read, you may also want to check From the Ground Up: The Story of a First Garden, Amy Stewart, (no Zen) and Plant Seed, Pull Weed: Nurturing the Garden of Your Life, Geri Larkin (lots of Zen).

Every so often (if you're fortunate), you can stumble upon a book that resonates so deeply with your essential experience that it becomes a permanent field marker, a 'north star', for measuring the growth of your inner life.

In "Gardening at the Dragons Gate" the author has gifted us with a wondrous book which cannot be pigeon-holed.....a how-to manual for life? a gardeners treatise? a Zen prayer book? Wendy Johnson has woven many beautiful strands into an enthralling, inspiring book that gently calls on us to re-connect and re-learn our place in the natural world.

P.S. I have tried to purchase at chain bookstores, in order to gift others, but it is not available, so thank you, Amazon, for giving us access to hard-to-find books!

My dirty little secret is that I do not love gardening. I stuck with it for years before tossing in the . . . um . . . trowel, then I quit. Since then, though, I have often been assigned to the garden crew at the Buddhist retreat center I frequent, and there, I find, I do not love it but I also do not not love it. It's there. It needs doing. I do it. And I find myself absorbed in it in ways that go beyond planting seeds and pulling weeds. Or not.

I do not love gardening but I love this book. It perfectly illustrates the interconnectedness of all things, and all of us. It's on my bedside table where--another confession--it was recently joined by a seed catalog. Maybe it's time to pick up that trowel again.

I've gardened for a long time and grown weary and jaded as I've battled one insect/disease after another. This book stirred my soul and inspired me to be a more holistic gardener.

beautifully written, informative and inspiring. can't wait to visit the green gulch garden in marin this summer!
a must read for gardeners.

I love this book. After thirty years of gardening I am finally learning the basics I never learned before, and in a fascinating and poetic way. the info on soil composition and on composting are so well written. I always thought these subjects would be boring, but Wendy Johnson is a wonderful teacher and I am actually learning a lot!