Stuck inside? Trim Your Bush!
Breaking news! It’s been raining, kind of a lot, and with no indication of it ceasing anytime soon. In these moist times we live in, why not stay inside and give the ol’ bush some attention. What possibly better rainy day activity is there besides hunkering down and pruning the sides, defoliating the flower bloom, and toiling in the soil a bit?
What is Bonsai? According to Google: Bonsai is an ornamental tree or shrub grown in a pot and artificially prevented from reaching its normal size. The art of growing ornamental, artificially dwarfed trees or shrubs
I submit this for public scrutiny: Succulents are for pussies. Bonsai’s are the next level challenge accouterments of desk and small space decoration.
If you are like me though, you may have tried and failed miserably at cultivating a little shrub buddy of your own, but fret not! There is a place that’s here to help! East Bay Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt. Their garden focuses mainly on locally sustainable bonsai that thrive in the bay area.
Walking in, you are greeted by volunteers curating their peace on hands and knees; tolling and tending – pouring their love and obsession into these little trees at its most pure and intensely peaceful.
Walking around peacefully, embracing mindfulness, freed my mind to come up with 5 new ways of smashing the patriarchy! (OK, maybe not, but it did free my mind up to come up with that line…so, that’s something…Mediation.) In all realness, this little garden offered a stillness I didn’t even realize I needed.
As I walked out of there all I could think of was how I meditated the shit out of that garden.
Wonder in here for your zen moment as needed.
Every 4th Sunday of the month, The East Bay Bonsai Society offers a free 2 hour class (except December and February) at the Bonsai Garden at Lake Merritt from 1pm-3pm.
This little garden is the only all volunteer driven/worked major bonsai garden in the country (according to their website). Built, maintained, and staffed fully by volunteers and donations from the local community.
If you want to check out their goods and maybe bring home a little shrub of your own, there is an upcoming sale and auction. The Mammoth fundraiser is on February 18-19 9:00am -4:00pm $5 entry, which gets you a pretty picture book.
gsbf-lakemerritt.org
