1 00:00:01,100 --> 00:00:03,733 - I think as I become more in touch 2 00:00:03,733 --> 00:00:05,800 with this garden, I rediscover 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:08,533 that there's something primal about that. 4 00:00:08,533 --> 00:00:11,133 It's like a reconnection to our roots as humans. 5 00:00:11,133 --> 00:00:13,533 I know it sounds kind of weird to say, 6 00:00:13,533 --> 00:00:16,433 but it really does feel like something that's missing 7 00:00:16,433 --> 00:00:20,333 from modern life, which I'm really welcoming back. 8 00:00:20,333 --> 00:00:22,666 - I'm Mansi Parikh. - I'm Aditya Prasad. 9 00:00:22,666 --> 00:00:25,033 - We came to Austin about four years ago, 10 00:00:25,033 --> 00:00:29,700 and our dream was to buy a house 11 00:00:29,700 --> 00:00:32,866 with a big yard so our dog can roam free. 12 00:00:34,266 --> 00:00:38,233 She's a Manhattan dog, so she's never seen space or yard. 13 00:00:38,233 --> 00:00:40,333 - We bought the house in 2020. 14 00:00:40,333 --> 00:00:43,833 In fact, we closed on it in March of 2020, 15 00:00:43,833 --> 00:00:46,533 the same week as lockdown started 16 00:00:46,533 --> 00:00:49,933 and the very same week we discovered that she's pregnant. 17 00:00:49,933 --> 00:00:52,433 - [Mansi] So this house was meant for our toddler. 18 00:00:52,433 --> 00:00:55,300 - Her brother, Urvish, and she had decided, 19 00:00:55,300 --> 00:00:57,700 "Okay, maybe a food forest is the right way to go." 20 00:00:57,700 --> 00:01:00,366 It's funny, for the first, I don't even know how long, 21 00:01:00,366 --> 00:01:02,033 I was not on board at all. 22 00:01:02,033 --> 00:01:04,233 When she says we were looking for a house with a big yard, 23 00:01:04,233 --> 00:01:07,833 I was looking for a house with no yard because I thought, 24 00:01:07,833 --> 00:01:10,900 "I'm gonna be the one mowing the lawn, taking care of it." 25 00:01:10,900 --> 00:01:13,600 I had never done anything with plants before this. 26 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:15,100 It was about a year, actually, 27 00:01:15,100 --> 00:01:19,633 before we finally engaged a company to execute on it. 28 00:01:19,633 --> 00:01:21,366 - [Mansi] And little did he know 29 00:01:21,366 --> 00:01:23,666 that garden would save his life. 30 00:01:23,666 --> 00:01:25,333 - Yeah, I mean. - In fact, 31 00:01:25,333 --> 00:01:30,300 the garden saved his soul from the chaos of having a baby 32 00:01:30,300 --> 00:01:32,200 and just all the community- - She's so right about this. 33 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,800 - Closing in and coming together. 34 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:36,600 The garden was his solace. 35 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:39,233 - And so they planted something like 36 00:01:39,233 --> 00:01:42,300 300 perennials and fruit trees. 37 00:01:42,300 --> 00:01:43,833 Little did we know, 38 00:01:43,833 --> 00:01:45,533 even though there's mulch in between all of them, 39 00:01:45,533 --> 00:01:49,033 to suppress the weeds, after a year or two, 40 00:01:49,033 --> 00:01:52,033 Bermuda grass, other weeds start coming up. 41 00:01:52,033 --> 00:01:54,866 We didn't touch it at all, which also means, for example, 42 00:01:54,866 --> 00:01:57,600 we didn't adjust the watering schedule. 43 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,533 So if you can imagine watering these plants as much 44 00:02:00,533 --> 00:02:03,300 through the dead of winter as they were being watered 45 00:02:03,300 --> 00:02:06,333 through the height of summer, that's pretty silly. 46 00:02:06,333 --> 00:02:08,266 January or February I realized, 47 00:02:08,266 --> 00:02:10,466 "Oh no, all the plants are dying." 48 00:02:10,466 --> 00:02:12,600 And I thought, "Well, they're perennials. 49 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:14,733 They'll come back from the roots in the spring." 50 00:02:14,733 --> 00:02:18,566 But come March, April, May, a lot of them didn't come back. 51 00:02:18,566 --> 00:02:20,233 The roots had rotten on a lot of them 52 00:02:20,233 --> 00:02:22,800 because you're not supposed to water them through the winter 53 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,333 and there are different water needs by different plants, 54 00:02:26,333 --> 00:02:27,900 which I hadn't thought of. 55 00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:30,766 And then also we have different soil types across the land. 56 00:02:30,766 --> 00:02:32,266 It's much more rocky over here. 57 00:02:32,266 --> 00:02:33,566 There's much more clay over there 58 00:02:33,566 --> 00:02:36,000 and a mix of other things all in between. 59 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,133 - The whole project basically folded. 60 00:02:38,133 --> 00:02:40,100 - It went off the rails so hard. 61 00:02:40,100 --> 00:02:41,766 - And then he took it on 62 00:02:41,766 --> 00:02:43,000 as his own. - I realized, 63 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,100 "Okay, I need to save this thing." 64 00:02:44,100 --> 00:02:45,733 And so over the last year, 65 00:02:45,733 --> 00:02:48,400 we've been replacing things with better choices. 66 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:49,666 So in the course of two weeks, 67 00:02:49,666 --> 00:02:51,733 I don't know how many dozens of hours I spent 68 00:02:51,733 --> 00:02:54,100 just killing the Bermuda grass, 69 00:02:54,100 --> 00:02:56,733 preparing the ground and getting rid of the mulch, 70 00:02:56,733 --> 00:03:00,700 and then buying seeds, wildflower seeds. 71 00:03:00,700 --> 00:03:02,166 Laid them all out there. 72 00:03:02,166 --> 00:03:05,700 I mean, just untold, tens of thousands of seeds, 73 00:03:05,700 --> 00:03:08,200 and just crossed my fingers. 74 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,866 And this spring, stuff started coming up. 75 00:03:11,866 --> 00:03:13,800 What you realize after a little while doing this 76 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:17,966 is what I'm really looking for is native plants. 77 00:03:17,966 --> 00:03:20,400 And this is again, obvious to anyone who's been gardening 78 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:21,866 for any amount of time. 79 00:03:21,866 --> 00:03:25,466 But the reason that you want to pick native plants is 80 00:03:25,466 --> 00:03:28,000 that they're adapted to this environment. 81 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,766 And those plants can more or less take care of themselves 82 00:03:30,766 --> 00:03:32,700 and they're gorgeous. 83 00:03:32,700 --> 00:03:34,766 So just knowing what to put where, 84 00:03:34,766 --> 00:03:36,900 it's a long learning process, 85 00:03:38,133 --> 00:03:39,633 super worth it. 86 00:03:39,633 --> 00:03:43,800 Wherever I go now, I'm aware of what plants are around me. 87 00:03:44,933 --> 00:03:47,300 Before, it was just a blur of green. 88 00:03:47,300 --> 00:03:48,600 It's like, "Oh, just a bunch of weeds. 89 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,300 Oh, just a bunch of stuff, whatever it is." 90 00:03:50,300 --> 00:03:52,200 And now I go to a place and I say, 91 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:54,300 "Oh, you know, this spiderwort, 92 00:03:54,300 --> 00:03:56,133 it's starting to colonize," and, you know, 93 00:03:56,133 --> 00:03:57,666 "There's a dayflower over here." 94 00:03:57,666 --> 00:04:00,200 And just getting a sense of which plants are helpful, 95 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:01,733 which plants are harmful. 96 00:04:01,733 --> 00:04:03,233 We love it so much. 97 00:04:03,233 --> 00:04:05,700 I mean, just to take a small example, a few weeks ago, 98 00:04:05,700 --> 00:04:07,766 this was nothing but bluebonnets 99 00:04:07,766 --> 00:04:09,700 and now it's Indian blanket. 100 00:04:09,700 --> 00:04:12,566 Watching those changes over the year is incredible. 101 00:04:12,566 --> 00:04:16,033 You come out to almost a whole new garden every season. 102 00:04:16,033 --> 00:04:18,900 - Our toddler, he's changing with, 103 00:04:18,900 --> 00:04:22,933 this is his first experience of a fully bloomed garden 104 00:04:22,933 --> 00:04:24,166 and he's changing with it. 105 00:04:24,166 --> 00:04:27,900 He's learning the names of all of the flowers 106 00:04:27,900 --> 00:04:29,133 that are blooming. 107 00:04:29,133 --> 00:04:31,566 When we go out for walks on the street 108 00:04:31,566 --> 00:04:34,533 or around Austin, he can point at a flower and say, 109 00:04:34,533 --> 00:04:36,900 "Oh, that's winecup." 110 00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:39,500 When you look at the structure of this place, 111 00:04:39,500 --> 00:04:43,366 it's designed so that we can, at any point in the garden, 112 00:04:43,366 --> 00:04:45,066 we can sit down and relax 113 00:04:45,066 --> 00:04:49,633 and take in the beauty of the space itself. 114 00:04:49,633 --> 00:04:51,400 For example, here, 115 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,466 we often have our breakfast here in the mornings 116 00:04:55,466 --> 00:04:58,100 and our toddler will run out into the sandbox 117 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:00,866 and play before daycare starts. 118 00:05:00,866 --> 00:05:02,933 - We had planted all these perennials 119 00:05:02,933 --> 00:05:07,000 that provide a habitat for pollinators, for birds, 120 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:11,200 for butterflies, and we realized to complete it, 121 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,933 we wanted to actually add the sound of flowing water. 122 00:05:14,933 --> 00:05:18,666 - We're admiring this beautiful pond 123 00:05:18,666 --> 00:05:23,466 with the deity Nataraja, who's the incarnation of Shiva. 124 00:05:23,466 --> 00:05:27,366 Literally represents Shiva dancing the universe 125 00:05:27,366 --> 00:05:29,633 into existence. - In each moment, 126 00:05:29,633 --> 00:05:31,666 that's his job. - Each moment. 127 00:05:31,666 --> 00:05:36,466 And it reminds us of how impermanent and glorious 128 00:05:36,466 --> 00:05:40,200 and beautiful the moment is that we're in 129 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:41,966 and being able to sit down 130 00:05:41,966 --> 00:05:44,766 and take in our coffee 131 00:05:44,766 --> 00:05:48,966 and take in this nature and enjoy the birds coming by. 132 00:05:48,966 --> 00:05:51,566 It's like the perfect place to land 133 00:05:51,566 --> 00:05:53,166 after we wake up in the morning. 134 00:05:53,166 --> 00:05:55,100 The the other thing that I love about 135 00:05:55,100 --> 00:05:58,466 this fountain is how it sounds 136 00:05:58,466 --> 00:06:00,566 from our retreat room back here. 137 00:06:00,566 --> 00:06:02,166 - Yeah. - We have had 138 00:06:02,166 --> 00:06:05,100 so many retreats in there, hosted so many meditators, 139 00:06:05,100 --> 00:06:09,100 where we just open the window and hear the water 140 00:06:09,100 --> 00:06:12,933 and feel that . . . 141 00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:16,800 - Energy, it feels like life. - Energy, right. 142 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:20,033 - And it provides this beautiful sound 143 00:06:20,033 --> 00:06:23,200 and also it provides water for creatures 144 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:24,500 that come and visit. 145 00:06:24,500 --> 00:06:27,666 - Butterflies and hummingbirds, it's just magical. 146 00:06:27,666 --> 00:06:30,800 I mean, they love the bee balm. 147 00:06:30,800 --> 00:06:32,466 They like the Turks cap 148 00:06:32,466 --> 00:06:34,300 and just that whole spread over here. 149 00:06:34,300 --> 00:06:36,233 So when I wake up in the morning, I can see them 150 00:06:36,233 --> 00:06:40,000 from my window and my son sees them when he wakes up. 151 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:41,866 He's like, "Oh, I see a hummingbird," 152 00:06:41,866 --> 00:06:43,100 or, "I see butterflies." 153 00:06:43,100 --> 00:06:45,000 And that's how he starts his day. 154 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:46,700 It's really nice. 155 00:06:46,700 --> 00:06:49,800 Since my toddler is so connected to this garden, 156 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:54,800 we wanted to create a more immersive experience for him. 157 00:06:55,533 --> 00:06:57,733 And so Aditya here 158 00:06:57,733 --> 00:07:01,066 planted a bunch of wildflowers just outside of his playroom. 159 00:07:01,066 --> 00:07:03,733 While he's playing with his Legos and his toys, 160 00:07:03,733 --> 00:07:06,900 he can look out the window or look out the sliding doors 161 00:07:06,900 --> 00:07:10,166 and see fragrant flowers. 162 00:07:10,166 --> 00:07:13,333 And sometimes he walks out, he wants to draw in the chalk, 163 00:07:13,333 --> 00:07:17,000 and he's drawing flowers that he sees in front of him. 164 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:18,633 It's really special. 165 00:07:18,633 --> 00:07:21,800 - You know, our ancestors really, 166 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,900 I mean, when we compare how we respond to a green area 167 00:07:25,900 --> 00:07:28,066 with how they did, I think it's a world apart. 168 00:07:28,066 --> 00:07:30,900 They would be able to identify every single plant back here, 169 00:07:30,900 --> 00:07:32,700 and it mattered to them, because some would kill them, 170 00:07:32,700 --> 00:07:34,933 some would help them with, you know, 171 00:07:34,933 --> 00:07:37,200 some are herbal remedies, some are topical, 172 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,600 some are foods. 173 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:41,100 They had to know this stuff. 174 00:07:41,100 --> 00:07:43,366 Everyone knows about climate change 175 00:07:43,366 --> 00:07:45,100 and okay, there's different names for it. 176 00:07:45,100 --> 00:07:47,133 There's the biodiversity loss, 177 00:07:47,133 --> 00:07:48,600 the biosphere collapse. 178 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,700 Everyone knows that something is happening on our planet 179 00:07:51,700 --> 00:07:53,666 and it's pretty serious. 180 00:07:53,666 --> 00:07:55,533 And usually we jump directly 181 00:07:55,533 --> 00:07:58,600 to very narrow solutions 182 00:07:58,600 --> 00:07:59,533 and ideas about it. 183 00:07:59,533 --> 00:08:01,466 "Oh, it's too much carbon. 184 00:08:01,466 --> 00:08:03,800 We're addicted to fossil fuels." 185 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,566 And all those things are true, and yet, 186 00:08:06,566 --> 00:08:09,466 I think if you start digging into why, 187 00:08:09,466 --> 00:08:11,533 why is all of this happening? 188 00:08:11,533 --> 00:08:14,066 For myself, anyway, what I always come back to 189 00:08:14,066 --> 00:08:16,600 when I peel away all the layers, 190 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,800 is we've lost the sense 191 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,066 of the majesty of our planet. 192 00:08:23,066 --> 00:08:25,900 It nurtures us. It's our home. 193 00:08:25,900 --> 00:08:29,266 It's what gives us food. It's what gives us life. 194 00:08:29,266 --> 00:08:33,300 And we don't take very much time, or most of us, I think, 195 00:08:33,300 --> 00:08:36,833 don't take very much time to really appreciate her. 196 00:08:36,833 --> 00:08:38,566 And it almost feels like, 197 00:08:38,566 --> 00:08:40,800 and I know this sounds a bit hippie, 198 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:44,466 but if we have forgotten her, our mother, 199 00:08:44,466 --> 00:08:46,866 if we've chosen to ignore her, 200 00:08:46,866 --> 00:08:49,100 of course she's going to go away. 201 00:08:50,866 --> 00:08:52,900 And I want to invite her back in, 202 00:08:52,900 --> 00:08:54,566 into our lives, into our hearts.