CULTURE
A WOMAN’S GARDEN: ‘A LIVING EXPRESSION OF CREATIVITY’ words: Suzy Holland images: Tanya Anderson
Local organic gardener, soap maker, bee keeper and beauty producer Tanya Anderson has published her first book ‘A Woman’s Garden’ but she’s the first to say that it’s not just a gardening manual – although there’s lots of helpful advice and guidance, it’s really an introduction to the possibilities of plants.
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Tanya is perhaps best known for her website and YouTube channel Lovely Greens and now with this book she’s sharing inspiring ways to use the power of plants for home and health. Not just to admire or eat, but also to use in skin care, in crafts, for medicinal purposes or even for all those reasons. “During lockdown last year I became even more aware of how my garden, and working
there, healed my soul,” says Tanya, “and I knew I was not alone. Women in particular were realising that our gardens, however big or small, are a living expression of creativity, filled with plants that can improve our lives.” So Tanya sat down, and with the help of friends and family far and wide, wrote ‘A Woman’s Garden’. With chapters ranging from ‘the kitchen garden’ to ‘herbal medicine’, ‘edible flowers’, and ‘the crafty garden’ it features not just Tanya’s own garden and her hints and advice but seven other female gardeners from around the world who have shared their experiences, their expertise and their ideas: even as a non-gardener, I’ve been inspired. “Whether you’re growing herbs on a windowsill or vegetables in an allotment, in my experience the big issues we are dealing with from climate change to this global pandemic have seen people looking at their garden space in a new way,” says Tanya. “It’s not about competitive ISLE OF MAN PREMIER MAGAZINE
