Natural Emergence: Gardening an Awakening

Unearthing our True Nature, as Nature

Below is a synopsis of my new book, to give you a taster, which is being released for sale in mid-September 2025. If you would like to pre-order a copy through me please do get in touch!

Natural Emergence: Gardening an Awakening is the culmination of an incredible exploration of nature, not the vast wilderness or wildlife you might expect, but the ordinary garden variety most gardeners spend their time at odds with – weeds and pests. By observing my reactions to overlooked and underappreciated species it came as a shock that I, nature lover, writer, permaculture practitioner, and all-round wildlife-friendly advocate, could hold the same belief I was separate from nature most people unconsciously do. The book takes an insightful look into why we fall into this fallacy, despite clearly never being separate from the ecosystem we evolved within.

  The first two chapters dip into my personal story as it mirrors the unfolding of humanity’s journey from indigenous belonging to where we are today, on the brink of collapse or evolution to a new stage of consciousness. From childhood joy and play to young adult disillusion, onto the eureka moment when I experienced a slug and snail amnesty; a magical journey of self-discovery and awakening had begun!

  Two more chapters explore deepening personal revelations with the discovery of no-till gardening and permaculture, but mainly the astounding insights gleaned from interactions with pests and weeds as they crossed my garden path – pushing buttons, opening both my mind and my heart. I describe how I became an embodied gardener and found nature was whispering inside me.

  The book intertwines the micro and macro story, it looks at the evidence of mutual cooperation and systems intelligence in wilderness and how to find it within the ecosystems we all have direct access to – our backyards and our bodies. Chapters for understanding the importance of pests and weeds regularly maligned and eradicated by gardeners run alongside sections on the role stress and adversity playout similarly in our lives, generating change and adaptation as if our very nature is gardening us into wholeness too!

  A chapter is dedicated to the profound spiritual awakenings which unfolded as I practiced this embodiment process. When I opened the garden to others to experiment in this way, it became clear it was a natural ability we all share. Not only experiences of nature communication, but personal and deeply intuitive healings spontaneously emerged as a result of interactions with plants, trees and wildlife, leading me to the title of this book. Remarkable anecdotal examples are interlaced with easy how-to descriptions so readers can discover nature calling them too.

  The book ends with a look at the deeper meaning this has for humanity; how science is showing complex natural systems self-organize for greater interconnection and enhanced resilience and how our consciousness might be undergoing the same process, as natural as any stage of successional development. Might all the human stress and chaos we are experiencing at this time be similar to the chaos of any ecosystem as it evolves?

  Weaving permaculture gardening with my own and the collective spiritual growth may seem a bold endeavour, but  Natural Emergence is my humble attempt at communicating the wisdom I learnt from working, listening and evolving within nature as it taught me I was it too.