Biophobia Is Dangerous

"I have been growing much of my family's food for more than 35 years. I have spent countless hours preparing the ground, planting seeds, weeding, and harvesting. Until Labor Day Weekend 2025, however, I had never put a chair in my garden and simply observed. What a revelation. In addition to vegetables, I intersperse flowers in my garden. This year, there are poppies, cosmos, and sunflowers."

"As I sat and observed, I noticed that there were many kinds of bumblebees along with honeybees. The honeybees were gathering food from only one species: the poppies. The bumblebees, however, were in every flower except the poppies. They were in the sunflowers and cosmos, the bean and tomato flowers, the squash and cucumber flowers, the sage and tarragon flowers. Thanks to them, the garden has been bountiful because they've been pollinating everything."

"This summer, a pair of chipmunks chose the garden as their home and made a burrow. While I wish they wouldn't nibble on every squash and ripening tomato (just pick one, please!), I'm impressed with their brilliant choice of home. They are protected by the big fence from predators, and they live among food that they must think is growing just for them."

I have grown much of my family's food for over 35 years, spending countless hours preparing ground, planting, weeding, and harvesting. Until Labor Day Weekend 2025, I had not simply sat in the garden to observe, and doing so revealed new perspectives. Vegetables are interspersed with flowers such as poppies, cosmos, and sunflowers, with poppies volunteering from seeds sown a decade earlier. A pair of chipmunks burrowed in the fenced garden, living among abundant food and showing little fear. Many bumblebees and honeybees visited; honeybees favored poppies while bumblebees pollinated nearly every other crop, producing bountiful harvests and prompting curiosity about pollinator preferences. The experience reinforces that people need to put down devices, go outside, and cultivate love for the natural world to benefit children, communities, and the planet.

Read at Psychology Today