"Tickle the earth with a hoe; it will laugh a harvest." ~ Mary Cantell
This week, a new adventure: I planted some seed in the garden... green onions, radishes, and peas. As I placed each seed in the dirt, I gave it an encouraging boost in my mind: "Do well." "Good luck." "Grow." "Go for the green."
With a rush of happiness, I continued the methodical ritual. They say the beginner is meticulous in the garden. I found that the old Chinese Proverb was true: "He who plants a garden plants happiness."
My novice fingers placed those black and green seedlings of joy. I thought of them as little bursts of life and knew that I was a creating a holy spring wish for productivity and growth. Luck and rebirth, for my garden and the world.
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GARDENS...
Robert Harrison once said, "Gardens always mean something else, man absolutely uses one thing to say another."
Essential Garden Supplies
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So, this is my first try at a vegetable garden and I'm a little apprehensive about how well the plants will grow. I was reassured by Fran Sorin, in her book Digging Deep. She said, "I saw repeatedly that I could do everything right--plant a healthy plant in good soil, water it, fertilize it, tend it--and it still might not survive. Talk about learning acceptance!"
Now that made me think. Just as the dirt got under my fingernails, I would have no control over what writer Richardson Wright in The Gardener's Bed-Book called "fickle, eccentric Nature."
So, perhaps this garden will help make me learn about letting go, being more patient, and trusting the unknown. With excitement, I am open to the possibilities. As writer W. E. Johns put it, "One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides."
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IMAGINE EVERYTHING
"Dare to imagine everything." ~ Henry Miller
What is it about gardening that even while letting go of control, there's a wonderful feeling in being part of nurturing new life? Mahatma Gandhi said, "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." There is such joy to dig and feel the dirt.
Get involved with the rebirth of spring... Here's wishing you fertile cultivation of your own garden.
