Back Home - Back to my Garden

I am back. Back to my blog, back to my website, back to making time for catching up. I've been editing, counseling, traveling to weddings, hosting visitors and doing lots and lots of gardening. The gardening has been my salvation. It is meditative and nourishing in more ways than one. And, it's been growing like crazy. Can't you tell? Take a look at my last blog photos to see the difference. In a little while I'll be adding a photo album of some more before and after photos. Bye the way, the snap peas are sooooooo sweet I could eat them like candy. It is a real joy to gather dinner from my garden. Not much beats it.

Inch by inch, row by row . . .

. . . so go the words of the beautiful "Garden Song" by David Mallet -- and so goes the process of laying down our vegetable garden.

Thanks to J&M Eco-Landscaping we are on our way. They started by taking out the grass and laying down some mesh to prevent the good organic soil we will use from washing down into the sandy soil below. In a few days we will add the border and irrigation system.

We want to give our vegetables the best possible start and we will continue adding nourishment with our own compost as the year progresses.

The anticipation of eating from my own garden has me almost giddy with excitement and at the same time I am reminded of the patience I must develop as I watch my garden grow.

Nature is such a perfect teacher. As we worked in the garden on Sunday, I saw shoots of daffodils and irises coming up. The inevitability of seeing green shoots in the Spring reminds me that growth seems so effortless for plants and yet we humans seem to struggle so much to grow. A tomato doesn't worry about what it might become or what it might achieve. It doesn't think about growing, it just grows.

Spending time in the garden is for me a perfect meditation. While I prepare the soil and take care of the plants and seeds I put in the ground, I become quiet and patient, and when I connect with nature in those unique moments I find a key to the truth of who I really am.

And the Garden Grows

Today, in addition to starting my blog, I joined Facebook. What an adventure!!

I've decided that since I find a lot of my inspiration in my garden, I've begun by adding a Garden Photo Album to my Facebook page. It shows before and after pictures of the work my husband and I have been doing in our garden over the years. Little bit by little bit, we add some new features each year.

This year we will be adding a vegetable garden. Juan from J&M Eco-Landscaping is helping us. He specializes in organic landscaping and gardening. I love the idea of growing my own vegetables and not using any pesticides or chemicals in the process. Juan uses completely natural products that are safe for my garden and the environment.

Check back here to watch the progress.

By the way - if you like Juan's website, let me know.