Aug 30, 2009 | growing the spirit, Life's Gardens, my gardens
I love to weed. Once I carve out a bit of time and surrender myself to the job, it is a peaceful mediation. Not only a time for contemplation, weeding is greatly satisfying: in just fifteen or twenty minutes I see the results of my efforts. Here is a part of the...
Aug 20, 2009 | Life's Gardens, my gardens, plants I love
I have customers that come into the garden center looking for the perfect shrub. “It should only get three or four feet high, and it has to grow in the shade” they begin, “and it has to be evergreen.” As I start to walk toward the nursery with them, they inevitably...
Aug 18, 2009 | Garden Celebrations, Life's Gardens, my gardens
Recently, a friend asked to see pictures from our trip to Europe. I got my laptop, and we started clicking through the photographs. “Wait….” my friend says, “these are all photos of gardens.” “No,” I reply, here’s one of people doing Tai Chi.” “Yeah, in a garden,” she...
Aug 9, 2009 | Garden Celebrations, my gardens, plants I love
In August, gardeners become drunk on color. There are flowers everywhere and the abundance of shades can lift spirits, stop us in our tracks, and make all the work worthwhile. When I was a child my mother read me a poem by A.A. Milne called The Dormouse and the...
Aug 2, 2009 | Life's Gardens, my gardens, vegetables
I began the day by reading Michael Pollan’s article, No One Cooks Here Anymore, in the New York Times Magazine. It’s a rather discouraging report about how most Americans would rather buy prepared food instead of cooking meals themselves. Sigh. My...
