Gaining a heart of wisdom
Here on this country hill, I see my neighbors from a distance. The stillness and solitude are a bonus, but there are times when I think it would be nice to look up from my weeding and see a friendly face over the garden fence, to compare notes on ripening tomatoes and Japanese beetles, and… Continue reading Visiting Over the Garden Fence
Apparently, in addition to all his better-known gifts, Thomas Jefferson was a gardener. His experimentation with horticulture added over five hundred new fruits and vegetables to the world, but he was never able to successfully cultivate a vineyard at Monticello, his beloved Virginia home. Here's why: the French varieties of grapes he coveted had no… Continue reading Finding Rest in Humility
Deep into the days of summer, I'm sharing a post that I wrote last year for my church's website. With an early spring snow, this year's garden is behind schedule, but what a treasure it was to discover hearty, red-veined beet leaves during a just-before-dusk weeding session last night . . . Once the dew… Continue reading Abundance and Harvest – Still in the Garden
July has been a month of gatherings, and nothing is more precious to me than the gift of my patient husband and our family. To celebrate Independence Day we all trekked to our favorite State Park on Lake St. George for a daylong picnic and swim, and then off to the fireworks. We've relished a… Continue reading Musings — July 2016
“These bean plants are a mess,” I muttered. “But, wow . . . lots of beans.” Our eleven rows of Providers (that’s the variety of green bean we always plant) had lived up to their name, but after four pickings, the plants looked tired, ransacked, plundered. They looked like us. I smile when I say… Continue reading Parenting Past the Mid-Point: More Thoughts from the Garden
Proximity to the land, awareness of seasonal patterns of frost and heat, rain and shine: these are among the chief benefits of a garden, and in my ongoing cultivation of the beautiful mess where my veggies grow, I am continually renewed and inspired by the metaphors that spring forth from every aspect of life in… Continue reading Return to the Garden
Living Our Days 