garden glimpses

stop and look.  enjoy the flowers, food, and creatures in these images.  breathe them in.  savor the color.  now, make time in your day to sit outside or take a walk.  enjoy the goodness of nature.  breathe it in, and breathe deep (i hope it's all clean air!)  

every 6-12 months, i make a section of my "jo quilt", a 9 image square recording his growth.  i have one for each year and hand them out come the holidays.  currently i'm creating some squares of  jo's art from home & school, since there's no way to retain so many wonderful pieces, even if we had the space.  because i love how jo's quilt squares are visually, i want to keep little records of our yard in a similar fashion.  we'll have a variety of collections coming along.  back in the spring, i sketched out where plants are in our various beds to keep a record of what we do.  we've added plants and seeds here and there...so that's in need.  our spinach, broccoli, cabbage, and other seeds are coming up beautifully.  some we planted from starter packs from the natural market.  a gift for you:  glimpses from our yard & garden.  jo's pointing to one of the three caterpillars on the fennel.  a spider sits outside the back door to find later feasting on some smaller creature.   

i find such peace in the outdoors.  it's simply therapeutic to work in the soil, watch the growth, and then sit and enjoy.  we're three years into our yard and garden, which i see as one.  the bells and sungold tomatoes are still producing.  wow.  we've been really thrilled with the colors in our yard.  jo and i have devoted afternoon time each day enjoying all of the colors & looking for life among the lively plants.  we found the big spider, 3 caterpillars, numerous rolly-pollys and slugs, not to mention the flying creatures.  dozens of bees were all over the flowering rosemary, but i don't think you'll get that from the image above.  

my spirit is renewed when my hands meet earth.  i have a story that i share of growing up in my grandmother's yard under her wisteria tree.  when i was young, i would sit under that tree and dream, make mudpies, and simply exist among the buzzing bees.  i felt fearless among those bees.  this fall i have plans of retreating to the yard in a deeper form of spiritual practice.    i want to renew my sense of delight, along with writing or drawing in my sketch book.  yes, i do this already, really.  however, i think i may try the disciplined approach.  i want to do a project each week that relates to the world around us.  the small space of earth we share with each other and our neighbors.  

now i share my love of gardening and all things mud with my son.  maybe throwing pottery or making a mess painting is my form of mudpies, maybe i just need to wet the soil in the backyard and make a few.  i like to think that i find the time to make mudpies, delight in the earth, and to care for others all in the same breath.  maybe i attempt too much at once, but that's me.  multi-tasking me.

as busy as i sound, it's been a good week for moments of stillness.  stillness is a loose term, of course, with our hearts beating, bodies moving, bees buzzing, and a two and a half year old running around saying, "of course, mommy."  

of course we should enjoy ourselves among so much goodness.  of course.  of course we should utilize our space to grow food.  of course we should share our goodness with our neighbors.  of course we should delight in all of these things.  of course.