From the Garden

Gardening: to cultivate (a plot of ground) as a garden ~American Heritage Dictionary

In an effort to make the most of this life, I garden. I plan, read, replan, sketch. I rake the pinestraw, the leaves, the detritus. I add to the compost heap. I prune, edge, remove, plant. I fertilize, water, weed. I sit among the new growth and sleep or read. I stroll among the plants and flowers and vegetables and teach my children. I water and weed some more. I harvest. I ignore it all for awhile and allow nature to work beneath the fallow. I start again.

Through it all, I take time to play in the dirt, to explore new plants and flowers and and vegetables. I investigate the bugs and worms and butterflies and chameleons and lizards. I eat the vegetables. I make arrangements from some of the flowers. Often, I step into the backyard, pick up a shovel or rake, grab the wheelbarrow, and I garden - literally. More often, though, I am tilling the ground of the soul, strolling through fallow and growing and harvesting seasons, reveling in the new growth of spirit, contemplating, laughing, crying. For me, the two types of gardening are co-dependent - as symbiotic as my backyard ecosystem. I garden, therefore I am - if you will. Of course, I do enjoy the beergarden at the end of a day in the dirt.