Tag: gardening

Thank You, Mother Nature

Michelle GD11 Comments

I feel like I have so much to say.  Then again, I feel like I don’t have much to say at all.  The feeling about which I wrote last week is staying with me.  I am resting again with flowers.

I haven’t planted anything in the raised garden beds yet.  (If you’ve been with me for a few years, you know gardening is not my forte, ahem.)  But I have intentions…oh, I do!  In the meantime, it seems Mother Nature is kindly lending a hand.  As if to say:  It’s okay, do what needs doing, come here when you can.  Last week, my daughter and I noticed two heads of lettuce growing. They must be volunteers from last year’s lettuce as the only thing my daughter and I have actively planted this year are wildflower seeds in a patch adjacent to the raised beds.  But there they are: two beautiful heads of lettuce, one green and one deep red.

And in the second bed: California poppies.  I wasn’t expecting those to appear either.  I don’t know much about flowers and I did only the quickest of internet searches to find that some poppy species are annuals, some are perennials.  Perhaps these are, indeed, perennials.  Or maybe they’re volunteers like the lettuce.  (See note above about gardening not being my forte; every year I think I’ll make notes about the garden, but never do. Ah, well.)

Either way, Mother Nature has started the raised garden beds for me.  She’s giving me a leg up.  It’s not like I feel desperate for help except that, every now and then, I really do feel desperate for help.  Just a little something.  Do you know what I mean?

And so I have beautiful poppies blooming.  Yesterday, I had a plateful of fresh salad greens.  And the sage…my dependable sage is flowering too.  I planted it our first summer in this house.  It’s hardy and beautiful, and I thank it every year when it revives.  I am not a particularly gentle gardener, and I feign patience.  But…I am adoring.

Thank you, sage.
Thank you, poppies.
Thank you, lettuce.
Thank you, Mother Nature, for the leg up. I didn’t especially need it, except that I did.

Once again—and, truly, forevermore—the flowers are what rest in my heart.

 

Sending a little love your way, m

 

P.S. A friendly reminder that I have some open spots for the next run of Just Five Things.  I hope you’ll join us.  xo

 

:: Sometimes Mondays ::

Michelle GD
An ongoing series of Monday snapshots and quiet reflections.
656seeds

Sometimes Mondays look like planting flower seeds before the rain.

 

***Just a few days left to register for the next round of Just 5 Things. We’ll be playing with creative list making…part fun, part soulful. All doable. Will you join us? Click here to read about the class and to register.

 

 

:: Sometimes Mondays ::

Michelle GD
An ongoing series of Monday snapshots and quiet reflections.
656wateringcan

Sometimes Mondays look like a pretty new watering can.

 

***A note to remind you that registration is open for the next round of Just 5 Things. We’ll be playing with creative list making…part fun, part soulful. All doable. Will you join us? Click here to read about the class and to register.

dear garden

Michelle GD4 Comments

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every time i head out to the garden – this summer, last summer, ever – i vastly underestimate the amount of time a given task is going to take me.  i think i’m heading out to weed for thirty minutes and it takes closer to ninety.  i do this over and over again.  yesterday was no exception.

home from a hike with our friends, i decided to clean up the garden before heading to the shower.  my beautiful garden full of flowers is past its prime and the tall, drying stalks are looking depleted and sad this last week or two.  with a clear sky above (last weekend’s excuse was the rain), and my hands and clothing somewhat dirty already from our hike, yesterday seemed like a good time to tackle the task.  for thirty or so minutes.  ahem.

it was over two hours.  silly me.  really, i should have a better sense of how long a job like that takes.  but i seem oblivious to past gardening endeavors, past weeding tasks. each time i head out there it’s as if i’ve never done this kind of work before.  clueless.  naive.  innocent and ever the beginner.

i’m not sad to see the flowers go.  they were beautiful and i know there will be more next year.  the tomatoes (just two plants this year) were incredible, and there will be more next year.  i’m ready to put the garden to bed.  i love (love, love) this time of year as nature quietly wraps things up and turns down the volume (in some ways).  there’s an overall slowing down and quietness.  and this totally reflects my spirit and my introverted demeanor.

cleaning up the garden yesterday was therapeutic and reflective and left me with dirty hands and clothes…in which i take delight as, they reflect the activity performed – be it hiking or gardening or painting or icing a cake.  hands and stories go…well, hand in hand.  i snipped some fresh sprigs of rosemary.  pulling weeds (yes there were weeds to pull yesterday…how did i not count on that?) was less disagreeable as i knelt alongside the rosemary.  one of my favorite scents.  ever?  yes, i think ever.  i brought the sprigs indoors to enjoy.  such a lovely bridge from the summer into the colder days we’re now experiencing (because, you know, they remind me of christmas tree boughs).

and the garden gifted me one last bouquet…cosmos.  i couldn’t believe there were some left for cutting.  and so i share them here with you too.  they feel slightly odd to me on our kitchen table…so summery when everything around me feels chilly and autumnal.  but how could i refuse such a gift?  these are the last of summer’s bounty.  and now it’s time to rest.

dear garden, well done and thank you.  i’ll see you in the spring.
and p.s. i loved you so much this year.

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sending a little love your way, m

 

 

:: noticing the moments ::

Michelle GD6 Comments

taking some time to reflect upon my week…

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:: a slight love affair with the tomatoes coming in…if you follow me on instagram, you know the story

:: french toast for dinner

:: the kids making movies

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:: this book…so hard to put it down when the day’s doings are, well, doing

:: a week of quiet days…so nice after the busyness {and fun-ness} of last week

:: contentment as i make things…this, a card for our anniversary

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:: contentment as i write this…it feels good

:: the sunflowers…taller than i, bigger than my face…even though i’m in love with the tomatoes this week, don’t think i’ve forgotten the flowers

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and how was your week?  i’d love to hear.  we all would…

sending a little love your way, m

 

 

desire {a.k.a. flowers}

Michelle GD22 Comments

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i’ve had gardens in years past…gardens that produced greens and squashes and peppers and such.  it was pretty great to gather and then enjoy the harvest.  but the past few seasons have left me feeling depleted, deflated, defeated.  the deer and stink bugs eating what they shouldn’t, my kids not eating what they should.  this year i knew i wanted the garden to be different.

and so…

there are two tomato plants, one pepper plant, a sprinkling of onions, a few herbs, and…flowers.  lots of flowers.  without planning or plotting, the kids and i went to the nearby garden store weeks ago and bought packets of seeds of all things pretty…cosmos, zinnia, sunflower, lupine, columbine, poppies, larkspur, sweet pea.  i let the kids plant what they wanted in their plots and i took the remaining seeds and scattered…liberally, freely, happily.

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my wish this summer was to grow beautiful flowers to enjoy outside as well as inside.  i didn’t want to worry about vegetables growing or not growing, or growing but not getting eaten {or getting eaten by furry beings}.  i simply wanted to grow a patch of beauty.

this summer, there is beauty.  stepping outside our back door, i gaze to my right and sigh a sweet sigh…every single time. right now the cosmos and zinnias are in full bloom, the four o’clocks are budding, and i can’t wait for the rest to follow. there is no stress or worry in the garden…just flowers everywhere.

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and this makes me very, very happy.

sending a little love your way, m

 

p.s. playing along and weaving words with july prompt-a-day.

relinquish

Michelle GD14 Comments

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the four of us in the yard
with a spring sun upon our backs arms faces
wheelbarrow and shovels and gloves
dirtied hands and knees and
the clearest of minds

it is work no doubt but
my heart feels playful content immensely satisfied
moving through the yard and then
the garden where dirt is loosed and holes dug

tomato plants in and flower seeds placed
gingerly
a quarter-inch, a half-inch deep
we drop and cover and pat
we water and

i hold my breath for an instant
relinquish control
please, little seed i implore
please sprout and bloom and delight

i reel in the hose
release my breath and sigh as
i see water droplets on blueberry bush as
i see blooms’ transformation into berry as
i see we’ve done all we can do today

and so we turn inside

 

sending a little love your way, m

 

 

:: noticing the moments ::

Michelle GD6 Comments

taking some time to reflect upon my week…

550carrots

:: carrots…weeding the garden the other day, i pulled out these babies…i’d kind of forgotten that we planted carrots…our garden has been incredibly sub-par this summer and my attitude towards it more or less reflects that sub-par state…i’m a bit disenchanted, you might say…but these carrots, they were something

:: beginning a new (home)school year…transitions and changes and shifts…feeling that

:: an overnight camping trip with friends…mountains, woods, campfires, marshmallows…no running water…upon coming home, the sweetest hot shower and the flush of the toilet

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:: my journal…somedays i feel too tired to visit its pages…but i do, i did

:: the magic power of podcasts while running…listening to this…it’s fantastic

:: lisa is offering a wonderful exploration of the idea of practice…those of you who read my musings know this speaks to my heart…{p.s. she was so lovely to invite me to be a special part of her offering via a taped interview}…her class, the gift of practice, begins on monday, 9/9…it’s not too late to join her

:: children growing fast…my daughter won’t be needing her stool at the bathroom sink much longer…i’ve been watching the sink routine, preparing myself (and taking pictures, obviously)…also, my son building and tending the fires on aforementioned camping trip…seeing his pride, feeling my own pride, and enjoying sitting back and actually relaxing

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and what about you?  what were the moments of your week?

 

sending a little love your way, m