Everything Changes When I started gardening many moons ago, it was impossible to get organic produce at local stores. I also had a house full of children. Growing plants we could make meals with was a top priority. However, all of that has changed. Drifting Toward Easy My work schedule is hectic, there aren’t … Read more
Look Up – This Week’s Mindfulness Focus I’ve been busy cleaning up the yard and garden beds after a long winter. Green shoots of garlic, yarrow, lemon balm, and hops are making an appearance. And my new Black Knight butterfly bush has sprouted tiny leaves. It is easy to keep eyes focused down on the … Read more
Pruning the Honey Locust Tree The winter-sleeping honey locust in my front yard is barren. In the summer the tree is green, full, and beautiful with graceful feathery leaves. In the fall it turns golden with long flat seed pods. Winter, as with most deciduous trees, has it looking a little like a skeleton and … Read more
The mindfulness focus this week is circle of influence…contemplating the reach of our actions and what if anything we can do to change the world. Sadly this is not inspired by the garden, but instead by the ongoing gun violence in this country. It is easy to be overwhelmed by … Read more
The view out our window on Friday morning looked like we were inhabiting a Loreena Mckennit song. Even as the weather app was assuring us there was no precipitation in Denver, we walked out into air that was wet, thick, and cold. Grey mist hung in the air and a crystalline film enveloped trees … Read more
Arguing With Winter I am not a fan of winter or the darkness that accompanies it. The sun sets in Denver just after 4:30 PM this week, making for a very long night. And although the weather can be balmy here when the sun is up, temperatures can plummet twenty degrees after … Read more
We have arrived again at a place of darkness. I’m not speaking figuratively. It’s just dark outside! Because of time change and the approaching winter my drive home from work is enveloped in darkness. The Denver sun sets at 4:49 PM today. I feel much resistance to this annual cycle, preferring long days of sunshine … Read more
Tenacity is the mindfulness focus word for the week – the ability to hang on through numerous set-backs. It is inspired by the few plants in my garden that are just persisting despite the frost, cold, and winter on the way. Calendula is one of those tenacious plants. Calendula is an annual, … Read more
Rest As a Natural Cycle Red and golden leaves are falling from trees, seed pods have formed on annuals, and plants are hunkering down for the winter. For gardens in the colder regions of the country, we are entering a time of rest. There is a natural cycle to this that plants don’t … Read more
Hawthorne berries(1) are brightening up my back yard at a time when many other plants have faded away. The tiny apple like berries all all about heart healing and so have provided inspiration for this week’s mindfulness focus…heart centered awareness. Western herbalists have used Hawthorne as a heart tonic for centuries. The … Read more
