Gardening is the word of the day. It could be because of the economy, but mostly it is because people realize that their food supply is not what they would like it to be - pure, and wholesome. Gardening is consumers telling the large chemical companies - no thanks.
If you start with a blueprint for your garden, when it is time to take shovel to earth, you will be ready. Whatever your "plot" ofgarden might be, if you work with what you have you will have success. Take into account what your property's natural beauty and areas are. You want to combine two very important aspects of gardening - beauty for the soul and utility for the body. If you have areas of "explosive" color and activity, then you can balance it with some quiet areas of solitude and peace.
A garden journal is a time saver and a future saver. It can be anything as simple as a shoe box with a tablet. Save your seed packets so that what works can be duplicated with the actual name of the plant you enjoyed so much, as well as the company or store where you purchased it. Write the dates that you planted and see if maybe it was too early because frost might have nipped some of your seedlings. Your box of plans, ideas, possibilities and hopes is a natural treasure and a gold mine. You can expand from what you have done, or scale back because maybe time was an issue with some work extensive plants. This is your primer to edit, delete, and add to. It is invaluable and a money saver. If something just did not work well in your area, then you don't want to spend your money on similar plants that probably won't do as well either.
Have assortment in mind as you select seeds and plants. It saves you from boredom when summer's heat isn't kind when you have to weed and feed. Diversity also keeps your garden safer from pests and diseases. It is also a safeguard - one very important word of advice. If you enjoy hot peppers, do not plant them near your bell peppers. Bees don't really know the difference and your everyday bell peppers will be a trip into spice land. Believe me this is not something you want to surprise your dinner menu with.
If you live where winter comes with a vengence, don't forget to plant evergreens around your garden area. They will protect your plot from winter's wind and in the spring, your ground will be ready to go with a few touches. If winter has its way, and there is not enough snow cover, your little garden will look like a relative of the desert areas you see in movies.
Think "specialty" gardens that can be incorporated into your overall plans. If you have small children, then you might want a red wagon type garden of fast growing plants that a child can enjoy and find success with. Take any old red wagon with wheels and a handle for moving around. Drill some holes in the bottom for drainage and fill with good dirt. Plant cherry tomatoes, a few string beans, maybe a cucumber plant, and strawberries. These can delight your child from blossom to fruit and it will prove a true gardening experience. If your area is tight, then you can move your red wagon garden to more suitable spots or even bring it on a patio or other area.
Try a salad garden raised bed around your yard. In this specialty garden, plant a tomato plant or two, some varied lettuce seeds, as well as carrots and some herbs. Then when dinner time comes around, you can get instant salad mix and fresh is just the beginning of this meal time wonder.
In your "quiet" garden, try lavender, and some tea roses for scent and beauty. Pansies with their tiny faces are a joy to behold when you just want to sit and rest. There are plants just made to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. These will add quality to your "quiet" garden as you marvel at the beauty of nature and its wonder. Reading in this area is a summer time luxury.
Teen agers might enjoy a "pizza" garden. Here is where you grow your heirloom tomatoes with their vibrant flavor and diversity of color. Add oregano, thyme, and some parsley to add to your meat toppings. If your teens love onions, garlic, and even green peppers on their pizza, add a few of these plants. Even teenagers will enjoy "picking" up their pizza ingredients.
Whatever your family enjoys and finds fun eating, you can incorporate it into small garden plots. The first rule of gardening - enjoy it and diversify. While fruits and vegetables are the main course of any garden, don't forget the flowers and decorative leaves for that dinner table centerpiece. In the fall, if you planned ahead and had your Halloween Garden in place, you can imagine the enjoyment of not ghosts and goblins but jack-o-lanterns right there at your finger tips, not to mention assorted gourds and squashes. There are even glow in the dark white pumpkins that shimmer in the moonlight. Gardening is fun, profitable, and a happy event. Enjoy. ©Arleen M. Kaptur April, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
What Color Chemical Are You Having For Dinner Tonight?
There is a commercial on television in which an actress states that "I have this one life and this one body." While this statement is used to sell a medication, it is a truism in itself.
We live in a world that started out with all the basics - fresh green grass, food that was natural and very organic, and families had to make due and find ways to keep healthy, happy, and fed. While advancements have taken place, they have not all been geared to helping each man, woman, and child to be given the pleasure of knowing that all that they put into their bodies is clean, fresh, and not produced in a laboratory under a microscope. The food supply in the United States has always been abundant, but many mega-corporations needed to find a way to make sure that part of this abundance was in the form of cash into their bank accounts. Chemicals, preservatives, and artificial flavors and colors were produced. Following on this premise, every category of the diet was infiltrated by pseudo products that might have smelled like food, tasted like food, but were a far reach from what food is suppose to be. In addition, if you watch or listen to any commercials in the media, the prescription drug products have exploded and you now are told that you need a pill to take before you eat, after you eat, and just before you settle down to sleep because the food that you ate won't let you rest. When you get up, you are told that you have to take a pill to face the day, take another one just in case you might contract a dreaded disease, and then in the evening, that yellow pill in the box will make sure that you are ready to face your life as parent, wife/husband, or Olympic athlete. We are now finding out that well-known athletestook pills so that they could do their sport, and teen-agers feel that drugs are necessary to face peer pressure and even to understand homework. Adults who should know better, take pills that are a rainbow in themselves and there even has to be a cabinet in the kitchen just for the pill bottles.
If you look back a bit, before the world was "recreated" by chemical companies, food was the source of vitamins, minerals and all that was good for you. Vegetables, fruits, and herbs were the ingredients to health and the good life. But somehow all this got confused in the laboratories across the world. There had to be a better way, or in essence, a more profitable way, to eat. Eating was essential no matter the gender, religion or ethnic background of a person. Food was the one item in the human make-up that was a stable and would be around for as long as humans were around. So in came the laboratory workers and you now have aisles in stores filled with cans, bottles, and boxes with ingredients that you can't pronounce, let alone understand. We stopped eating by the seasons and we wanted fresh fruit and exotic vegetables all twelve months of the year. There was need for instant gratification and meals had to be a trip into the twilight zone, but served in nine courses.
Cancer is more prevalent, illnesses are surpassing the abilities of antibiotics and children are facing a multitude of ailments that were never heard of in the past. People are dying by the numbers, but the numbers that get to see another day face quantity of life because the quality is gone. Food is not food any more. They are chemical formulations and treated products that kill insects and weeds, but are suppose to keep people healthy and thriving.
Do you see anything wrong with this situation? If you are a parent, then the truth of what you are eating or serving to your family must become paramount and important once again. Fast food is becoming a quick trip to heart disease and cancer. Food that looks as fresh as a picture in a magazine is shining because of pesticides and herbicides.
What is the answer to this new problem that has arisen in the grocery aisles across the country? One very potent and true way to make your way through the jungle of preservatives and three letter potent ingredients such as BTH, BTT, etc. is to know your food, where it comes from, who grew it, and even take a hand at growing it yourself. Farmer markets are virtual catalogs of fresh ingredients and chemical-free is guaranteed if you do the gardening yourself. While it may take more time or challenge then you really want to put out, then join with groups, neighbors, and organizations and then share in the work, and in the joy of the harvest. Good food is not dead and gone - it is alive and well and just waiting for people to rediscover its goodness, taste, and health appeal.
If you are tired of being tired, and if the sight of hospitals, nursing facilities, and pictures of children, adults, and the elderly wasting away and science not being able to keep the tide of new diseases and maladies at bay, take matters into your own hands. Put on the gloves and fight back. Gardens can be grown in any area from kitchen windows to twenty acre fields. Cities are volunteering areas to be taken over by community gardens and there are farm stores and co-op stores just brimming with vitamins and minerals all courtesy of the sun and the rain. Even commercial buildings and apartment complexes are heading upward with roof tops gardens. Think about food, plan your menu and then find the solution to ridding your mealtime plans of chemically laden and hazardous to your health products. Read labels and go to libraries for more information. However you tackle this deadly crisis of altered food, it will be to your benefit and to the benefit of those you love. Start today and know that all your efforts will be rewarded and that cabinet in the kitchen with the pill bottles could be put to better use.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
We live in a world that started out with all the basics - fresh green grass, food that was natural and very organic, and families had to make due and find ways to keep healthy, happy, and fed. While advancements have taken place, they have not all been geared to helping each man, woman, and child to be given the pleasure of knowing that all that they put into their bodies is clean, fresh, and not produced in a laboratory under a microscope. The food supply in the United States has always been abundant, but many mega-corporations needed to find a way to make sure that part of this abundance was in the form of cash into their bank accounts. Chemicals, preservatives, and artificial flavors and colors were produced. Following on this premise, every category of the diet was infiltrated by pseudo products that might have smelled like food, tasted like food, but were a far reach from what food is suppose to be. In addition, if you watch or listen to any commercials in the media, the prescription drug products have exploded and you now are told that you need a pill to take before you eat, after you eat, and just before you settle down to sleep because the food that you ate won't let you rest. When you get up, you are told that you have to take a pill to face the day, take another one just in case you might contract a dreaded disease, and then in the evening, that yellow pill in the box will make sure that you are ready to face your life as parent, wife/husband, or Olympic athlete. We are now finding out that well-known athletestook pills so that they could do their sport, and teen-agers feel that drugs are necessary to face peer pressure and even to understand homework. Adults who should know better, take pills that are a rainbow in themselves and there even has to be a cabinet in the kitchen just for the pill bottles.
If you look back a bit, before the world was "recreated" by chemical companies, food was the source of vitamins, minerals and all that was good for you. Vegetables, fruits, and herbs were the ingredients to health and the good life. But somehow all this got confused in the laboratories across the world. There had to be a better way, or in essence, a more profitable way, to eat. Eating was essential no matter the gender, religion or ethnic background of a person. Food was the one item in the human make-up that was a stable and would be around for as long as humans were around. So in came the laboratory workers and you now have aisles in stores filled with cans, bottles, and boxes with ingredients that you can't pronounce, let alone understand. We stopped eating by the seasons and we wanted fresh fruit and exotic vegetables all twelve months of the year. There was need for instant gratification and meals had to be a trip into the twilight zone, but served in nine courses.
Cancer is more prevalent, illnesses are surpassing the abilities of antibiotics and children are facing a multitude of ailments that were never heard of in the past. People are dying by the numbers, but the numbers that get to see another day face quantity of life because the quality is gone. Food is not food any more. They are chemical formulations and treated products that kill insects and weeds, but are suppose to keep people healthy and thriving.
Do you see anything wrong with this situation? If you are a parent, then the truth of what you are eating or serving to your family must become paramount and important once again. Fast food is becoming a quick trip to heart disease and cancer. Food that looks as fresh as a picture in a magazine is shining because of pesticides and herbicides.
What is the answer to this new problem that has arisen in the grocery aisles across the country? One very potent and true way to make your way through the jungle of preservatives and three letter potent ingredients such as BTH, BTT, etc. is to know your food, where it comes from, who grew it, and even take a hand at growing it yourself. Farmer markets are virtual catalogs of fresh ingredients and chemical-free is guaranteed if you do the gardening yourself. While it may take more time or challenge then you really want to put out, then join with groups, neighbors, and organizations and then share in the work, and in the joy of the harvest. Good food is not dead and gone - it is alive and well and just waiting for people to rediscover its goodness, taste, and health appeal.
If you are tired of being tired, and if the sight of hospitals, nursing facilities, and pictures of children, adults, and the elderly wasting away and science not being able to keep the tide of new diseases and maladies at bay, take matters into your own hands. Put on the gloves and fight back. Gardens can be grown in any area from kitchen windows to twenty acre fields. Cities are volunteering areas to be taken over by community gardens and there are farm stores and co-op stores just brimming with vitamins and minerals all courtesy of the sun and the rain. Even commercial buildings and apartment complexes are heading upward with roof tops gardens. Think about food, plan your menu and then find the solution to ridding your mealtime plans of chemically laden and hazardous to your health products. Read labels and go to libraries for more information. However you tackle this deadly crisis of altered food, it will be to your benefit and to the benefit of those you love. Start today and know that all your efforts will be rewarded and that cabinet in the kitchen with the pill bottles could be put to better use.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Everyone Can Have A Victory Garden
If you simply want a few "plants" around to decorate your homeor apartment, or if you have a desire to harvest a fresh salad for supper, you can have a "victory" garden no matter where you live and how much space you can call your own.
There are kitchen gardens that produce fresh herbs to tantalize and delight gourmet dishes you make for family and friends. Windows are not only the gateways to the world, they can provide the sunshine needed for plants to grow and thrive. From African Violets to Easter Lilies, potted plants can bring color, and scent into your home for just your time and a bit of care.
Have a patio, porch, or even a deck? Then container gardens are a god-sent. You can line up sculptured pots filled with cherry tomato plants, berry bushes, and even line a long planter with herbs and spices. As you sit on your patio in the warm weather, you can delight as nature brings fresh ingredients and menu ideas right to your door. Small children can find adventure and education combined with fun and accomplishment with a small red wagon filled with just enough soil and drainage to produce lettuce, strawberries or even a cucumber or two. Don't forget that flowers can also bring enjoyment to a child as that tiny bud opens up to a gift for "mom". It is not the quantity of products, but the quality of seeing nature take its course, and good food as fun and tastier than boxed treats.
If you have a back yard or even ten acres, then the world is your oyster and you can pick and choose from catalogs glowing with pictures of perfect plants to taking a trip to a plant nursery and not being able to control the urge to buy one of everything. From sun warmed tomatoes, to fall squashes that will turn into autumn meals, you can accomplish a garden that will give "harvest" new meaning and will bring "victory" to your meal plans. Growing herbs, to growing flowers, you are joining with nature and as partners, each of you have a job to do. In the end, when it is time to gather in what all your hard work has brought about, then you can stand tall and know that life is good, the world is not such a bad place after all, and well, you just can't wait to do it all over again next year.
A great side result of gardening can be that your grocery bill will be easier on your wallet, and that fresh flowers can be yours, instead of passing by a florist and knowing that you just can't spend the cash for a vase that will dress up your table. Even bouquets of fresh herbs make your kitchen feel like a dining room of a fancy restaurant. When family and friends come around, your minted lemonade will find ready takers and your salad of just picked lettuce, cucumbers, radishes and chives is just the right touch for warm weather eating. The economy can take a back seat to lavish eating when you grow your own food and you know that you don't have to worry about additives and colors and flavors made in a laboratory with chemicals and even toxic ingredients. You can pronounce every item in your meal plan and well, food just tastes better, is more eye-appealing, and the scent of fresh herbs will take your love of food to new heights. Food you serve will be healthier and more fulfilling. Even children will enjoy eating what they "just picked" and what they watered, weeded, and planted. Meals can be real family events, instead of fast food containers and wrappers. Sound too good to be true - just get your rake, shovel, and give it a chance. Victory is yours if you want it and that's quite a deal for your money.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2008
There are kitchen gardens that produce fresh herbs to tantalize and delight gourmet dishes you make for family and friends. Windows are not only the gateways to the world, they can provide the sunshine needed for plants to grow and thrive. From African Violets to Easter Lilies, potted plants can bring color, and scent into your home for just your time and a bit of care.
Have a patio, porch, or even a deck? Then container gardens are a god-sent. You can line up sculptured pots filled with cherry tomato plants, berry bushes, and even line a long planter with herbs and spices. As you sit on your patio in the warm weather, you can delight as nature brings fresh ingredients and menu ideas right to your door. Small children can find adventure and education combined with fun and accomplishment with a small red wagon filled with just enough soil and drainage to produce lettuce, strawberries or even a cucumber or two. Don't forget that flowers can also bring enjoyment to a child as that tiny bud opens up to a gift for "mom". It is not the quantity of products, but the quality of seeing nature take its course, and good food as fun and tastier than boxed treats.
If you have a back yard or even ten acres, then the world is your oyster and you can pick and choose from catalogs glowing with pictures of perfect plants to taking a trip to a plant nursery and not being able to control the urge to buy one of everything. From sun warmed tomatoes, to fall squashes that will turn into autumn meals, you can accomplish a garden that will give "harvest" new meaning and will bring "victory" to your meal plans. Growing herbs, to growing flowers, you are joining with nature and as partners, each of you have a job to do. In the end, when it is time to gather in what all your hard work has brought about, then you can stand tall and know that life is good, the world is not such a bad place after all, and well, you just can't wait to do it all over again next year.
A great side result of gardening can be that your grocery bill will be easier on your wallet, and that fresh flowers can be yours, instead of passing by a florist and knowing that you just can't spend the cash for a vase that will dress up your table. Even bouquets of fresh herbs make your kitchen feel like a dining room of a fancy restaurant. When family and friends come around, your minted lemonade will find ready takers and your salad of just picked lettuce, cucumbers, radishes and chives is just the right touch for warm weather eating. The economy can take a back seat to lavish eating when you grow your own food and you know that you don't have to worry about additives and colors and flavors made in a laboratory with chemicals and even toxic ingredients. You can pronounce every item in your meal plan and well, food just tastes better, is more eye-appealing, and the scent of fresh herbs will take your love of food to new heights. Food you serve will be healthier and more fulfilling. Even children will enjoy eating what they "just picked" and what they watered, weeded, and planted. Meals can be real family events, instead of fast food containers and wrappers. Sound too good to be true - just get your rake, shovel, and give it a chance. Victory is yours if you want it and that's quite a deal for your money.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2008
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tiny Green Thumbs in the Garden
Gardening is considered one of America's greatest pastimes and it has risen to new heights
with today's economic picture. People enjoy going out and mingling with nature. They like the feel of the earth between their fingers and the excitement of seeing tiny sprouts and plants opening up to drink in the sunshine and the warmth. It just makes you feel good inside.
How about letting your child experience the joys of gardening? No matter where you live, you can introduce gardening and the miracle of plant life to your child. They will thrill to see their seeds sprout and grow. That very first strawberry, pickle, or parsley leaf will bring true delight and amazement to them. You would be instilling in your child a love of nature, an appreciation for life, and the knowledge that with a little work and care, you can grow food, flowers, and other things of beauty.
Begin with small, fast-growing plants. A child's attention span is still limited, so long slow growth may lose its appeal. Strawberry plants are a perfect way to introduce your child to the wonder of how that ruby-red berry in his/her cereal came to be A small patch of ground that will allow the plant to grow and spread its "fingers" will amaze your child with each day's accomplishments. Then when that first flower appears, the prospect of a strawberry grows, and then finally that first berry becomes a reality. Aw, the taste of the first berry you ever grew contains untold feelings of victory. Other great plants are cucumber, parsley, lettuce, green onions,and yes, even a corn stalk or two. If space is limited, try container gardening. Even something as simple as a large coffee can with holes in the bottom for drainage, some good potting soil, and the wonder begins. Allow your child to do the work - water, weed, and care for the plant. If you do everything, then the accomplishment he/she feels will not be the same. A tiny hand can hold a small watering can, and it can pick out pesky weeds. Bright, little eyes will glow with each new growth until harvest time arrives. Lettuce can be picked for suppertime, and that salad will take on a whole new meaning. Older children can be given more space and a wider variety of plants to choose from. Carrots, beets, green peppers, and pumpkins are sure-fire choices.
Whatever the age of your child, they can begin to enjoy the joys of gardening right alongsidetheir mom or dad. Please have a camera ready when they see that first "success".
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur
March, 2009
with today's economic picture. People enjoy going out and mingling with nature. They like the feel of the earth between their fingers and the excitement of seeing tiny sprouts and plants opening up to drink in the sunshine and the warmth. It just makes you feel good inside.
How about letting your child experience the joys of gardening? No matter where you live, you can introduce gardening and the miracle of plant life to your child. They will thrill to see their seeds sprout and grow. That very first strawberry, pickle, or parsley leaf will bring true delight and amazement to them. You would be instilling in your child a love of nature, an appreciation for life, and the knowledge that with a little work and care, you can grow food, flowers, and other things of beauty.
Begin with small, fast-growing plants. A child's attention span is still limited, so long slow growth may lose its appeal. Strawberry plants are a perfect way to introduce your child to the wonder of how that ruby-red berry in his/her cereal came to be A small patch of ground that will allow the plant to grow and spread its "fingers" will amaze your child with each day's accomplishments. Then when that first flower appears, the prospect of a strawberry grows, and then finally that first berry becomes a reality. Aw, the taste of the first berry you ever grew contains untold feelings of victory. Other great plants are cucumber, parsley, lettuce, green onions,and yes, even a corn stalk or two. If space is limited, try container gardening. Even something as simple as a large coffee can with holes in the bottom for drainage, some good potting soil, and the wonder begins. Allow your child to do the work - water, weed, and care for the plant. If you do everything, then the accomplishment he/she feels will not be the same. A tiny hand can hold a small watering can, and it can pick out pesky weeds. Bright, little eyes will glow with each new growth until harvest time arrives. Lettuce can be picked for suppertime, and that salad will take on a whole new meaning. Older children can be given more space and a wider variety of plants to choose from. Carrots, beets, green peppers, and pumpkins are sure-fire choices.
Whatever the age of your child, they can begin to enjoy the joys of gardening right alongsidetheir mom or dad. Please have a camera ready when they see that first "success".
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur
March, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Blueberries Are The Jewels of Gardening
Personal gardening this year is booming. More and more peopleare realizing that they can control what additives or chemicalsare put into their food supply. Besides the nutritional andhealth benefits, gardening is just plain fun. The work can betedious and tiring, but the rewards are in the harvest - youexperience a thrill during the "growing" season as your menuplans include "just picked" and couldn't be any fresher fruits,vegetables, and herbs. Home grown flowers adorn your table andeven children can pick and enjoy tossing a sun warmed cherrytomato into their mouths, instead of candy or other sugar-ladentreats. There is one fruit that can be grown with a lot of successwherever you might live. In fact, certain varieties can even begrown in containers on a patio, porch, or deck. Blueberries havecome into their own because of the beneficial properties theycontain. You can find "wild" blueberries in forests and alongwaysides when you go camping, hiking, or fishing. These aretasty morsels that will get your inspiration headed to pies,tarts, cereal toppers, french toast, etc. In the local stores, they can run up to $5.00 a pint when theseason is early. However, if you freeze your bounty from oneyear to the next - and they do freeze beautifully - you canfeature "blueberries" at your Easter celebrations. If you choosethe early or mid-blooming varieties, you will have edible blue-berries quicker, to add to breakfast, dinner, and even picnics. Blueberries thrive in acidic soil, much like azaleas, andrhododendrons. A quick trick if your soil may not be justperfect, add your used morning coffee grounds to the base ofyour blueberry plants and you will see them thrive and blossombeautifully. Low bush blueberry plants make excellent and veryedible land- scaping plants. They are one of nature's "gorgeous"members - you will be very impressed. You can purchase your blueberry plants from reliable nurseriesor through garden catalogs, but now is the best time to orderthem. Read the planting instructions carefully, and remember, ifyou care for your plant, it will last many, many years. They aredefinitely a "keeper" and will reward your choice with luscious,juicy, deep blue berries that enliven many recipes. Blueberries are one of the top sources of antioxidants, whichare translated into cancer prevention and a reduction in celldamage in your body. It has also been studied as to blueberriesbeing rich sources of anthocyanins that help ward off heartattacks and can even slow macular degeneration. Blueberriescontain vitamin C and are about 40 calories for an entire cup ofthese berries. They taste great, are nature sweetened, and theyadd lunch bucket enjoyment to carry lunches or even snackchoices for car trips and extra energy when you are hiking orwalking in your favorite park or forest area. Blueberries are fun, healthy, and even kids won't turn themdown. Fresh off the bush or in a bowl of cereal, you have aberry that delivers what today's families can't find inprocessed or packaged foods - freshness, easy to grow, and adelight to serve to family and friends. It's almost blueberry time - what are you waiting for?
Somethingto think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Somethingto think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Shopping for Your Garden
Gardeners are really very sage and knowledgeable people no matter their skill at the past time that they truly enjoy. It seems that life itself is in that warm soil heated by the rays of a brilliant sun and cooled by gentle breezes that relax, yet invigorate, calm yet bring new enthusiasm, and allow the gardener to reach new heights by stooping low and picking even pesky weeds and dead-heading blossoms.
When you head out to your garden area, it really does not matter the acres, yards, or even feet that is yours to maintain. In fact, it could be containers set on your patio, or a table facing the sun lined with pots of your favorite plants - this is your garden space and it is special indeed. While the place, size, and choice of plants is important to you, there are lessons to be learned and messages to be understood and taken to heart.
Gardens are not only stepping stones to life lessons, they are ladders that raise the playing field and allow inner beauty, sensitivity, and creativity to emerge and help bring about bountiful harvests and succulent food, one of life's necessities. Flowers allow you to take in the aroma of spring mornings, and summer delicacies. It is something as simple as taking a petal from a brilliant rose bloom and placing it in waxed paper and using it as a bookmark. This small gesture is thanks to the patch that adds so much charm and elegance to your day to day living, no matter the cir-cumstances or the voices on the evening news. A garden is your space to stop running and truly take the moment to smell the roses.
Some of the lessons that a garden will allow you to learn and experience is the ability to observe and not just look. You can stop and look at an emerald green pepper, or a magical ear of corn, but do you understand the forces that had to come about in order to produce this perfection of nature? Water could not do it alone, nor the sun. The roots that are hidden by the soil are not forgotten by the plant nor would the plant be there if it's past of seed, soil, and growth were not part of its history. Anyone can pass by and "see" the plants as they reach toward the morning sun, but a gardener cannot put aside the mysteries and the awe of what nature and man together can accomplish.
Understanding comes right along with trowel in hand and fingers that carefully pull the weeds but delicately press the soil around a stem. This understanding is that work is not drudgery and can, in its own right, be enjoyable and pleasurable. The gardener truly understands that learning is an on-going process and it never ends with the season. Plans are truly made in heaven and optimism convinces the flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables to give their all. With effort, a dry patch of dirt can be transformed into a living, breathing work of art. Barren is not an option but abundance and overflowing are words that come to life, with a gardener's cup always half full and reaching for more.
If you are gardening for the first time or for the tenth or twentieth season, each page of the calendar year brings new challenges, accomplishments, possibilities, and discoveries. As in life, nothing stays the same and if wind and rain tear down and destroy, the sun, man, and gentle care can cure and rearrange.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
When you head out to your garden area, it really does not matter the acres, yards, or even feet that is yours to maintain. In fact, it could be containers set on your patio, or a table facing the sun lined with pots of your favorite plants - this is your garden space and it is special indeed. While the place, size, and choice of plants is important to you, there are lessons to be learned and messages to be understood and taken to heart.
Gardens are not only stepping stones to life lessons, they are ladders that raise the playing field and allow inner beauty, sensitivity, and creativity to emerge and help bring about bountiful harvests and succulent food, one of life's necessities. Flowers allow you to take in the aroma of spring mornings, and summer delicacies. It is something as simple as taking a petal from a brilliant rose bloom and placing it in waxed paper and using it as a bookmark. This small gesture is thanks to the patch that adds so much charm and elegance to your day to day living, no matter the cir-cumstances or the voices on the evening news. A garden is your space to stop running and truly take the moment to smell the roses.
Some of the lessons that a garden will allow you to learn and experience is the ability to observe and not just look. You can stop and look at an emerald green pepper, or a magical ear of corn, but do you understand the forces that had to come about in order to produce this perfection of nature? Water could not do it alone, nor the sun. The roots that are hidden by the soil are not forgotten by the plant nor would the plant be there if it's past of seed, soil, and growth were not part of its history. Anyone can pass by and "see" the plants as they reach toward the morning sun, but a gardener cannot put aside the mysteries and the awe of what nature and man together can accomplish.
Understanding comes right along with trowel in hand and fingers that carefully pull the weeds but delicately press the soil around a stem. This understanding is that work is not drudgery and can, in its own right, be enjoyable and pleasurable. The gardener truly understands that learning is an on-going process and it never ends with the season. Plans are truly made in heaven and optimism convinces the flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables to give their all. With effort, a dry patch of dirt can be transformed into a living, breathing work of art. Barren is not an option but abundance and overflowing are words that come to life, with a gardener's cup always half full and reaching for more.
If you are gardening for the first time or for the tenth or twentieth season, each page of the calendar year brings new challenges, accomplishments, possibilities, and discoveries. As in life, nothing stays the same and if wind and rain tear down and destroy, the sun, man, and gentle care can cure and rearrange.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
Nature As Teacher-Gardener as Student
Gardeners are really very sage and knowledgeable people no matter their skill at the past time that they truly enjoy. It seems that life itself is in that warm soil heated by the rays of a brilliant sun and cooled by gentle breezes that relax, yet invigorate, calm yet bring new enthusiasm, and allow the gardener to reach new heights by stooping low and picking even pesky weeds and dead-heading blossoms.
When you head out to your garden area, it really does not matter the acres, yards, or even feet that is yours to maintain. In fact, it could be containers set on your patio, or a table facing the sun lined with pots of your favorite plants - this is your garden space and it is special indeed. While the place, size, and choice of plants is important to you, there are lessons to be learned and messages to be understood and taken to heart.
Gardens are not only stepping stones to life lessons, they are ladders that raise the playing field and allow inner beauty, sensitivity, and creativity to emerge and help bring about bountiful harvests and succulent food, one of life's necessities. Flowers allow you to take in the aroma of spring mornings, and summer delicacies. It is something as simple as taking a petal from a brilliant rose bloom and placing it in waxed paper and using it as a bookmark. This small gesture is thanks to the patch that adds so much charm and elegance to your day to day living, no matter the cir-cumstances or the voices on the evening news. A garden is your space to stop running and truly take the moment to smell the roses.
Some of the lessons that a garden will allow you to learn and experience is the ability to observe and not just look. You can stop and look at an emerald green pepper, or a magical ear of corn, but do you understand the forces that had to come about in order to produce this perfection of nature? Water could not do it alone, nor the sun. The roots that are hidden by the soil are not forgotten by the plant nor would the plant be there if it's past of seed, soil, and growth were not part of its history. Anyone can pass by and "see" the plants as they reach toward the morning sun, but a gardener cannot put aside the mysteries and the awe of what nature and man together can accomplish.
Understanding comes right along with trowel in hand and fingers that carefully pull the weeds but delicately press the soil around a stem. This understanding is that work is not drudgery and can, in its own right, be enjoyable and pleasurable. The gardener truly understands that learning is an on-going process and it never ends with the season. Plans are truly made in heaven and optimism convinces the flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables to give their all. With effort, a dry patch of dirt can be transformed into a living, breathing work of art. Barren is not an option but abundance and overflowing are words that come to life, with a gardener's cup always half full and reaching for more.
If you are gardening for the first time or for the tenth or twentieth season, each page of the calendar year brings new challenges, accomplishments, possibilities, and discoveries. As in life, nothing stays the same and if wind and rain tear down and destroy, the sun, man, and gentle care can cure and rearrange.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
When you head out to your garden area, it really does not matter the acres, yards, or even feet that is yours to maintain. In fact, it could be containers set on your patio, or a table facing the sun lined with pots of your favorite plants - this is your garden space and it is special indeed. While the place, size, and choice of plants is important to you, there are lessons to be learned and messages to be understood and taken to heart.
Gardens are not only stepping stones to life lessons, they are ladders that raise the playing field and allow inner beauty, sensitivity, and creativity to emerge and help bring about bountiful harvests and succulent food, one of life's necessities. Flowers allow you to take in the aroma of spring mornings, and summer delicacies. It is something as simple as taking a petal from a brilliant rose bloom and placing it in waxed paper and using it as a bookmark. This small gesture is thanks to the patch that adds so much charm and elegance to your day to day living, no matter the cir-cumstances or the voices on the evening news. A garden is your space to stop running and truly take the moment to smell the roses.
Some of the lessons that a garden will allow you to learn and experience is the ability to observe and not just look. You can stop and look at an emerald green pepper, or a magical ear of corn, but do you understand the forces that had to come about in order to produce this perfection of nature? Water could not do it alone, nor the sun. The roots that are hidden by the soil are not forgotten by the plant nor would the plant be there if it's past of seed, soil, and growth were not part of its history. Anyone can pass by and "see" the plants as they reach toward the morning sun, but a gardener cannot put aside the mysteries and the awe of what nature and man together can accomplish.
Understanding comes right along with trowel in hand and fingers that carefully pull the weeds but delicately press the soil around a stem. This understanding is that work is not drudgery and can, in its own right, be enjoyable and pleasurable. The gardener truly understands that learning is an on-going process and it never ends with the season. Plans are truly made in heaven and optimism convinces the flowers, herbs, fruits, and vegetables to give their all. With effort, a dry patch of dirt can be transformed into a living, breathing work of art. Barren is not an option but abundance and overflowing are words that come to life, with a gardener's cup always half full and reaching for more.
If you are gardening for the first time or for the tenth or twentieth season, each page of the calendar year brings new challenges, accomplishments, possibilities, and discoveries. As in life, nothing stays the same and if wind and rain tear down and destroy, the sun, man, and gentle care can cure and rearrange.
Something to think about
©Arleen M. Kaptur March, 2009
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