G is for Gardens

I grew up in gardens my mother tended. Her favorite was roses. It's too early to show you, but later, when all 50 of my rose bushes are in full bloom and the scent is so strong I leave my bedroom windows open all night and dream in technicolor, I'll show them to you.

So in this A-Z Blog Tour, Day 7 of a month of gratitude, G is for Gardens.

So I inherited a green thumb. Even the years when I was required to do weeding as part of my weekly duties as a teenager, didn't dissuade my love for green growing things. A friend of mine in high school gave me a rabbit from a litter of jack rabbit-4H white rabbit crosses (done unintentionally he says) and I found Nibbles pebbles of pooh to possess magical powers. We had the tallest, sweetest corn that summer. Nibbles escaped that summer too, and went off to find love in probably all the wrong places...

My husband and I became organic vegetable farmers way back in 1971 when we were first married. We'd go out in the garden and work up a sweat, come inside and have sex, then coffee, then more sex, then more gardening. We were poor students without any money to speak of, but with a lot of passion and love that has carried us forward to this day. In fact, when we sold that house, I told the Realtor we had to disclose that it was a very easy house to get pregnant in, as one of our brood of 4 was actually conceived in the garden...I digress...

So gardening has been a thread throughout my life, like raising 4 children on our now 60 acre piece of Heaven, surrounded by woods and a 1200 acre open space. We have views in all directions, but my favorite one is of my meadow. No lights. No organized gardens. Just green, with a few wildflowers I scatter every year. My tribute to my mother and the many angels that live here with me.

I took a collage class in Marin a few years ago and created this piece I call Gardens of the Heart. A portion of it is on my FB page timeline background. I get goosebumps every time I look at it. Growing flowers and other things just seems like the right thing to do. Not for profit. Not even for spiritual gain, although the gain is there without a doubt. Just because I can, and because I like to see what shows up when I put hand to soil. It's like setting a small part of the world right--the only part I can control.

And for that, I'm grateful.