Squash Blossom by ILoveButter

Today’s post is by guest Eileen O’Shea, author of Threshold Place. While we think we are caring for our gardens, perhaps gardening is just as much about finding happiness.

In 1975 I suddenly inherited a vegetable garden. My sister Rose had started the garden. I’d watched her read library books about growing vegetables, sift the backyard soil through a sieve till it was smooth and fine, and plant neatly labeled rows of seeds in a small backyard plot. Little did I know that I, the bemused spectator, would soon adopt the garden as my own.

Rose Goes Traveling

Shortly after all the seeds were planted friends invited Rose to travel with them in Europe.  She wanted to go but was reluctant to leave the garden she’d so carefully nurtured. She had even created little cheesecloth shades to protect her tiny lettuce plants from the ferocious mid-day sun.

Would I take on the care and feeding of her precious seedlings? I agreed, making sure she knew that I had no gardening experience. The closest I’d come was the care and feeding of a flourishing spider plant in my living room.  I knew I was up to the challenge. If I’d learned what it took to help my “spider” thrive, I assumed I could do the same with the vegetable garden.

Six Paths to Finding Happiness – Rose’s Garden

To my surprise, I became passionate about that garden and fully invested in the well being of the vegetables. Here is what I learned from tending it:

1. BE IN THE MOMENT: I’m drawn to large and dramatic gestures and to dreaming of the future. My tendency is to live in my imagination to the detriment of the present moment. The slow process of watering, weeding and shading became its own reward. In the garden I stopped thinking about outcomes and stayed in the moment, caring for the garden.

2. HAVE FAITH in YOUR OWN ABILITY TO LEARN and GROW: When I agreed to care for the garden, I knew nothing about growing vegetables. I told myself that, if others had learned to be successful gardeners, I could, too. I borrowed books from the library and talked with experienced gardeners in my neighborhood. Soon my knowledge and competence began to grow, along with the garden.

3. PERSEVERANCE: When slugs arrived I was briefly tempted to give up.  I felt momentarily overwhelmed by the presence of these annoying, slimy invaders but I also felt strongly that I didn’t want to use pesticides. Once again, the library was my salvation.  I learned about attracting the slugs with small containers of beer. Many of them crawled in and drowned – population control the natural way!

4. TRUST a PROCESS LARGER THAN YOURSELF: When the outcome was uncertain and invisible, I reminded myself that planting, growing and harvesting are as old as humankind.  I had a small part to play – watering, shading, weeding – but beyond that, nature knew what to do.

5. REACH OUT FOR NEW EXPERIENCES: I often say “conduct the experiment”, meaning “why not try something new when the opportunity comes along?”.  I’ve found that the best way to know about something that seems interesting, but is new, is to try it.  I didn’t expect to grow vegetables, yet I gained a whole lot from saying yes to my sister’s request for help.

6. YOU CAN’T ALWAYS PREDICT WHAT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY:  I have often found that it is the small, everyday details of daily life and not the grand moments from my imagination that provide the greatest happiness.

Meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn (1) calls this “the bloom of the present moment”. If we stay open to what we’re feeling and experiencing right now and let go of worrying and planning for the future, the now holds many treasures.  And now is all we have. I’m glad I got to experience the “now” in Rose’s garden.

Eileen O’Shea loves living in New York City and staying connected with the natural world. She is the author and editor of Threshold Place a blog about finding happiness despite adversity.

Does your garden help to bring you happiness? Does gardening help you to stay in the “now”?

(1) Jon Kabat-Zinn – “Wherever You Go There You Are – Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life”, 1994. Find books by Jon Kabat-Zin at Amazon.com.

Related posts:

1. The Right to Happiness
2. How Green is Your Garden?
3. The Edible Flower Garden

Little Yuba by AlishaV

No bunnies were harmed during the making of this story.

This week the bunnies brought me a “gift”.

My two kitties were at their annual physicals, cowering down on the table, as is their wont, when all of a sudden, “A flea!” exclaimed the vet. “I really didn’t expect that,” she proclaimed, as she frantically tried to squish the couple of fleas she’d pulled out of my cat’s coat with a flea comb.

I’m with the vet. I didn’t expect it either. My kitties have not been out of doors for more than ten years and they’ve not been with any other animals for a whole year. In fact I’d been feeling pretty relaxed, self-satisfied even, as I surveyed the vet office notice, “Fleas are bad this year.”

I threw the vet a puzzled look as she continued to talk. “Rabbits can bring fleas into your garden which hitch a ride on your clothes indoors.” “The fleas don’t want to be on you so they jump onto the cats.”

Thanks a lot rabbits. I don’t know whether to be disappointed that the rabbits have brought me another problem, or to feel sorry for the bunnies who can’t get any anti-flea meds.

Is it a bad flea season where you are? Have you, or your kids, seen any little hoppers?

Related posts:

1. How to Stop Rabbits Eating Plants
2. Natural Flea Control for Gardeners
3. The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

Yukon Gold Potatoes by Summer Tomato

With St Patrick’s Day almost here it seems appropriate to pay tribute to the wonder potato, or should I say the wondrous potato.

Later this week I’m going to post an article on everything you need to grow potatoes, but today I just want us to think about the amazing potato, the wonder potato, and to share how potatoes have always been part of my life.

Gold Straight From the Earth

When explorers set out to discover the New World perhaps they didn’t expect to bring back gold in the form of potatoes. “…the Spaniards failed to realize that the potato represented a far more important treasure than either silver or gold” writes Jeff Chapman on The History of the Potato. To me potatoes are synonymous with the earth – they come from the earth, smell of the earth, and a good potato even tastes of the earth.

Potatoes Twice a Day

Kids growing up in Scotland in the 1960’s had to love potatoes. Potatoes were an absolute staple. Most days I ate them for two meals – boiled potatoes at lunch and deep-fried potatoes, chips (known in the USA as french fries) for dinner. I don’t remember tasting rice or pasta until I was a teen; it took me quite a while to acquire a taste for them.

Golden Wonder Crisps

And when I had money to spend on a snack at the corner shop, my first choice was always a bag of crisps (potato chips). In fact I measured currency by crisps – I still remember the British conversion to decimal and how a a bag of crisps changed from being 6d (sixpence) to 2.5p (two and a half pence). One of the brands of crisps was called Golden Wonder. They’re still in business today – you can read more at that link.

The Best New Potatoes

There’s something magical about new potatoes, potatoes harvested for eating right away, early in the season, small and with thin skins, rather than for storage. Every spring in Scotland my mouth would be begin to water at the idea of them. My family would embark on a virtually endless quest to find the best new potatoes. Usually the best were Ayrshire potatoes, if we could get them.

Living by Potatoes Alone

I’d never have wanted to be dependent on potatoes like the Irish or the Scots when the potato famines arrived, but, until I left the home of my parents, I was perfectly happy to eat a meal of good-tasting new potatoes with nothing more than butter and salt, a sprinkling of shredded cheese, chopped up fresh mint, or even oatmeal. Who needs meat when you have a big bowl of wonderful potatoes?

The Potato Quest Continues

Since moving to Kansas I’ve been rather disappointed by the taste of potatoes, even new potatoes from the farmer’s market, they all seem to have a bitter under-taste. The only potatoes I can recommend are the ones I’ve had from the Rolling Prairie Farmer’s Alliance farm share program. This year I’m going to try growing my own – about 3lbs of delicious potatoes in the year is nowhere near enough for me!

On the other hand I have been quite satisfied by the crisps (potato chips) here in the USA, but for health reasons, and for my grocery budget, I’ve pretty much sworn off them. My favorites are crunchy, salt only, kettle chips.

Getting Back to Potatoes

I have to say that potatoes hold a special place in my heart, even though I have no Irish blood that I’m aware of. Maybe this is my humble attempt to claim back the potato from the Irish. My husband and I are both fans of the wonder potato, unlike my two teen kids who have been raised on much more bread, pasta, rice, and corn. I have many treasured potato recipes. I look forward to the day when I’ll be cooking potatoes, maybe twice a day again, for the two of us to enjoy, or at least once.

My favorite potato recipe book is Country Collection by Lyn Smart, which is available used through Amazon.com for as low as $0.25! What do you have to say about potatoes? Would you like to grow them?

Related posts:

1. Everything You Need to Grow Potatoes
2. Taste of the Sea
3. Local Thanksgiving, Kansas Style – part 2

I’m a gardener because my mom’s father cared for primroses and potatoes and every spring he made a pilgrimage to buy baby leeks from his cousin, who ran a garden supply company, which was really hard for Grandpa to reach without his own car.

Grandpa was one of the garden lovers in my life, and he always got a laugh out of paper hats, which never fitted him.

I garden because my mom’s mother cooked delicious rhubarb pies, buttered potatoes, and leek and carrot soup with the produce from Grandpa’s garden. And because Gran loved the pair of rowan trees in front of her house which guarded the entrance and every fall produced beautiful red berries feasted on by birds.

Gran was loving and caring and a great cook and a garden lover. She liked nothing better than a trip out to the garden to take a few moment’s well-earned rest with friends and family on the garden bench on a sunny day.

I garden because my dad’s mother grew grapes and passion flowers in a greenhouse, had a wild flower patch which I sneaked into to hide and discover, and smiled on her flowering cherry tree with the masses of pink blossoms every spring.

Granny was an artist. She loved flowers and was one of the garden lovers in my life.

I garden because my mom always had her fingers among plants and dirt both inside the house and out, because she was happy in a garden and wanted to find new things to grow, enjoyed nothing more than exploring along a garden path, and showed me how a greenhouse could produce tomatoes, peppers, corn and squash in the unlikely climate of Central Scotland.

Mom liked fresh air, plants of all sorts, and being busy. Here she is at the summit of Dunadd – seat of the ancient Scottish kings.

I garden because I tried growing cabbage and lettuce and strawberries and beans as a teen and failed and wondered what I was doing wrong, because I’ve lain among the grass in the sunshine and seen the bugs play while I studied for college exams, and because I hiked the hills of Scotland and learned to name the native flowers.

And I’m a gardener because my gardening links me to all these garden lovers. These are the people who showed me the joy of nature and gardening when I was just a sprout. As long as they are in my heart, they will never be gone.

You’ve told me your reasons to garden, but you haven’t told me who brought you to gardening. I’m eager to hear.

Related posts:

1. The Edible Flower Garden
2. Natural Synergy for the Gardener
3. Garden Friends in February

I Want You by Jentymom

Word has it that some people out there in Real World Land are suffering from the winter cranky pants. At least that’s what the Grass Stain Guru has to say today.

Tigger might love to surf (that’s what the t-shirt says), but Mother Nature is hardly likely to oblige us by bringing spring early. All we can do is try to feel better in winter.

Winter Has to Run Her Course

Winter must run it’s course – it’s only January and there is a way to go before most of us will be running barefoot and rejoicing in the spring quickening. What can we do to feel better?

10 Recipes to Loosen Cranky Pants

I’ve been there with the winter stuff so I thought I’d share some feel better winter tips:

1. Run a hot bath. Surround yourself with candles (safely, of course). Add some lavender or rose aromatherapy oil, or rose or lavender scented bubbles. Sink in, get warm, sing to yourself, or read a book, or just relax. Cranky pants loosen in hot water.
2. Light some candles, put on the music, and dance. If you need company, a large stuffed toy will do the trick.
3. Whatever the weather, put on your appropriate clothing and get out for a LONG walk. No excuses, you can blow the cobwebs away, calm your stress, and sleep well at night. #1 on your return is an optional extra.
4. Drink lashings of tea with a friend. Or, if you prefer solitude, make a ceremony of tea drinking with a little teapot, cup and saucer ritual.
5. Sign up for a yoga class and then go to it. It doesn’t count unless you go!
6. Return to your roots, whether that be with family favorite food, music, rituals, puzzles, games, poetry, old photos, stories, or a trip. Go down nostalgia lane – sometimes it helps.
7. Do a good deed. Yesterday I found a lady’s purse and I managed to return it to her before she even missed it. There is someone out there who needs your help. Seek and you will find.
8. Swim laps. I’m not fond of wet hair after winter swimming, but it is a good stress reliever.
9. Write in your journal. If you don’t have one, that’s no excuse.
10. Buy some flowers. The only time I ever buy flowers for myself is when I just can’t wait a minute longer for spring. I now own silk ones, which actually work just as well. I got my favorite type – ones which grew in my mom’s garden every spring.

Try some of these, but know when to seek professional help.  This article should not be considered medical advice. Learn to recognize the signs of depression and seek treatment. There is no shame in having depression any more than there is in having the flu.

A boifeedback device such as the emWave Personal Stress Reliever can help you to regulate your breathing patterns and feel better. Teavana sell some gorgeous teapots among their Tea Gifts collection.

Related posts:

1. 5 Ways to Winter Bird Watch with Kids
2. Funny Underwear and Nine Other Funky or Frugal Ways to Stay Warm This Winter
3. Squirrel is Waiting for Winter

Carole Brown at Ecosystem Gardening has blessed me with the Honest Scrap Award. Just like Carole, I don’t usually do these kinds of things, but Carole is a good friend and a good sport, so I reckon I should play along with the fun. Here is Carole’s post and mine is below. Are you next?

To accept this award, I have to share 10 honest things about myself that you wouldn’t know from reading this site. And I have to tag 7 other bloggers to participate – I’m putting my thinking cap on and you’re probably on the list!

Here’s the list – 10 Honest Things About Me

1. I was a very shy teen and was bullied at school. Sad, but true. I’m a whole lot more social now.
2. I once worked as a Youth Hostel Warden – great summer job with lots of #playoutdoors time. My dog and I were free rangers roaming the Scottish mountains almost every day.
3. I used to be a COBOL programmer for a Scotch Whisky company, after I graduated first in Biology and then as a dietitian. Go figure! I like the challenge of learning something new and Scottish college education was free – I even received a living allowance.
4. I’m a Firefox tab hoarder – I frequently do destruction testing on Firefox because of the number of tabs I have open. They should employ me to test Firefox limits.
5. Yes, I like chocolate. But if you offered me potato chips instead, or a bowl of homemade soup and fresh-baked bread, I’d be in a dilemma. I’d probably have to go for the soup.
6. I have a guilty laundry secret. Since August of 2008 I’ve been trying to air dry my laundry but, despite having a wonderful, custom-built, ceiling mounted drier, at least half my laundry still goes in the tumble drier. My goal though is to double the number of laundry loads that are air dried every year until it’s 100%. I think so far I’m on track.
7. I’ve been happily married for 20 years. Our secret is communication, tolerance, pursuing your partner’s dream, and not expecting perfection.
8. Organization and me are like oil and water. We don’t mix. But I live in hope that some day the emulsifier will be found. Meantime, see 7.
9. I’m wishing this was no. 10 in the list!
10. I have some really wonderful friends both locally and online. Every day they bring me blessings and remind me not to take myself too seriously, to enjoy the wonders that life brings, and to get outside.

Seven wonderful writer’s whom I’m passing the Honest Scrap award to:

1. Backyard Mama, Shannon Baer, @backyardmama. Shannon is a wonderful early childhood educator and her writing gets me back to life’s importantces (yeah, I made that word up – it should be a word).
2. Karen Wilde, otherwise know as @Wildelycreative who writes at The Cloud Factory, but is known to me through Twitter. Karen lives in the UK and recently visited my native Scotland on the trail of the re-introduced beavers. Take a look at her wonderful photos.
3. Ali Thinks who is my secret namesake (yes, we share a name, which is just a little weird). She’s better looking than me and more gutsy, but I forgive her because we both wear glasses, love books and can’t help but write.
4. Janet at the 32-akre wood. Janet is funny, a great visitor to many, many blogs, and she has taught me about living in the midst of coal country where mountain-top removal is at the end of your drive-way. Janet also loves puppies – she just can’t resist them when they land at the end of her driveway. Yeah, not too far from that flat mountain-top.
5. Kari Svenneby, @activekidsclub, founder of Active Kids Club. We are both imports to North America from Europe, but Kari is smarter than me because she speaks 4+ languages. We share a passion for nature and the outdoors.
6. Warren Buss, otherwise known as @KSUPurple. I don’t get why he’s fascinated by sports, but he’s always up for a great Twitter conversation and he shows Kansas in all it’s beauty at his blog called, imaginatively, Warren’s blog. Simplicity can be a good thing!
7. Roy Scribner, @campingblogger who writes at Camping Blogger. I’ve been enjoying visiting Roy’s blog and dreaming of National Forests and states which have tons of public land and rushing white-water rivers. Don’t worry though Kansas, I’m not leaving you!

And now, if you need a chocolate fix without the guilt try specialty chocolate with organic and vegan choices. What could be better for Valentine’s Day?

Related posts:

1. Green Laundry Challenge #1
2. Tuesday – Green Bloggers

“Treat the Earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestor. We borrow it from our children.”

Ancient Native American Proverb, quoted in The Green Gardener’s Guide, Joe Lamp’l, Cool Springs Press, 2007

Related posts:

1. Win The Green Gardener’s Guide
2. 10 Simple Earth Day Ideas
3. Weekly Earth News 05/26/09

“Nature is to be respected, not just controlled. Nature is a process that includes us, not a product external to us… Our proper attitude toward nature is awe, not utility.”

2001 Kansas City Gifts of Pluralism Interfaith Conference declaration, quoted in The Kansas City Star, January 6, 2010

Related posts:

1. 12 Christmas Wishes
2. Nature Doodles for Google
3. Nature Books, Gardening Books, and Nature Gardening Books

“It’s better not to pursue a past that has already been lost.”

Zhang Liangnang, ninth century, from Lake With No Name, Daine Wei Liang, Simon and Schuster, 2003

Related posts:

1. I’d Rather Feel the Earth…