Gardening

And that was—is—the miraculous power of gardening: it invites plans and ambitions, creativity, expectation. Next year I will try celeriac. And that new pale blue sweet pea. Would Iris stylosa to just here? And what about sweet woodruff in that shady corner? Gardening defies time; you labor today in the interests of tomorrow; you think in seasons to come, cutting down the border this autumn but with next spring in your mind’s eye.  (33) Dancing Fish and Ammonites by Penelope Lively

After two years of transition, my family and I are finally settled in Charlottesville, a brick colonial so appropriate for Jefferson's hometown and its love affair with red bricks. No surprise as the soil is very fertile and tinted red as well. We live less than 3 miles to the university, shopping, and the high school and sit on a nearly 5 acre nook with woods and creek. Although it took some time to find this gem, I am so grateful for our good fortune and patience.

July is bringing me time to breath in the quiet, to think about the future, and to garden. I spend an hour here and there gardening each day now. I begin a bit late this growing season as the summer heat is already in full force, yet my efforts will bear fruition as I get to know the property, begin to construct a plan for the future, and plant selectively. I forgot that few things brings me as much joy as working the soil.

Gardening immerses you in nature no matter how big or small your efforts. And, nature abounds at "Nara," the name we have given our new home. Deer roam the area here in small herds and hearken back to Nara Park in Japan and its deer, a national treasure considered messengers of the gods in Shinto. I love to think the same of our deer, approaching them with reverence rather than as an adversary as I am prone to do.

Toads, turtles, squirrels, woodpeckers, raccoons, and numerous songbirds frequent our neighborhood. Last week, a black bear's visit caused quite a commotion and places me on high alert when I am out gardening. The visitor took down a neighbor's bird seed feeder and enjoyed a late night snack. I was emboldened to not feed the wildlife around me anymore -- no feeder for us at Nara -- rather to plant in ways that provides habitat and supports all the living things around me.

I have begun weeding and trimming. I planted a small bed of French marigold seeds I saved from Ithaca right next to another small bed of lavender. I love the intense color of purple when lavender is grouped together. And, their smell brings me back to one of my earliest memories, my only memory of my mother's mother. I must have been around three years old, and we shopped together at a neighborhood, corner store in Milwaukee's long gone German community. I chose a small, green, rounded bottom glass bottle of perfume with a green, round plastic top. I remember carrying this rare and precious gift with great care. The scent must have been heavily lavender as I always return to the long lost bottle in my mind to this day when I breathe in lavender.

My new neighbor shared that the deer overlook the pumpkins and cucumbers in her garden. So, I planted a few pumpkin pie seeds in the midst of the milkweed seeds I had scattered in hopes that one day I might be able to attract and feed some monarch butterflies. Nothing surprised me more than to see the pumpkin seedlings emerge from the soil in less than a week. I am not sure why, but the life source of a seed still amazes me.

I remember planting seeds (likely pumpkins or beans or peas) in a paper cup in Kindergarten. I was attentive and nurturing and engaged even then. Maybe, my love of gardening returns me to the joys of childhood. I witnessed such joy the other evening at my daughter's swim meet when a small girl walked round and round in astonishment. "Look! It's a firefly!" Pause. "Look! It's a firefly!" Her voice was sweet and soft and breathy. She was beholding with great wonder. May we all do the same.

Field Guide

I would say that there exist a thousand unbreakable links between each of us and everything else, and that our dignity and our chances are one. The farthest star and the mud at our feet are a family; and there is no decency or sense in honoring one thing, or a few things, and then closing the list. The pine tree, the leopard, the Platte River, and ourselves--we are at risk together, or we are on our way to a sustainable world together. We are each other's destiny.

I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple. (154) ~ Upstream by Mary Oliver

I have been thinking about my core values, the principles upon which my moral code rests. In part, this is in response to the highly charged world we are currently living in which seems to call for each of us to reorient our compass to be sure we are pointing to our personal true north. Or, to return to our field guide to be sure we are identifying accurately and differentiating the natural from the artificial, the real from the ersatz. 

Here are the principles I listed to guide my actions and orient my decisions:

• First and foremost, cultivate, love and nurture your small circle of immediate family members and closest friends -- these are the people who will carry you through the toughest times and share life's joys in full measure.
• Apologize, forgive, and speak up -- never assume to be understood or irrelevant.
• Recall you are privileged by the simple virtue of where and when you were born.
• Strive to leave the world a better place: grow something, build something, create something, teach something, share something.
• Give generously and when you think you have given enough, give a bit more.
• Remember that everyone has a story and deserves basic respect.
• Work to build relationships with people, ideas, experiences, nature, and the intangible as all things are connected and share a common destiny.
• See humanity's commonalities, the desire to have one's basic needs met.
• Focus on humility as the only correct response to the universe and the infinite.
• Know the world is complex and messy -- you see only one small sliver of its reality.
• Be brave for fear is the most insidious of emotions.
• Be curious and a lifelong learner.
• Strive to live in the present as time is the most precious of gifts.

I am relieved that I could list the parameters of my field guide rather quickly and confidently -- a baker's dozen of ingredients in the recipe of my life. I will bookmark this page and return to it often. It is just the reminder I need now and again to check myself and see the beauty of this existence in full flower.

Field Guide

Tony Hoagland

Once, in the cool blue middle of a lake,

up to my neck in that most precious element of all,

I found a pale-gray, curled-upwards pigeon feather
floating on the tension of the water

at the very instant when a dragonfly,
like a blue-green iridescent bobby pin,

hovered over it, then lit, and rested.
That's all.

I mention this in the same way
that I fold the corner of a page

in certain library books,
so that the next reader will know

where to look for the good parts.