#lovetheearth

Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching.

Let all the heavy things leave my body and replace it with warmth and light that will carry the weight of everything unnecessary.

The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; the willingness to learn is a choice.

Nature just full of magical little moments. All you have to do is open your eyes and allow yourself to notice them.

Suddenly you just know it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.

The mark of a true gardener is a person who does not see a finished landscape but a series of tasks that need to be tackled. This isn’t as onerous as it sounds because it gets to the essential elements of gardening: creativity, honest toil and the satisfaction of a job well done. Aches and pains come along for the ride, but that’s why we have bathtubs.

This place is a sacred space to me.

I have come here countless times- to laugh, to cry, to think, to not think. I’ve sang here, danced here, sat in silence here. I’ve felt incredibly connected and utterly alone here. This is a place where I’ve seen and felt magic around and within me. Here, the trees taught me how I might ought to live, and the grasses have taught me that the only constant is change. I’ve watched the seasons go by in my garden. I have learned an incredible amount from the beings that inhabit it, and from the elements that flow through and around it.

The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If the planet is our mother, not an opportunity— then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective.

There is a welcomed insignificance that gardening makes me feel.

Gardening is a mood booster

Studies in the United States and abroad have found that gardening improves your mood and increases your self-esteem. When people spend time in a garden, their anxiety levels drop and they feel less depressed.

Every bird, every tree, every flower, every mountain, every sunset, I can photograph reminds me what a blessing and privilege it is just to be alive. Here’s to a new year full of wonder and beauty.

2022…

More weeding

More pruning

More planting

More mulching

More watering

More composting

More harvesting

More happiness!

You may recall that in September a volcano erupted on the Spanish Island of La Palma.

Many people were forced to flee the area, and among those were a number of beekeepers (La Palma is home to over 100 beekeepers).

Fifty days after the eruption, one beekeeper returned and was amazed to find that the bees in five of his six hives - just 600 metres from the volcano and buried under volcanic ash - had survived.

The bees had sealed any gaps in the hives with propolis to keep toxic fumes out, and relied on honey already stored in their hives for food.

It never ceases to amaze me just how incredible bees are

Photo credit: Elías González, La Palma Bee Keepers Association, via EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep it every day.

Plants do not speak, but their silence is alive with change.

If we restored a lot of native plants to where we planted turf grass or ornamental things, we’d see a lot of biodiversity return that we’ve seen diminished through the years.

Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.

If gardening makes us feel better, it also makes us into better people.

Within 30 days of playing in the forest soil and leaf litter, Finnish preschoolers had increased T-cell counts and far more diverse gut bacteria.

The liveness in me just loves to feel the liveness in growing things, in grass and rain and leaves and flowers and sun and feathers and furs and earth and sand and moss.

Ninety percent of our plants and trees depend on the service of our pollinators for survival and one in three bites of our food are the result of their actions.

Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.