Learning in The Garden

Transferred from my "green" blog upon its closure - one of two posts I saved because it is filled with special memories : )

This summer we made our first serious attempt at vegetable gardening - well actually there is nothing serious about it - it is all fun!

We started in May when we had the privilege of hosting our daughter’s Brownie troop at our house. We got to pick the activities for the meeting, so we decided on a healthy garden theme. The girls painted terracotta pots and planted sunflower, basil, bean and tomato seeds in peat pots.

We talked about how to care for the seedlings and asked the girls to report back on the progress of the plants. We ended the meeting with a snack of locally grown fruits and vegetables and we discussed nutrition – it was really fun to see the girls’ interest in the topic – and we loved that there was no disappointment shown over our healthy snack choice!


Sure enough the seedlings took off, so we decided they needed a home. We constructed a small raised bed where we planted the seedlings as well as some strawberry plants, tomato plants, and bean and carrot seeds. We have let the kids manage most of the garden care, which has been an awesome and rewarding learning experience for all of us.

And now we are on to the harvest! There is something fresh and ready for us every day - we check on our veggies first thing when we get home. We are already planning for a major garden expansion next year. We still have a lot to learn - like better spacing our plants and mulching around them - but we have found that we definitely belong in the garden.

Nurturing My Middle's Heart

Yesterday I ordered a book titled, Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach.

It makes me feel bad to admit that because by choosing the title I am classifying my daughter as "difficult." It is also a bit embarrassing to confess that I need help parenting my own child. But I guess I have to let all that go and instead feel proud that I am taking steps towards transformation. And I like the sound of "the nurtured heart approach."

Funny that I am struggling with my daughter being that she reminds me so much of myself. We are both middle children. She is, like I was, extremely quiet at school and an angel when she is visiting a friend's house - but the true child comes out at home.

I was constantly pushing my siblings to the limit. I used to sit pleasantly at family dinners with an innocent smile on my face while under the table I was giving my brother intense snake bites on his arm.

Although I don't remember this particular moment, my younger sister gives accounts of when I babysat her and made her play jail, which included locking her in the back hall and only allowing her bread and water.

My mom even admits the story of one time when she was vacuuming the stairs and I came up behind her. Over her shoulder she asked, "what honey?" And I said, "no, it's me Jenny." I was so accustomed to being in trouble that I assumed she had mistaken me for my brother to call me honey. She was crushed when she realized my assumption and remembers this as a defining moment as a parent.

So now I wear her shoes.

Last night we went to see the movie Ramona and Beezus. I brought my girls with no expectations of adult enjoyment but ended up in tender tears. The dad character was inspiring to me in the way he handled the antics of the rambunctious middle child Ramona. It definitely appeared to be the nurtured heart approach.

I am looking forward to my Amazon package!

A Year of Living Lovely

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

If you are a Rent fan, you are surely singing along by now...

Seasons of Love is one of my all-time favorite songs. It immediately came to mind when I realized that it’s been a year since I started my little blog. It is so interesting to look back and see how my most recent 525,600 minutes are reflected on these pages. It was a pretty eventful and emotional year.

I have to admit, I’ve never stuck with any blog or journal for this long, so it is really fun to have this collection of thoughts and memories in one place. It confirms for me the value of this writing, even if nobody reads it but me and even if I'm not terribly consistent about it. Here’s how my year was summed up in tags:

aluminum, be the change you want to see in the world, benign, bickering kids, black bears, blessings overload, Blue Zone, Bob Mould, BPA, budget, busy mom, BWCA, cancer, cardio challenge, cats, children, Children's Theatre Company, Christmas cookies, Click Clack Moo, Club2030, clutter, Committed, dating your spouse, depression, disposable utencils, Earth Day, eat local and organic, eat organic, economy, endorphins, environment, exercise, Family Goes Green, family time, family wellness, Fanfarlo, farmers market, fear, Feng Shui, financial stress, First Ave, fitness, Food Inc., Food Pyramid, friends, gardening, generations, grandma, grandparents, gratitude, happiness, health care war, healthy eating, holiday cards, holiday lights, household organization, intention, is plastic safe?, Jason Mraz, job loss, keeping up with the Joneses, kids dishes by Duralex, Klean Kanteen, layoffs, light therapy, Lily Allen, live lovely, love each day, lovely life, marriage with intention, Mason Jennings, meal planning, medicine of the mind, memories, Minnesota winter, money, Mother's Day, motherhood, music, my style of blogging, new job, nurturing those I love, nutrition, One Phone Call From Our Knees, One Small Change, optimism, Organized Audrey, pets reduce stress, Phipps Theater, photos, pictures, plants, play, positive energy, reuse, Rock the Cradle, roller coasters, rotating toys, Sarah's Key, save money, save the planet, seasons, soul food, speed of time, spring, Stages Theater Company, stay-home dad, stitching, surgery, tears, tempered glass dishes, Ten Thousand Villiages, Thankgiving, The Book Thief, The Current, The Dead, The Secret Garden, the tumor, The Year of Magical Thinking, therapy, tight budget, Twin Cities arts scene, U2, unemployment, video games, waiting, Walker Art Center Free First Saturdays, water conservation, working mom, writing as an art

I’m doing my best to measure in love.

Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow

I just finished a re-read of the classic The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Always a pleasant summer read of restoration, love, and the sheer beauty of nature.

The final chapter includes my favorite line "Where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow." There is no better metaphor for relationships and parenting. A good reminder to slow down and nurture those I love - and the garden is the perfect setting.

This year I am simply letting my perennials enjoy the sun and rain while I focus my attention on establishing a new produce garden with the kids and tending to my herb pots, as well as a few other garden expansion projects we're attempting. A few happy shots from our summer home...

The Beauty of No Time

We had one of those wonderful weekends when nothing was controlled by the clock.

We woke up when the kids got us.

We ate when we were hungry.

We drank wine when we felt like it.

We rested when we were tired.

We laughed a lot.

We rested some more.

We played.

It was happiness.

Thank you Dagmar, Dale, Mary Ellen and Carl. I think I forgot what that feels like.