Quote of the Day: Robert Frost
“Something we were withholding made us weak,
until we found it was ourselves.”
Too often it’s not the things beyond our control that hold us back but our fears and inhibitions; we can be our own worst enemies. Since I’m an introvert, this is definitely something I struggle with. I’m slowly learning to not hold myself back and to step out of my comfort zone. It can be tough, but I have found that it’s always rewarding!
Do you ever feel like you hold yourself back?
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Quote of the Day: Carol Deppe
The resilience of individual gardeners working for personal satisfaction and joy in ordinary hard time can thus be transformed into resilience during more extraordinary hard times, for both the individual and his or her community. Life is full of hard times. By learning to garden our way through the small and ordinary hard times, and passing that knowledge on, we can help our children, our children’s children, our country, and our species through both the ordinary as well as the extraordinary hard times that happen through the generations.
Carol Deppe The Resilient Gardener
I was thinking about this quote as I was out planting the cuttings I had take from my hydrangeas earlier this summer. Each and every cutting had a mass of lovely roots. While these shrubs will not produce food for my table, they have provided education and learning.
I’m certainly glad that I don’t have to grow all the food that we eat. If a crop fails, we don’t go hungry. This gives me the freedom to experiment and hone my skills. Not only does that make me a better gardener, it gives me the confidence and knowledge to teach others as well. I hope none of us ever have to rely on our garden in order to survive, but I’m certainly glad I have spent time learning just in case. It’s kind of like having insurance, it provides a little peace of mind and makes us more resilient in tough times.
Do you think you’ve honed your gardening skills through the years you’ve been gardening? What do you want to learn next?
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Quote of the Day: Michael Perry
Downstairs, and out the door. Eastward the gray band is lightening, but the sun remains well sunk. Drawing the cool breath of morning into my lungs I think of my father, whom I do not believe has missed a sunrise in some forty years and would be startled to find me up and about at this hour. I still love the dark heart of night when it is possible to believe you the world to yourself, but I can understand why Dad loves to watch the day come in. And I find I am a little less breathless working from this end of the cycle than I am trying to find my way through some some of bleary-eyed finish at 3:00 a.m. There is the idea that you have a head start.
Michael Perry, Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting
One of the lovely featurs this about this place is that we can see the sunrise from the living room and I can watch the sunset from my desk in the office. Back in Ohio, we couldn’t really see the sunrise, I’m certainly enjoying it every morning now!
A head start, that’s exactly how I feel when I get up early. Especially this time of year when getting up early means being up before the sun comes up. There’s something wonderfully peaceful and quiet about being up before the sun, it is a lot like getting a head start. A perfectly wonderful way to start my day!
Can you see the sunrise from you house?
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Quote of the Day: Bernd Heinrich
As for the “news,” most of what I hear I can do nothing about. This year I want all of my energies and all of my sympathies focused on where they can matter.
Bernd Heinrich from A Year In The Maine Woods
I was thinking about this quote the other day as I found myself annoyed the political conversations that was go nowhere and sensationalized “news” stories that contain no facts and are filled with “unconfirmed” “alleged” information. Due to my distaste for politics and drama, I find myself voting where I feel I can actually make a difference.
I vote every day with my dollars and with where I spend my time. I focus my efforts on building and growing my community and on becoming a better person. Every time I go to the farmers market and avoid the grocery store I’m casting my vote for the change I want to see in my country.
Every time I choose not to buy something and do without, I’m living a little closer to my convictions. Every time I buy what I need from a small local business or an individual who makes it themselves, I’m doing my part to bring the big world a little closer to home. Every time I turn off the TV and read a book or visit with my neighbor I know I’m limiting the advertising I am exposed to, learning something new and investing my time in relationships.
In our society where liking something on facebook is now seen as action, it’s refreshing to meet others who are also investing their dollars and time in something that makes the world a better place. I challenge you to spend at least equal time investing in your community as you do talking and reading about politics and news.
What is one thing you do that you feel makes a difference?
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Quote of the Day: Wendell Berry
“Soil loss…is a problem that embarrasses all of our technological pretensions. If soil were all being lost int a huge slab somewhere, that would appeal to the would-be heroes of “science and technology,” who might conceivably engineer a glamorous, large, and speedy solution – however many new problems they might cause in doing so. But soil is not usually lost in slabs or heaps of magnificent tonnage. It is lost a little at a time over millions of acres by the careless acts of millions of people. It cannot be saved by heroic acts of gigantic technology, but only by millions of small acts and restraints, conditioned by small fidelities, skills, and desires. Soil loss it ultimately a cultural problem; it will be corrected only by cultural solutions.”
– Wendell Berry found in The Small-Scale Poultry Flock: An All-Natural Approach to Raising Chickens and Other Fowl for Home and Market Growers–With information on building … feed, and working with poultry in the garden
I’ve always thought that gardeners grow soil not plants. Without soil, we wouldn’t have gardens. Since I inherited no soil at our previous place and spent 10 years building it up to a nice rich earth, I know what at it takes to climb back from ‘ground zero’.
It takes a lot of hard work, lots of manure, rock powders, humus and other inputs to grow mere inches of topsoil. I probably added a foot of inputs each year to gain a few inches of soil over the course of 10 years.
This is one of the reasons I’m always encouraging the use of mulches and cover crops instead of letting the soil lay bare. Also the reason I advocate for a no-till system and permaculture. Preserving our soil is one of the most important things we can do for future generations!
What soil preservation technique is your favorite: cover crops, mulch, compost, etc?
