Peace

 

When we first began contemplating selling our country home, I sat on a stone in the middle of our big garden and wondered if I would be able find a connection to nature in town. I kept telling myself I should be able to connect with Nature anywhere. But I couldn't quite believe it.

Later, after selling the 30 acres we moved into a neighbor's basement with a view of oak woods and horse pasture. While watching her horses peacefully grazing one morning, I wondered if I would be able to find that kind of peace again.

I have.

Gazing at the woods one day before we moved everything in I found that peace and connection with Nature -- with the trees, and other beings there. Birdsong predominated even though I could hear distant traffic.

A couple of evenings ago I went to the backyard, where we had just planted a fair sized witch hazel and felt such deep peace -- even as a neighbor boy practiced his drumming in the garage next door.

Peace and connection are not dependent on where you are or what you hear.

Both are something that begin inside, in the heart, in the Soul.

What I kept trying to tell myself earlier is Truth. I am not separate from Nature, for I am Nature. We humans are animals born from this Earth. Can we, will we remember that?

And Peace is always inside us, we simply need to look for it there.

I try to pray for Peace in the world every night at 8 pm.

First: Peace be in my Heart.

Then: Peace be in every Heart.

Peace, Peace, Peace.

Then I sing, "Dona, Nobis Pacem Pacem."

"Grant us Peace."

Will you join me?

PS The photo is of berries growing on large shrubs at the edge of the woods that I have been unable to identify. If you know what the shrub is, please share.

Abundance and Blessings

 

Abundance is Everywhere...

A plethora of little cherry tomatoes, the last of this season...

A dense growth of young kale (that I started thinning today) for fall harvest...

Good neighbors, good friends, good family surrounding us...

People willing to help in so many ways, if we just ask... sometimes even when we don't ask...

Too often we feel we are in poverty because we don't see the blessings and abundance surrounding us, and running through our lives like threads of gold.

But we are surrounded by abundance, regardless of any lack in our lives.

We simply need to look for it.

I certainly am not perfect in this. I focus so intensely on one aspect of my life where I feel a lack that I fail to recognize what it represents, and to give thanks for what it means to my continued health. It is an opportunity, not a lack. My perspective and expectations make it seem like poverty.

It is not. It is a blessing.

Blessings and abundance fill my life, if I simply pay attention, notice what they are... Some things fall apart, so we need to cast our gaze on what is going well... even if it is small...

In general, my tomatoes did not do well this year. I had none to dehydrate or freeze.

But these cherry tomatoes (Sun Peach) did quite well and continue to give their all. Most likely they will continue to do so until cold weather steps in.

Abundance may come in small ways, but it is abundance still.

Thank you.

Doorways and Portals

An entrance to another realm?

  "A Door is Opening."

The Autumnal Equinox has long been celebrated as the main Harvest Festival. For many, many years I've considered it to be a Thanksgiving festival and celebrated it with others, putting together a special feast we shared. 

The Equinox occurred a week ago and I did not meet with others for a feast. Instead I participated in a virtual guided meditation that began at the moment of the Equinox, when the Sun reached the halfway point between its position in the Sky at the two Solstices. 

As soon as I settled into a meditative statement the phrase "A Door is Opening..." came into my mind.

In a sense the Equinox is a moment of balance between the light and dark halves of the year.

At Summer Solstice the Sun began its descent toward the southern horizon, heading toward the Winter Solstice.

From a past Equinox celebration.

The changing of the season is obvious now as the Sun sets much earlier, almost full dark by 8 pm, and rises later. I can now easily rise before the Sun.

I love going outside in the gray morning light to sip my coffee. I'm almost disappointed when the Sun tops the trees,  chasing away the twilight.

The Day begins. A door opens...

The Door opens to new possibilities...

Blessings...

Challenges...

The new day will hold them all. If I am well grounded I will face both with stability and presence. I do not face all the challenges well right now, but each one gives me another opportunity.

For I do have a choice as to how I face each one. It's a matter of perspective.

I root deeply, raising my arms to the Sky in Prayer.

Each challenge is an opportunity to grow, to strengthen our resolve... power lifting for our Spirit.

When challenges create difficulty in maintaining calm, continuing with healing myself, doing my daily spiritual practices, and finding gratitude I often feel that I can't, or don't want to do those things. 

It's easy to find stillness within, to face the world with Love, to express Gratitude when all is well. When challenges arise and things fall apart, however, that is when we most need to find the will to do them.

Stay grounded. Dwell in Love.

I don't know what the next few years will bring, or the next few days. I don't even know for certain what words I will write next.

If I remain grounded, rooted in Spirit I might not like what comes, but I will be guided to move through as best as I can. And find something good.

When I sit outside in the backyard I delight in watching squirrels scurry through the trees, and the much rarer appearance of little chipmunks. The birds sing to me and call to their mates or sound warnings. This grounds and heals me.

Kale in my new garden, promising an
abundant harvest.

My little garden fills with green, promising future feasts of kale, collards, brussels sprouts greens, lettuce and radishes. I am grateful for the abundance as I watch the summer crops fade.

This is my joy... my Joy.

The Summer's abundance is gone, but now we harvest long-storing foods that nourished our ancestors through the Winter...

Apples, nuts, winter squashes, and a number of root vegetables. I look forward to fermenting winter radishes and cooking and freezing the greens.

Leaves fall. The squirrels know Winter is not far. They fatten themselves on the abundance of nuts, and store many for the leaner days.

Leaves fall and a door opens. What will I see through that portal? What will I find if I step through?

Will I step through?

The Choice is Mine. I create my World, the World.

Step through with Purpose, Intention, and Love.

A Door is Opening.

Moving Forward

 

This sight makes me happy.

Three months after moving, I finally have a garden again.

Yesterday I went out early in the morning and finished planting the tilled areas with leafy greens for fall harvest. At the time of this photo moisture fell from the sky.... finally, after three weeks of not even a sprinkle and unusually hot temperatures. Today we're in the low to mid-80s (Fahrenheit). Aaaahhh.

Leaves rain from the from the trees. 

Two days ago I planted kale, brussels sprouts for their greens, collards, winter radishes, aind cilantro. Everything has started sprouting -- except the cilantro, which is always pokey. Yesterday it was arugula and more kale. I expect they'll be popping up tomorrow.

What's left of the summer garden. Eggplants have done well.
I'm still waiting for the bell peppers to ripen. The tomatoes
did not do great, although the little cherry ones (Sun Peach)
have done fine.

Once the fourth bed is tilled and prepped, I'll fill it with lettuce and "spring" radishes that will fill out sooner than the winter radishes.

It feels good, a relief to finally put a garden in. I've had the summer veggies growing in big plastic tubs, but having seeds scattered on the earth feels so good. 

We're home.

Building from the Ground Up

A lot has happened since my last post.

Everything has changed.

On May 1, I expressed my excitement about pulling the first pretty little radishes from the small garden our landlady allowed us to till in the yard near the entrance to our basement rental. The tilling was done on New Year's Eve, and provided us with greens and a few sugar snap peas along with the radishes.

I planted some tomatoes in that area, but I dug them up and transferred them to the large tubs that I had been using for my garden since a year ago when we decided to sell our beloved 30 acres in order to move to a smaller space with less of a work load. In my July 17, 2025 post I discussed our decision to sell, then the sale, and the transition to the neighbor's basement, which was not, nor was it intended to be our final destination.

In the spring, our search was on again. at the end of May we found our home, a small berm house on top of a hill at the end of a small cul-de-sac in Lawrence, Kansas. A sweet, sweet spot.

We rejected the house the first time we looked at it, partly because it was more than we wanted to pay, and partly because, at first glance it had features I didn't particularly like.

The price dropped, and we decided to look at it again.

And I wondered why I didn't like the features that had bothered me the first time. What really clinched the sale was that the seller, who had lived there for 20 years and rented it the past 15 years, had not quite finished sweeping and tidying the front of the house.

Meeting her made a huge difference in my mind. She told about the history of the house in her experience and repeatedly said how much she had loved the house. We fell in love with the house through her. 

We closed in early June and immediately started moving things in, having it set up well enough to sleep there within a few days. But before we had even moved in, we started meeting neighbors and discovered that the house was not the only thing to love here. The neighbors are wonderful The neighborhood is beautiful, with many houses having front yards containing native plants, other flowers, and even vegetable gardens. I am in Heaven.

A feral woodland edges the back of our backyard, providing plenty of birds, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks -- and I even saw a fox one morning. 

I wondered if I could find peacefulness living in town. When I sit in the backyard looking toward the woods, in spite of distant traffic noise, it is peaceful. 

We have finally gotten the inside of the house organized enough to start building garden space.

The above photo is how the "garden" looked a week ago, but it has changed every day. In another week, we'll have four 10-foot, by 4-foot beds tilled and, I hope, planted for fall harvest. Short season things, of course, such as kale, lettuce, bok choy and other leafy greens.

I will keep you updated. The heat has been brutal the past couple of weeks, but change is promised, so things will move more quickly when I don't have to limit my outdoor work to morning.

See you in a couple of days.

 

Radishes!

 I have waited and waited.

Checking once, twice and again to see if any radish roots were enlarging. Each check ended in disappointment...

Until a few days ago when I found these little beauties. A couple of days later I found a few more. 

Sigh of contentment.

Once the roots begin to enlarge, it seems the harvest comes quickly. Some varieties of radishes with longer growing seasons still haven't sized up yet, but they will. Unless the seed packet lied and they don't do well with a spring planting. Seed is left yet, so I'll try again in fall, regardless.

I love radishes. I don't know why I find them so appealing. Is it their crunch, their color, their hint (sometimes more than a hint) of spiciness?

(Shrug). Whatever. They do feel therapeutic, like they are something I need to eat. 

I do love radishes, especially my homegrown ones.

Something's in the Air

 The other day I walked up the driveway and caught a whiff of something fragrant.

I paused and sniffed the air, looking around for the source.

The columbines offer no fragrance, but are lovely.

First I saw the deep purple iris. Then I noticed the big patch of lily of the valley. I looked up and there was the lilac bush, blooming sparsely, but blooming nonetheless. I stuck my nose in close proximity to each type of bloom. Each type of bloom emitted a luscious fragrance, each with its own character. 

Delightful. 

But the few blossoms on the lilac bush were the one releasing their fragrance in enough quantity to be inhaled from 10 feet or so. The scents lifted my spirits.

Today when I took my walk I passed through another pool of luscious fragrance. I could not discover its source, though. Possibly it came from something with inconspicuous flowers. A nearby spirea full of little white blossoms gave out no fragrance. So it will remain a mystery. Until tomorrow, maybe.

Always pay attention.