Learning To Grow Good Things

More pictures are in this fun video of my friends at the Garden Department.  They have a wide variety of garden and lawn decoration offerings.  Click their name above and see their store.  Just ask for Vic and let and his staff guide you to your needs.

"Give a man a fish, and you will feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, and you will feed him for a lifetime."  Chinese proverb

Zen Gardener, John

We are halfway through the month of June, and my Shibumi Garden has transitioned from seedlings and small plants - to medium-sized early producing plants.  They are giving us a glimpse of the large and flourishing, food-bearing plants that they were destined to be.  My lettuce, spinach, kale, carrots, potatoes, and radish are thriving.  I have reached out to a few newer people in my area about hosting a couple gatherings for Mint, Mind, and Mingle.  They're all enthusiastic about doing it.  Some of them even revealed a few gardening secrets of their own.  Just like that, a shared sense of community has been started.  "Seeds" have been planted.

I did visit two of my local "community" gardens that were created by local entities here on Long Island.  These community gardens were designed to help share food for the community or for personal use.  One of the gardens has a beautiful location, but it also has an extremely limited offering. The second "community garden" has fallen into disarray and was full of weeds due to an obvious and unfortunate loss of interest.  Now is a perfect summer to rejuvenate a sense of community after two long years of a pandemic.  We can bring back people and families to these nice public locations.

Perhaps next summer, I can restart those local community gardens?  For now, I'll start the good vibes with a few neighbors, and "next towns over" at a time.  All it takes is just a handful of people to say "Yes".  It is always necessary to grow good things such as our gardens, our relationships, our communities, and our businesses.  When life is at its toughest, that's the fertile time to plant the seeds of hope and rejuvenation.  There's more purity in their purpose to succeed.

As I have said in my previous post, I desire to donate to my favorite charity Branches here on Eastern Long Island.  At a time when things are the hardest for many all of us need to do whatever we can to treat each other as neighbors and friends and lend a hand.  It's amazing how anyone can sit in a garden and contemplate some of the most simple life answers that are right in front of us.

If a handful of people on one block all decided to grow one different item.  Then that same handful of people shared their crop evenly with each other - just imagine all the positive energy that can build on one block?  Why can't we do the same with charity, friendships, and relationships?

This luscious red basil has doubled its size in width since this picture was taken a couple weeks ago.

 Above it and to its right side is the equally delicious Big Leaf Italian basil.