"Everything I know I learned in My Garden." By Emilie Barnes

image from clipground.com 

​Taken from Meteorologist Dillon Vogt

     Good morning, it is Friday all ready.  How the weeks goes so quickly!  The temperature is at 35 degrees so still mild out, but it is cloudy.  Wind is from the south so has moisture in it making it feel very damp. It feels like 25 out.  BUT remember it is still Feb in Iowa.  I saw a graphic on Facebook yesterday that was very interesting.  It says it all.  Winter will be back; I am sorry to say.  But seasons need to come when they are to come and not mess it all up with too early. 
     I have been cleaning up the office/porch area.  When you clean you find lots of goodies.  One thing I found was a book “Everything I know I learned in My Garden” by Emilie Barnes.  It is fun to read, and I am going to share with you one story. 
Life is enduring Trust it.
   The most hopeful lesson I’ve learned in more than thirty years of gardening is that plants are far harder and more forgiving than most people ever image.  There are almost no fatal mistakes and very few serious ones.  You always have a chance to start over. 
     Hope is nurtured every time a pruned back bush sends forth invigorated shoots, every time a languishing bush flourishes in a new location, every time a self-seeded volunteer crops up in a new location as a lovely surprise.  Hope is nurtured just by being in the company of trees and plants and flowers, by witnessing the relentless strength and energy of growing things.
     A teacher friend teaches an art class to a group of second graders.  The first rule they must learn in the class is that no one is allowed to say, “I messed up.”  That doesn’t mean that mistakes aren’t allowed!  But she wants them to learn that mistakes aren’t fatal.  So instead of saying, I messed up.” They learn to say, “ I want to try again.”  Instead of dwelling on their failures, they are encouraged to say, “I’d like a new piece of paper.”  That’s exactly the way the garden works.  You always have a fresh piece of paper.  You can always try again. 
Quote from Ruth Stout  Working in the garden gives me something beyond enjoyment of the senses…It gives me a profound feeling of inner peace.  There is no rush toward accomplishment, no blowing of trumpets.  Here is the great mystery of life and growth.  Everything is changing, growing, aiming at something, but silently, unboastful, taking its time.
This is why I garden, how about you?
Taken from Everything I know I learned in My Garden by Emilie Barnes published by Harvest House Publishers
Till next time this is Becky Litterer, Becky’s Greenhouse, Dougherty Iowa [email protected]  641-794-3337  cell 641-903-9365