Turning the page

"Learning how to be still, to really be still and let life happen - that stillness becomes radiance"
Morgan Freeman

This quote comes from my office calendar. Today is the first of July and as my monthly tradition, it is also the day I get to turn the page to a new month. It is a simple thing, the changing of the calendar, but I love the first day of each new month. I flip my calendar. We have 3 calendars. July a new beginning, a fresh start and the second half of 2011. Each new month is a mini new year, full of promises and anticipation.

Last month, I traveled to AZ and helped family with the loss of my grandma. She was soon to be 97. The trip was not in my planner or even my consciousness but life moves and changes with certainty. It felt good to turn the page this morning, maybe because I lost my grandma or maybe because life seems a little more precious today. After the sadness and sorrow of June, this little tradition of a new start feels like a gift.

Morgan Freeman's quote on July was interesting. To cherish the day, should it be packed full of life or quite and still?

Wishing you a new month filled with relaxing moments, joyful surprises and sunshine filled days.

Denise

1 year under my Lasagna belt

Last year at this same time, I was watching the little plants in my newly built lasagna beds grow. If you remember I created my first beds using the guidance from Patricia Lanza's book, Lasagna Gardening.

Even though the garden was hugely successful: I had very few weeds, the soil held moisture incredibly well and my root veggies were so perfect. I still wondered about Lasagna gardening. Maybe, I thought, it was just too good to be true.

If you didn't follow last years experiment, Here is the readers digest version. Lasagna gardening is a way to garden without tilling, spading or removing sod and weeds. It is a way to use up household compostables like shredded paper, chopped leaves, cut grass and anything else you can find- like weeds before they go to seed. You layer these compostables one after another- like a lasagna and then you plant into the bed.

Fast forwarding to now: This spring I had to pull up my 1st lasagna bed to put in our new sewer system- this is a whole other story. Here is what I found! I found the most beautiful, rich, dark composted soil I have ever seen. Even with my compost bins I have never created that much compost. Success!!!! I am now a true believer!

Happy digging!!
Denise

Marching to your own drum

" Laughter is day and sobriety is night;
a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both,
more bewitching than either."
Henry Ward Beecher

I pulled this off my calendar for the month of March
Not a bad way to start spring.
Denise