Welcome to the Garden

“And we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden.” ~ Joni Mitchell

One of those iconic songs from the sixties rings true today. Really the garden is timeless, all the way back to Adam & Eve. Even the wise book of the Christians and Jews refers to the importance of the garden. It’s such an essential backbone of our existence, put on our planet to nurture us. Some people grow vegetables, others herbs and flowers.   I’m focusing mostly on Tulsi, Rose and Lavender.  What is Eden? How do we get back there? I see it as heaven on earth and one of my main missions here on this planet is to live each moment with conscious loving kindness to create that heaven on earth once again. That is what this blog is about: The places that our consciousness connects with the spiritual and how to bridge our inner world with this world we live in that we may shine our lights so brightly that we inspire others to shine and sing their own soul’s song.

I started this blog to chronicle the events  and magic of the plants and the culture of people that grow around it. I’ll talk some about the actual growing process, but will also muse on our connection to spirit, our own and the thread of loving kindness that connects us all. That almost unnameable force that connects us all is how I got to be here on this piece of land with this garden. Mind you, I’m not a landowner, yet somehow spirit has conspired to help me bring forth this vision into the real 3D world.  Thank you great Spirit for bringing me here. Everyday I count my blessings and am so grateful.

You might ask how a person with no savings and nothing to her name could manifest this dream. My only assets are a car and a dog, well not sure if Taka is technically an asset, but to me she is my biggest one. This is the story of what happens when you really, really, really believe in your dreams. I imagined this garden, I drew this garden regularly for over a year. I talked about it to everyone I knew. I was excited about it. I enlisted the thoughts and imaginations of others by sharing the vision. I really think others could almost see it too. I prayed a lot. I asked source, the oneness, Great Spirit to show me where and I trusted my gut.

Around 2011 we had this snowstorm around Halloween that caused a lot of damage. The leaves were still on the trees and a lot of power lines went down. I was living alone in an apartment in Northampton, Mass. when my power went out I had no heat. I could cook on the gas stove top, but it was cold in there. That’s when I made the decision that I wanted to live somewhere that had a wood stove and some better resources to handle those kinds of things.

I thought maybe Montague or Shutesbury, but then I started having a magical connection with Shelburne Falls. I could just feel inside that it was the right place. So I rented a small office in Shelburne Falls to bring myself and my energy up there while I looked around. I was studying with a rabbi at the time because I wanted to learn about Judaism and he had invited me to sing at a Passover dinner at the synagogue. I went over to TempleIsrael in Greenfield to volunteer to help set the space up and at some point between putting out plates and silverware I got myself locked out of the building. I knocked and pounded and tried to get their attention, but to no avail. Luckily it was a full moon and as I was standing there I could see the beauty of her fullness and I started singing. The acoustics in this little vestibule were so strong that my voice really resonated beautifully. I think that the vibration of the singing helped to raise the consciousness of what happened next.

Someone finally heard me and opened up the door.  I was working with this lovely woman Janice, whom I had just met. As we were setting up another table she told me that she was from Shelburne Falls.
“I’m interested in moving there,” I said.
“Well, what are you looking for?”
Inside I thought, really? Can I really ask for what I want? Well here goes nothing!
“I’d really like to find a house sit.”
“Oh, well we’re looking for a house sitter in August, “she said.

And that’s how I got here to this beautiful piece of land nestled in between the hills and near the river. There are goats and chickens and when I first moved here there were several greenhouses that were still standing from a farmer who had been running a CSA. Just like home!

Then there was asking about the garden. I had told Janice and her husband, Michael about my idea for the garden after a couple of months of living here. But asking about planting it here was a whole other trust exercise. Inside, again, I thought… ” I can’t ask that, they’ll just say no.”

But somehow I convinced myself that I had nothing to lose in asking the question. The worst thing that could happen is that they could say, “no thanks.” But they didn’t, they said yes!

And with that yes, I put a shovel in the ground and just kept on digging, trusting that the vision would be revealed.