Re: my garden
Lorraine Hoag wrote:
>
> So sad that I came to serious gardening so late, but am loving every part
> of my garden and am grateful for this time in my life.
> God is good.
> L
So well said. So true. Many years ago, myself and a couple of friends started
a small gardening business in SF, then in the East Bay , then finally to
Marin, where I still live. It was brutal, often isolating work, and, let's
face it, we weren't that special, just a routine gardening maintenance crew,
only female. (Which actually was enough of a novelty at that time to get us a
lot of business.) I grew to hate it after about 5 years or so, and made a huge
career switch in my early 40's, went to nursing school at College of Marin,
and have been a practicing RN for about 12 years. It's only been in the last 3
or 4 years that I returned to gardening, and I have a whole new outlook on it
now. It's totally for me now, I can try and fail to my hearts content. And
most of the time have a pretty wonderful showing for my efforts.
I think gardening can be many different things to a person. As a job, I found
that it was less than satisfactory for many reasons. But for me, now, semi
retired, it is my one true love, my soul saving, body saving, practice. I
became slightly disabled, and can no longer work full time at Nursing, and
have been on a medical leave since April. This past summer has been the most
wonderful gardening experience ever. I feel nothing less than saved.
I feel blessed. I am a renter, and can only imagine being a home owner and the
joy that would come from major productions, like removing trees and opening up
areas, or creating ponds, or any of a thousand things I fantasize about during
the day. As it is, I have a rather large space, (with a tiny apartment), total
freedom, and it is truly my favorite pastime. I cannot go into, or even drive
by a nursery without feeling the tug, to drop to just see what they've got. I
used to spend a lot of money on books, movies, etc. Now I go to the library,
rent video's, and spend a small fortune on plants, and other gardening stuff.
I hate leaving home. I can spend a lot of time, just staring at my plants,
moving them around, watering. Whatever. I'm not really collecting anything in
particular, unless it would be "new". New to me. Perusing online catalogs has
become another favorite activity.
I could go on like this forever. Happily. But, alas, I will have to return to
work in the spring, for at least a few more years, but now I know the secret
to life, to coping, to everything. Have a garden.
thanks for listening,
loretta in fairfax
