Where Seedlings Grow

Babies Without Borders and Growing Garden Gnomes are abject failures. Not one person attended. I sit in the Fairy Garden, a space we dedicated time and energy to cleaning up for the programs, and I wonder how to share the beauty with others. Black eyed susans, yellow yarrow, vibrant cardoons, eucalyptus, pear, and apricot trees. A meandering stream. Children dig in mud, build fairy houses, tinker.

My father in law told me today I should send my two oldest to school so I’d only have two at home, “Then Jacob could get a job.”

When I relayed the story to my older brother, his comment was, “Well you were already poor, and now you have no guaranteed income so they’re probably worried about you and all those kids.”

We were already poor?

We don’t have a lot of wealth, this is true. Poor? I’m not sure I can compute this statement.

Circumstance: brother makes comment that we are poor

Thought: everyone thinks we’re incompetent/failures

Feeling: incredulous

Action: ruminate

Result: shaken in my course of action

What’s another thought I could have?

T: there’s a lot of conditioning that makes our choices difficult for others to comprehend

F: enterprising

A: write about it

R: stay true to our course

Although my foray into early childhood offerings has proven a nonsuccess, there has been an additional bonus (the first being our Fairy Garden Clean Up).

For the program I wrote a story about a gnome, Yeshua, who lives on our farm, and grew up here under the tutelage of Magi, the wisest fairy in the fields. Our six year old daughter has responded extremely well to this story line, and continues to request more. I find this heartening.

As I write this, the 6 year old is asking questions about Hexus – we recently viewed Fern Gully. I love how this movie – two decades old – speaks to my children on a level they can really identify with. Taking the messages from it, weaving them into our daily garden tasks, I am actively building a brighter future. This I will have faith in.

A friend who is an entrepreneur said I need to have lots of events. I ask Jacob if I can have people out to do nature painting and drawing. He says “Sketchy.”

I never was great at puns.