Spring and Summer are the perfect seasons for planting new seed… so that’s what my family and I did… We started work on our own sustainable, organic, vegan gardens, along with volunteering our time and hands at a couple local neighborhood gardens… It’s been quite a fruitful experience… Albeit, we began planting seedlings and seed late this year, our fruit came early… Within a week’s time, we saw sprouts coming through the soil and flowering from our plants… It’s an amazing sight to see… Life coming into bloom in our natural, outdoor gardens… Perhaps, having green thumbs contributed to this magic made visible so soon…

In my early twenties, I started acquiring and keeping my own house plants… They became a part of my home’s interior decor… Plants have a way of making indoor and outdoor spaces come alive… I think they greatly contribute to the beauty of a place… Though, true… I had a bit to learn about caring for my plants… In my early twenties, I hadn’t yet fully cultivated my green thumbs… Luckily, nonetheless, there were individuals in my life who were excellent plant care-givers… Their plants were always healthy and happy in appearance… So, what were their secrets… I wasn’t sure initially, but being the inquisitive person I am, I started to ask and find out…

The plant care-givers I knew… their secrets were not really secrets… These individuals simply treated their plants like they treated a child or pet they loved… They had friendly conversations with their plants… They were delicate with their plants… They made sure to feed their plants clean water and good food when they required feedings… and they worked on keeping adequate environments for their plants to thrive in… Truthfully, raising plants is almost similar to raising a child and/or a pet… I found this out during my times of travel… I couldn’t just leave my house plants alone for long periods of time without them having some attention and care… The joyful responsibility of caring for and about our plants is in big part what helps us to become more familiar with our green thumbs… Some of us are born with green thumbs and we instinctively know what to do to keep our plants healthy and happy… Others of us are born with the same intuition, yet we haven’t completely opened ourselves to it… and therefore, we move toward a more exploratory experience of finding what’s already present within us… Either way, plants are a form of life… A form of life that have the ability to teach us the significance of genuine love… kind talk… gentle care… positive expectations… and faith also known as optimism…

In my twenties, I loved having plants in my space, primarily for their aesthetic appeal… As I matured and began to focus more on growing my own life… in healthier and happier ways, my thirties became a time for me to explore further the beauty of plants from a different perspective… Keeping plants healthy, happy and beautiful had a deeper meaning for me… When I saw my plants thriving… it let me know I was giving them good love… and that I was paying closer attention to what in my life really mattered to me… and my plants truly did matter to me… but more importantly, my own life and everything I was doing in my life mattered to me… including giving good love to me too… and paying closer attention to what kept me smiling and prospering… Plants have a way of talking back to us… I’m glad I respect them enough to listen… My plants are my children, considering I don’t have biological children… They are my pets, considering my time on the road does not consistently afford me the opportunity to have a live-in pet, outside of stuffed animals… They are part of my family… and anyone who knows me… knows I have immense appreciation and adoration for family… inherited and otherwise…

By the time I reached my forties, my study of plants increased… First, I wanted to learn how to properly take care of house plants… I wanted to earn my green thumbs… After caring for several varieties of house plants and learning what they did and didn’t particularly like, for example, succulents prefer less water than other plant types… I felt I was ready to expand my family… my plant family that is… It was time to start my own outdoor, organic vegetable, fruit and herb garden… When the idea came to me… to develop a garden in the back of my home, I wanted it to be a garden family and friends could benefit from… So, my back yard garden became a community garden… When spring arrived, at least once or twice a week friends and family came together to gather at the site where we would grow our garden… We shared our thoughts about the foods we would grow… how we would design our garden… and who was considered our community… since our garden was now a community garden… With our answers in mind, we moved toward getting the work of making a community garden completed… The effort of preparing our soil for new seed was a little more than we expected, but we were fortunate to have one of our neighborhood greening organizations, Knox Foundation, Hartford, CT, and a long-time community garden developer join us…

The idea of starting a community garden became… faith of a community coming to greater life… Gardening is indeed an act of faith… Individually and collectively, it was vital we believed in our dream… and that we knew without doubt the good seed sewn would prosper… Gardening for us was also… more than just planting seed in the soil and waiting for sprouts, bulbs, flowers and fruits to come forth… Gardening was an act of service… It gave us the opportunity to build organically with Nature … to foster a healthier environment and climate… and to create a healthier relationship with the natural world… with others and with ourselves… Gardening also presented to us the chance to live more holistically… Being in Nature, putting our bare hands in the soils of our primitive earth and sometimes our bare feet, pleasantly stimulated our minds… our hearts… our bodies and souls… The primal energy given out by the earth has the elemental power to soothe our minds… calm our hearts… relax our bodies and spontaneously massage our souls… And the added benefit of planting and growing our own foods lends to the garden to table experience… Eating food freshly grown in my own personal and/or community garden is one of the most delightful experiences I’ve had in my lifetime… especially, because I love delicious foods… whether raw or heated… with or without seasonings…

Healthy and happy absolutely describe my experience with gardening… my experience with contributing in cleaner ways to our environments, the climate and the world at large… and my experience with eating fresh foods directly from my own personal or community garden… Growing a garden has allowed me to more greatly realize… the season for planting new seed… and for cultivating my green thumbs… is really not a seasonal experience… for me it is a lifetime endeavor… to dream glorious dreams… and to bring them to life and see them prosper… fruitfully… BIG SMILE…

Due to my love of sustainable, organic and eco-friendly gardening (small farming), I introduced the GARDEN (SMALL FARM) TO TABLE AND SCHOOL endeavor to my global community initiative, BUILD… With the GARDEN (SMALL FARM) TO TABLE AND SCHOOL initiative by intention is to facilitate in-person and on-line classes and workshops to share with individuals (adults and school age children) how to develop their own sustainable, organic and eco-friendly gardens and care for and grow their own veggie, fruit and herb plants… More about BUILD: GARDEN TO TABLE can be found on the Community Initiatives page and on my social media sites, Instagram and Pinterest, under Dana Rondel.

We have the capacity and potential to always be a blessing in our own lives, in the lives of others and in this magical and magnificent world of ours…

Learn more about Omniversal Life International (OLI) at windinc.org or by selecting the link for Omniversal Life International (OLI) in the main menu…

Images photographed, created and/or designed by Partners In Goodwill: Publications & Media…partnersingoodwill.com …

Learn more about The Gathering of Daughters at windinc.org or by selecting the link for The Gathering of Daughters in the main menu…

Learn more about the Annual International Celebration of Dance at windinc.org or by selecting the link for Annual International Celebration of Dance in the main menu…

biashedo™ ~ My Universe Is Friendly… Inside and Out… And So Is Yours… The Macro… and The Micro… Grace… Love… Prosperity… Always sending forth light and love… :o)

Learn more about biashedo™ at windinc.org… Select the link for the Healthy Lives Campaign in the main menu… I have also written a more detailed blog on biashedo™ posted on January 6, 2016… Check it out too… danarondel.com …

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