It's New Year's eve and I've discovered a summer bloomer in the garden! A beautiful pink Echinacea is blooming in the midst of the winter season, even after a hard frost. As a flower essence the energy signature of Echinacea is "deep healing on all levels". After the tumultuous year we've experienced in 2017, I feel it's gift and message is one of renewal. There will be a deep healing going on in 2018. In numerology 2018 is an 11 year, a master number which signifies illumination and inspiration. As our hearts heal and open to the new year I think we'll be inspired to do great things. A grassroots movement of change is underway as more and more awaken to a better, more gentle way of treating each other and the Earth. The first stirrings of unity are being felt in the collective. The powers that be do not have our best interests at heart,and as a people we're starting to see that. It's time for a change. Our heart light and love will grow brighter as the ones with dark intent continue their lies and poisons and games of control. In the years ahead they'll be no match to our brilliance but this is just the beginning. The seeds of love have been planted and it's up to us to nurture them and help them grow. Just like my beautiful summer bloomer on a winter day,the light and love will continue to shine no matter what. It has only just begun...

  The winter solstice closes the door on the events of the year. It is the quiet pause between fall and winter, the time to sleep more, dream more and create our lives anew. Many will be happy to close the door on this crazy year. It has been a tumultuous time for all of us. In the U.S. it has been a game-changer on all fronts. No matter what side of the fence you sit on (or don't!) the political scene has been intense and people are waking up, speaking out and making their voices heard. The next day after the new administration was sworn in, we had a most incredible Women's March, supported by husbands,fathers sons, friends. And now as the year closes,we have the "me too' movement where many are speaking up, both women and men, bringing the atrocities of hidden (or not so hidden) abuse out into the open. Justice is being served.
  On the weather front,my oh my,we've had an interesting year on our planet. Yes,the climate is changing and a huge balancing and cleansing is underway. And it has not been easy. All of our hearts and arms have stretched to comfort those who are suffering. There have been huge clean-ups and loss of homes during hurricanes,floods and fires.People and animals have been displaced and it has been heart wrenching at times. This "re-boot" of lives is a huge theme these days. Another theme is the story of world-wide abuse,greed and power which is now fully visible for all to see. It held sway for too long,hidden in the trenches,and now the abuse is coming out into the light of day. You can't change what you can't see and now it's changing. And that's a good thing.
  In my conversations with Gaia, she is in the midst of her own birthing process, just like we are, and it's intense. But she is happy for the light and that things are changing. She asks us to love ourselves deeply so that we may love her more fully. That's how the abuse of the Earth will end, one healed heart at a time.It will take work on our part and courage as we support each other through this heart healing process. It's not easy as we uncover our painful childhood wounds, unworthiness issues and sometimes abuse. We'll need each other more than ever to help each other through this.The gift will be a planet full of open hearts,as our love spills out into the world and to our precious Earth.The wars we wage with each other and the Earth will fall away as do the poisons of war. Poison doesn't exist in a state of unity, only through division. The honeybees speak of this often with me. They ask me to spread the message of peace so they may thrive. Because they live in unity, a bit of poison brought home to the hive,will kill the hive. The same goes with us. 
  On this Solstice night, let us dream the dream of healing and connection to all. Let us sing the song and dance the dance of Unity that we learn from the beehive. The bees know how to live. It's now time for us to follow their lead... 

Thanksgiving marks the time when the cold seeps in and life in the vegetable garden comes to a close. The fruit trees and perennial flower beds have moved their energy from leaf to root for the winter, while the annuals are finishing up the season with their last flowers and fruits. The summer birds have gone south while the hawks, red-winged blackbirds, juncos, doves, quails, goldfinch and woodpeckers are busy at the feeding station. We still have a few hummers too. They'll be with us through the winter months and we'll continue to fill feeders and throw out seed. We provide extra goodies on the snow-days when the ground gets covered in white.We picked the last of the basil and made our final batch of pesto. That has been a yummy addition to our summer diet! The chard is beautiful this time of year and we'll continue to harvest until it gets really cold. It then slows it's growth until the first warm days of spring and we'll begin to harvest again. The garlic was planted under a hoop-house in early October. They'll grow slowly through the winter, coming alive in the spring for a May harvest. We picked all the tomatoes and tomatillos we could before the hard freeze. Now every window is covered with ripening tomatoes! We're so blessed to have such a spectacular bounty this year. The last harvest of the season comes soon when we pick the beans. Huge bean pods are now drying on the vine and what was once a "wall of flowers" are now pods full of brightly colored beans! We'll be shucking them by the fire all winter long. Steve and I have much to be thankful for. We have windowsills full of fruit, two freezers full of garden bounty, a jar of fresh pesto in the fridge,fresh chard in the garden and a colorful bean harvest to come. Nature has been good to us. Life in the garden is good...

It's fall in the garden and the roses are shining! It's their final splash of color before the cold seeps in and their energy returns to the roots for a winter's rest. The deciduous trees are doing the same dance, as leaves turn gold against an autumn sky. It's beautiful in the garden,especially as the roses bloom to catalog perfection. Big buds burst open in bright colors, no longer faded by summer heat. And the fragrance,my oh my, it's spectacular! My nose moves from flower to flower, each perfume stronger than the last. There are even a few late season bumblebees enjoying the bouquet! Buried in pollen, they lap up the last nectar of the season. All too soon winter's cold will fade the flowers and the bustling insect activity will quiet until spring. In the meantime we'll enjoy the bold colors and heady perfume of the "queens of the garden". A rose is a rose...and aren't we lucky enough to live among them?

I was meditating one morning, enjoying the busy sounds of honeybees as they collected nectar and pollen from a salvia bush close by. I opened my eyes to watch them for a moment, noticing a group of ants that had gathered below the bush. They had over-taken a big green Katydid and it's legs were still moving so I knew it was alive. I thought to myself, "We'll have none of this in the garden this morning!" and I told the ants they needed to back off and leave the Katydid alone. It was a cold morning and the Katydid was probably vulnerable as it tried to warm itself, and the ants, being ants, took advantage of it's weakness. I scooped him up and gently blew off all the ants, not killing them of course but letting them know they could busy themselves elsewhere. The Katydid was in shock and it just laid on it's side, though it's antennae were moving about. I softly blew on him to revive him a bit, telling him he was lovely, which he really was. I told him the ants needed to learn that violence in the garden wasn't necessary and in picking him up and blowing them off, they got the message loud and clear. As he lay in my hand I resumed my meditation. When I was finished he started to move around a little more and he sat upright. I think it helped him. I placed him on a beautiful dahlia flower and he thanked me. I replied that it was my joy and my pleasure and it made me happy to help him. I told him we were all learning how to love in the garden, which meant loving everything in the garden. He hopped off the flower and I smiled. Love in the garden begins with us...

Today we celebrate a day of balance, when the hours of dark and light are equal. It's a still-point of new beginnings and the completion of a cycle that began the previous fall. It's Nature's New Year and "the orchestra" is playing loudly on the Earth and in our garden. It's harvest time with most of the fruit on the trees having been picked and processed except for the grapes and plums, while the tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil and chard are happily abundant and we're celebrating their deliciousness! So grateful. The Runner Bean vines are a mass of brightly colored flowers and the first pods are beginning to form. We'll be harvesting them around Thanksgiving after the garden has gone to sleep and the beans have dried on the vine. The bean flowers are a hummingbird favorite and it's so fun to watch them chase each other through the "bean forest!" We had at least forty hummingbirds here this season and between them and the honeybees, our five sugar feeders were drained often,sometimes twice a day! Usually August and September are the busiest months for pollinators in the garden, as the hummers are fattening up for their travels and the bees are busy creating their honey stores for the winter. And many Monarch and Painted Lady butterflies are traveling through for their final migration, often landing and feeding on the bright orange Mexican Sunflowers we plant for them.
 It's a beautiful time in the garden as the summer heat has finally let loose and the Salvias are bursting with bloom. Splashes of purple, pink, red, white and magenta are everywhere and the hummies and bees are loving all the abundance! And so are we...

The garden is happy and so are we! We've been enjoying lots of tasty produce this season. The cherries, apricots and the first fig crop were abundant and flavorful. The 2nd fig crop is beginning and they are divine! We have 8 kinds of tomatoes-three a colorful mix of cherries- and the others different colors and sizes of the big guys. Yummy! The peppers are tasty,the yellow squash are abundant and Steve's onions that he grew from our seed did well this year. The rainbow chard is wonderful-it re-seeded itself from the first crop we planted in the spring. I've been making small batches of pesto almost everyday for dinner and I'm going to miss the fresh when the basil finally freezes. The almonds are starting to crack their fuzzy shells -there is nothing like a fresh almond!-and the peaches and nectarines will be ready for picking by mid August. Late August brings the grapes and plums. The garden is crazy busy with bees,hummingbirds, hoverflies, wasps, moths, flies, goldfinch, butterflies and praying mantis. The salvias, roses, poppies and dahlias always have somebody visiting them. And the sugar feeders are like grand central station this time of year with all five needing to be re-filled everyday! Steve has been taking good care of the garden while I've been traveling and we're both so grateful for the food,the flowers and the love.
Life is good...

   After the bustling activity of springtime, things got kind of quiet in the garden for awhile. The various pollinators began their nesting time and they were foraging closer to their nests. But that has all changed and life in the garden is VERY BUSY!! The hummingbird babies have fledged and are busy chasing and squabbling among the flowers and feeders. The spring migration of Painted Lady Butterflies has ceased but they've been replaced by the slow fluttering dance of Swallowtails and Monarchs. I love to watch them as they perch and feed on the bright pink Echinacea Flowers that are so prolific this time of year. The wild bees such as Mason and Bumblebees are loving the yarrows while the shiny black Carpenter Bees are foraging in the salvias all day long! They are up before sunrise and are still out there well after the sun has gone down. Speaking of sundown, that's the time when the bright yellow Night Blooming Primrose unfurls its flowers and the Sphinx Moths are on them as soon as they open!! It's so fun to watch them hum and feed like tiny hummingbirds in the evening light. It's one of the many treats of summer!  The many kinds of wasps are having a good season this year. They're on insect patrol in the flowers and do their own special brand of pollinating in the process. We have a shallow dish of water in the garden and the wasps and honeybees LOVE to drink at the edge or even float on the water. It's their spa in the summer heat. Speaking of honeybees, we have a lot of them foraging in the garden all season long. This time of year they aren't interested in the sugar feeders. They're busy in the flowers instead. Some bee favorites are squash blossoms, cactus flowers, spearmint, basil, poppies, tomatoes, peppers, scabiosa, guaras,carrot flowers, cilantro blossoms and so many more! The garden is alive with their music and I am grateful. Life on this beautiful planet wouldn't be the same without all of our precious pollinators and I'm happy to help. And you can too....
​With much love from the garden,
​Marianne

About the Author
Marianne spends as much time in nature as possible which, of course, includes her garden. These monthly posts are a way for her to share her experiences in the garden with others so they too can feel the beauty and wonder of our Mother Earth.