17 MAY. 2024 · Grit... Strength... Survival... Determination....  What does it mean to be a survivor?   How does adversity and challenge make us stonger?      In this episode, I share the story of an extraordinary red-winged blackbird that we nicknamed Zachary Bass, after a movie character who survived against all odds.   This one bird, inspired us to become "bird nerds" and learn more about our feathered friends, and the true meaning of challenges that make us stronger.

13 MAY. 2024 · We've had a lot of rain and I'm standing outside the garden looking at the growth and considering our deer fence - a simple set-up of metal posts and fishing line.    How in the world does something so simple keep out the deer?     They brush against it at night and it startles them. That's it... the fence isn't really keeping them away from their goal, their fear of the unknown is what keeps them away from the delicious okra and beets they want to gobble up. Hopefully the deer never Google the solution to this issue...    But, in a similar way, we can be held back from the things we want to do, from the garden we wish to create in our own lives. Gaining information, support, and professional help where needed can get us past the things that are holding us back so we can grow again.

10 MAY. 2024 · Sunflowers have a few amazing qualities...  one of which is that they always seek the sunlight.  We have several volunteer sunflowers popping up around our bird feeders and in the garden.     Even though they are just a few inches tall, and there are no flowers on them... I can always tell the sunflower seedlings hiding in the clover and grass... because in the morning they are bent toward the sunrise, and in the evening they are bent towards the sunset.  It is an amazing phenomenon that can help us in our own lives.   Want to know more amazing things about sunflowers? : https://leaaverygear.com/blogs/other-outdoorsy-things/33-fun-facts-about-sunflowers-to-brighten-your-curiosity   Want to plant some of your own? Baker Creek Seeds is a great company with lots of beautiful varieties - here's a link to their page ( I love to look at the pictures!) : https://www.rareseeds.com/search/sunflower   

6 MAY. 2024 · We just started our yearly bout with something we call "Green Ball Syndrome."  It's a condition we bring on ourselves, and happily suffer through the effects of this condition.     Green Ball Syndrome is what we call it when our tomato plants fruit.  The pretty yellow flowers turn into a tiny green sphere that given the proper conditions, turns into a delious, ripe, red, home-grown tomato!   My dear hubs had a funny chat with his brother when they were both growing tomatoes in their gardens, which led to the green ball joke.  However, comparing ourselves to others, is no joke.  It can lead us down a negative path.   In this episode I'll share some ideas on how to avoid the comparison trap, as well as what my brother-in-law's advice was for "Green Ball Syndrome". 

3 MAY. 2024 · "I love pulling weeds!" said no one ever! Weeds can ruin a garden, but how do you keep them under control?  We nip them with a garden hoe, before they get too large to deal with easily. In this episode, we'll talk about hoeing, nipping, and dealing with the weeds in our lives before they take over. 

30 ABR. 2024 · A garden is never the same from one season to the next, it's a lot like life. But for some reason, I can accept that things won't always go the way I planned in the garden.  In our lives, we can take things so seriously. Replay incidents, accidents, and events over and over. But, we can never change the past. So, how do we learn from what happened but not dwell on it? Failing forward is a concept I'll share in this episode, along with a story about some of the big garden fails we've had but that we've learned from to grow better each season.

27 ABR. 2024 · In this episode I share a story about a sign in my school's teacher's lounge that read, "Don't Talk About Yourself, We'll do that After You Leave!"  Just before an acredidation board came to tour the school, my dear hubs helped me make a sign to hang alongside this one that showed a version of Eleanor Roosevelt's quote about Large Minds Discuss Ideas, Medium Sized Minds Discuss Events and Small minds Discuss People.  Funny enough, both signs disappeared within a week. But, the idea behind Eleanor Roosevelt's quote - about the size of our "talk" is an important one to consider. Not only from what we say, but just as important is what we listen to or allow to "speak" into our hearts and lives. With such constant and easy connection to audio / video / chat / social media / television / radio... it's easy to mindlessly listen and watch things that can bring us down.  In my small group on Facebook, we are going through a book chat, the book is Jamie Kern Lima's Believe IT!  and this week she was sharing about the idea of a microphone. We each have one, and we can decide to whom we hand the mic for our hearts and minds. We can also adjust the volume to allow the "big talk" the Idea talk more space and attention. And, when needed, we can lower the volume or take the mic back from people and things that would make our minds smaller.  Here's a link to our Facebook small group called https://www.facebook.com/groups/525142993159755/ We are a group of GAL PALS the positively effect our little corner of social media.

23 ABR. 2024 · My dear hubs likes to tease me about how good I am at creating "maximum dammage" in the garden.  It's a fun play on words, because we build up a dam of dirt around each row of tomato plants - it helps us funnel water to the roots of those plants instead of splashing water everywhere.   In this episode, we'll talk about ways to channel our resources to the things that need them.... and to weed out the things that we shouldn't be pouring our limited time, effort, attention and creative energy into. To see a video of our actual garden when this episode was recorded, click here: https://www.facebook.com/share/r/DpWCGS1WJp4Rfhcb/?mibextid=WC7FNe Plus, here's a link to the awesome "Homegrown Tomatoes" song we'll be singing all summer:  https://youtu.be/U1_P85kMIX8?si=uQzVQjxrcVgU-K_F  (I like this version best because it has all the extra versus! - I did record a version of this episode where I was singing the song... but Tom Fisch does it way better!).

17 ABR. 2024 · Have you ever had someone tell you, "well, it could be worse"? Is there always a silver lining?  A positive mindset doesn't make the circumstances dissappear, but it can certainly make the trip better for us and all the passengers around us.  In this episode I share a funny story that my dear hubs likes to tell, along with some insights from the garden and life to help us consider ways to look for the positive.

14 ABR. 2024 · Each year our neighbors think we have an instant garden...  but the truth is that appearances can be decieving.  Like with social media.  It is easy to think that everyone is living the good life and you are missing out.  In this episode I'll share 3 simple steps to get your joy and sense of contentment back if you've been scrolling and not finding peace.