On the road to Damascus

When the heat of summer has it's grip tight around the throat of my enthusiasm, it's time to get out, get away, get a cleaner slate in my head. That's when I head to a small corner of north west Georgia to transform myself.

The long mountain ridges stretch out before me, and the roads wind through the lush green valleys. I can feel my breathing slow and deepen. A slim smile replaces pursed lips. I am on the road to a place where nature and creativity join hands, and where I can let go of the lists behind my eyes, and just see. Carl (www.saultopaulstables.com) and Susan (www.susanseydelcofer.com) have made this working farm a work of art. Nature's crafts are honored and kept well tended. But even so, the vision of the artist, the builder, the entrepreneur add a flare, a touch, a surprise around the corner.

The passage to my new person begins with a walk. Closeup, a collage of cedar, poison ivy and resurrection fern.

In the distance, a freshly mowed field full of round hay bales and a single sentinel stone.



Further on we revisit the labyrinth. Joe and I were here for the beginning of this ever evolving creation. It is part of the cleansing to walk the labyrinth methodically, slowly, sincerely; shedding troubles and worries at every turn. The woods gently hold you throughout the journey, and upon turning from inward out, each tree gently lets you go. Wildflowers shout out from fence posts,



chapel bells peal across the pastures. It is not the organized religions of today, but the sacred spirituality of the ancient that calls me back to the beginning.




and the eye of the artist, the eye of the builder have framed it perfectly for me.



The angel trumpets the sound of renewal. I am feeling energized. I am ready to go back to the real world again, with a new level of energy, satisfaction and grace.
This poem by e.e. cummings was part of Katie and Will's wedding service. It most perfectly describes today.

e.e. cummings

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

Making Mud Pies

It's been hot. And it's been June! I think we had 90's for 19 or 20 days in a row, and most of that was 96, 97, 98. There was one morning when I left the house at 5:45 am and it was already 80 degrees!

Even in the mountains, where we watched our big girl and her groom "take the plunge", it was unusually warm and humid. And although there were loads of rain opportunities, we seemed to be getting only the windy, thundery, lightening-turns-the electricity-off part, and not the actual drops of water from the sky.

So, what happens at the nursery when it's so hot so soon? First of all, the weeds seem to go crazy. That means long days of bending over, sweat dripping off your face, as you try to take control back for the sake of the "good plants". Then since it's June, there's fertilizing and herbiciding that has to be done, also involving much bending over and sweating. So...we start early in the morning, we try to work methodically, we spend a lot of time watering.
And then I've just got to change the subject.

So last week we led up to the July 4th holiday with "hypertufa week".

Hypertufa is defined by Wikipedia as " an anthropic rock made from various aggregates bonded together using Portland cement.Hypertufa is intended as a manufactured substitute for natural tufa, which is a slowly precipitated limestone rock; being very porous, it is favorable for plant growth. Hypertufa is popular for making garden ornaments, pots and land forms. Hypertufa is relatively light compared with terracotta or concrete and can withstand harsh winters, at least down to −30 °C (−22 °F)Hypertufa was invented for use in alpine gardens. Alpine gardeners formerly used antique animal watering troughs, which became rare and expensive.

There are many recipes for hypertufa, but most include peat and perlite with the Portland cement. It's always a bit of an adventure to get the water just right. The mixture needs to be solid, but still workable. It needs to conform to the mold, but not ooze once placed. But really, it's like making mud pies with your friends out in the back yard. It was summer activity from our childhood, when we were so hard at play that we never noticed the temperature.

So Maggie Sullivan and Adam and I mixed and molded; chiseled and brushed and scraped. At the end of the week, we had figured the right formulas for perlite and water, we'd gotten "the feel" in our hands, and we'd made a trailer full of pretty cool pots. We even expanded into a few other ideas to be pursued next time.



Meanwhile, the sweltering continued, but the hit and miss thunderstorms actually hit us for an inch and a bit in the rain gauge.
At the end of the week the weather broke, and we fell miraculously back into the cool low 80's. We had played through the worst of it, and had a great time. Mary Poppins was right....."

In ev'ry job that must be done
There is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap!
The job's a game
And ev'ry task you undertake
Becomes a piece of cake
A lark! A spree! It's very clear to see that

A Spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
The medicine go down-wown...." *

* Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman