October 18 I spent my free time last week ripping out the weedy leftovers of my garden. It was hot work because in Missouri, something called Indian Summer has swept away a brisk September. The afternoons warm to eighty degrees, while the trees blush and give away bouquets of leaves. It’s an awkward stage, because … Continue reading Indian Summer
Good writers are good pruners. They know when to pick up the shears and how much to chop. William Zinsser taught me that. “Be grateful for everything you can throw away. Reexamine every word you put on paper. Is every word doing new work? …Is anything pompous or pretentious or faddish? Are you hanging onto … Continue reading On Writing, Weeding, and Walking in the Light
May 10 Growing up, I planted tomatoes with Mom this time every spring. We’d buy a tray at Platt’s Nursery and squeeze each soil block out of its pocket. She made sure they were in the ground before Mother’s Day. My siblings and I usually skipped out of school for an afternoon of gardening. “Pluck … Continue reading Mom’s Tomato Plants
May 3 I want to be a gardener—to know my botanical names, to identify seeds, to plant them so they grow the best possible fruit. Someday, I want to be that little old lady who wears sunhats and keeps seeds in her sweater pockets. But I’m a beginner. If gardening is an art (which I … Continue reading On Gardening and Belonging
I brush my teeth at a window that overlooks our side yard, where we’ve got tarps stretched under the evergreen trees and anchored by cement blocks. Each morning looks like the last— drab skies and winter wind over the tarped ground, my elbows on the windowsill. It’s barely March and I’m achy under spring fever. … Continue reading Spring Fever and Our Longing for Something New
February 3 I’ve had spring fever since November. I do love snow and Christmas and skating on my grandpa’s pond. But I also can’t wait for spring sunshine and planting garden seeds. A passage in 1 Corinthians reminded me last week that Christians are called to tend a garden year-round. A spiritual garden. Like the … Continue reading Gardening in God’s Kingdom
