The rebirth of the green is always welcome in spring; however, this year I felt I was worshipping the sight every blade of grass and bud, as they emerged from ground and tree. After a very snowy and long winter waiting, it took a kind faith that the seeds would germinate again and give colour back to the earth. We had a late spring and so there was a rush of energy in digging up volunteer trees, finding transplants of lettuce for the cold frame once a fawn ate the ones I started myself, and there was so much excitement in me when I planted the raised beds that I could have laughed out loud. The Abundance Cooperative in Farmington gifted us some tomato plants started indoors and I potted them while feeling the intentions and generosity with which the tomatoes were started . It’s so great when others are present through their plants in my garden.

I like the British expression, “my back garden” as that is the way I feel about the land I am on, it’s all garden, front and back, and some of it is cultivated, some left wild for the spirit of the place that is magic and free.

Zwicker Lake

We have a natural spring in the East, a Western lake, a well, and a gate to the faery kingdom at the North end of our place. Offerings are made to the faeries at the maple tree, to the ancestors at the great white bear on the lakefront, and there’s a young orchard in the South and an inviting platform hidden away in a sheltered space on the lakeshore, if you look . This year the garden called me to take photos as part of my contemplation and movement around the land, so that I could share the backyard pilgrimage, the back garden of the goddess whose creative energy resides in all living things.

The words of a song by Lori Folkins comes to mind:” Awake, awake ye ancient watchers.” Whether it’s the lady of the lake from Avalon, the spirits of the deer, the felt sense of the hemlocks and oaks and footsteps of First Nations, all the gathering energies of our turtle rock, ancient stones, mists in the morning, wind-in-the-willows, all the layers of child, adult, elder, the cultures of the medicine wheel or mandala, they gather here in this small and protected place that the earth lends to us for this time.

This year is a blessing and I wanted to share it with you dear watchers and seekers and gardeners all.