Spring has come to the Retreat, with all of it’s glorious wind and night/day temperature changes. Fortunately, none of this stops the caretakers from trimming trees, placing plants back outside and cleaning the outside like busy bees. The spider plants…
Blog Archives
Spring 2014
Tagged with: bonsai, Buddhist, gardening, Kyoto, retreat, spider plants, spring, the Retreat, trees, watering, weather, wind, wood
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Informaitional
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Informaitional
Harvest Blessings
While it may seem cliché, the next few days are a time to reflect on what blessings we have in our lives. Fall is the time of harvests for many different faiths and philosophies, a time to prepare for winter,…
Tagged with: blessings, Buddha, celebration, community, energy, gift of life, harmony, harvest, holiday, humanity, Kathina, Lammas, life, Mid-Autumn Festival, nature, Niiname-sai, peace, reap and sow, reflection, resolve, sharing, Sukkot, Thanksgiving
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Musings
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Musings
Hidden From Heaven’s Eyes
Drops striking the ground like music from the gods. Green erupting, the smell of creosote and clean air. Streets become streams, the clouds veiling the eyes of heaven. All is quiet. All is dark. All is hidden. …
Guerrilla Gardening
Civil disobedience, in many forms, can be seen in the actions of Gandhi, Rev. King, Thoreau, etc. It has taken many forms ranging from the violent protests of the 1960’s counter culture to Home Rule to the more recent Arab…
Tagged with: civil disobedience, garden, gardening, Ghandi, guerrilla gardening, Liz Christy, nature, peace, Rev. King, self, spring, symbology
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Informaitional
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Informaitional
Summer Heat
The week marked a return to the Retreat Gardens. Because of events at the Retreat, the caretaking of the garden was minimalized to the point where the term overgrown was starting to be used. Clean out and ground sweeping as…
Spring forward
It has occurred to me that I have not updated the Gardening and Nature section for some time. Many of the Retreats trees are in full bloom. Green spots have started to show on the grounds and at least one…
Tagged with: bonsai, daylight savings time, garden, gardening, nature, routine, time change, trees
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Musings
Posted in Gardening and Nature, Musings
Winter’s End
I have been working on the Retreat’s trees the last few days. Most of what I have done is remove wire and clean them up a bit. We may have lost the two Chinese Plums due to watering/potting problems. We…
Tagged with: bonsai, bougainvillea, chinese sweet plum, gardening, nature, purple queen, spring, trees, winter end
Posted in Gardening and Nature
Posted in Gardening and Nature
Mushrooms
While this may seem like preparation to prepare to think about doing something, I am looking at what it would take to grow mushrooms this summer. I have seen some interesting posts on other sites and thinks that I have…
End of Winter
It was in the mid 70s yesterday in the area. There was a slight wind (not like today) but overall it was a very nice day. This is a radical change from the last few years where this time of…