Sunday, June 7, 2020

Gardens Enrich Our Lives


Planting Seeds of Hope


Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

With many of the places we normally go closed, gardens have become more essential than ever…even if your garden is only a small patch of ground or just a window box.


SurfWriter Girl Patti remembers reading the acclaimed Betty Smith 1943 novel A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and how a single tree was a metaphor for hope and tenacity in the book’s New York tenement setting.


Providing places to dream and food for our tables, gardens throughout the ages have been sanctuaries where we can regenerate and give expression to our creativity.


Magazines from Martha Stewart Living to Scientific American and Psychology Today have written about the health benefits of gardening.


Gardening is one of the best ways to give ourselves a dose of Nature. Or, as some people are calling it these days, "Vitamin N." 


In addition to burning calories and lowering blood pressure, gardening improves our moods and provides a sense of community. Like when neighbor Ed Acosta helps Patti’s husband Greg plant flowers.


Growing up, SurfWriter Girl Sunny oversaw her family’s garden and always brought flowers inside for her mother…


filling vases with lush roses and bright orange tropical amaryllis. It was a special gift Sunny knew she would enjoy.


Gardens are a gift to the planet, too, especially when you plant an Ocean Friendly Garden that uses minimal resources and doesn't pollute our oceans and waterways. 


It takes time to nurture a garden and coax things to grow.


But, in so doing, our gardens nurture us, adding beauty to our lives… and providing hope for the future.
 




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Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel hold the exclusive rights to this copyrighted material. Publications wishing to reprint it may contact them at surfwriter.girls@gmail.com Individuals and non-profit groups are welcome to post it on social media sites as long as credit is given. 


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