No Small Thing ~ Alys Fowler

 "It is no small thing to garden in this changing world....When politicians continue to fail us and big business laughs in the face of our futures, the act of stepping outside their nightmares and choosing to softly, carefully tend our gardens so that all the others, from the soil to songbirds, have space too. Well, that remains as radical as the day we first started to garden as humans." 

~Alys Fowler

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alys_Fowler

Artwork from Marcella Cooper https://www.greenpebble.co.uk/collections/marcella-cooper

Love after Love ~ Derek Walcott

“ The time will come 

when, with elation 

you will greet yourself arriving 

at your own door, in your own mirror 

and each will smile at the other's welcome, 

and say, sit here. Eat. 

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart 

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you 

all your life, whom you ignored 

for another, who knows you by heart. 

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, 

the photographs, the desperate notes, 

peel your own image from the mirror. 

Sit. Feast on your life” 

~Dereck Walcott

More at  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Walcott

Artwork from Georges Lemmen. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Lemmen

Stop ~ Leo Tolstoy

 “If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.” 

~ Leo Tolstoy 

More at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy

Artwork from Lou Loeber https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Loeber

Reap What You Sow ~ James D. Wilson

 “ You can't instantly reap what you sow today, it does not work like instant grits, no matter what you sow in life it takes time to grow and be ready for harvest” ~James D. Wilson

Artwork from Edmund Leighton  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Leighton 

So many people called James D. Wilson on the internet, I can’t work out which of them wrote this!

The Journey ~ Paulo Coelho

“Joy is sometimes a blessing, but it is often a conquest. Our magic moments help us to change and sends us off in search of our dreams. Yes, we are going to suffer, we will have difficult times, and we will experience many disappointments — but all of this is transitory, it leaves no permanent mark. And one day we will look back with pride and faith at the journey we have taken.”

~ Paulo Coelho

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho

Artwork from Helen Timbury

https://helentimburydesign.com.au/

Your Life ~ Henry David Thoreau

“However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The faultfinder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see, but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.” 

~ Henry David Thoreau

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

Artwork from Jane Dignum

https://www.janedignum.com/

In the Woods ~ Bernard of Clairvaux

“Believe me, for I know, you will find something far greater in the woods than in books. Stones and trees will teach you that which you cannot learn from the masters.”

~ Bernard of Clairvaux

More at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_of_Clairvaux

Artwork from Gail Kellett

http://www.gailkellett.com.au/artworks/

Why Things Are ~ Donald B. Kraybill

"We forget to ask why things are the way they are... Children quickly learn common cultural values and take them for granted. Cereal becomes the "right" breakfast food. Socialization - learning the ways of our culture - shapes the assumptions by which we live. We take our way of life for granted. We assume the way things are is the way we ought to be. Eating cereal for breakfast, day after day, makes it seem unquestionably right. We internalize the values and norms paraded on the screen and billboard as simply "the way life is"... The values, beliefs, and norms of our society become so ingrained in our mind that we no longer see the alternatives.

~ Donald B. Kraybill

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Kraybill

Artwork from Arthur Rackham

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham

A Tree ~ Louise Dickinson Rich

“A house you can rebuild; a bridge you can restring; a washed-out road you can fill in. But there is nothing you can do about a tree, but mourn.”

~ Louise Dickinson Rich

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Dickinson_Rich

Artwork from Nat Morley

https://www.natmorley.co.uk/portfolio.php

Affirmative Action ~ Anthony T. Hincks

“Money will not save the environment. It will only end up going into the deep pockets of those people in charge. Affirmative action needs to be taken. Get rid of the greedy corporations and individuals. Go back to grass root living. Start being responsible for what you do and don't do. If I miss out on some commodities or so called needed items in life, so be it. I would rather that my children grow up in a beautiful world without wars and pollution than have them wake up gasping for breath only to find that there is no clean water to drink and no clean air to breath.”


~Anthony T. Hincks

More at

 https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HincksAnthony

Artwork from Billy Jacobs

http://www.billyjacobs.com/

City Forests ~Robert Hart

"Obviously, few of us are in a position to restore the forests.. But tens of millions of us have gardens, or access to open spaces such as industrial wastelands, where trees can be planted. And if full advantage can be taken of the potentialities that are available even in heavily built up areas, new "city forests" can arise..."

~Robert Hart

More at 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hart_%28horticulturist%29

Artwork from Thomas Kincade

https://thomaskinkade.com/

Commitment ~Arthur Gish

"Simplicity also involves commitment. To be committed one does not need to be famous or accomplish great feats. Faithfulness in small things is the basis of great achievements. Many are unfaithful not because they are unconcerned about big issues and causes, but because they neglect little things. Those who cannot be trusted in little things can also not be trusted in larger things.

Follow the little light that G_d has already given, but do not expect more light until you follow what you have."

~Arthur Gish

More at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Gish

Artwork from Valeriane Leblond

 https://www.valeriane-leblond.eu/home.html

Pending Storm ~ Gert

"Honestly, it reminds me of raising kids – and family struggles. How many times we’ve begged and pleaded, tried one method or another, and continued to find a child (or several of them) uncooperative and determined to win the draw. Some of us tiptoe around our kids, doing whatever we can not to “set them off” so they won’t be upset with us. Sometimes we ignore a pending storm, hoping if we ignore it, it will simply go away.  Sometimes we try to confront the problem, but find the way we handled it only made things worse. There’s a way to handle kids in that pouting or belligerent mode, and that’s to “reset” them. I used to do this with our kids, and I’ve done it with foster kids. Most times, it works like a charm......... Sometimes we as adults could stand some “resetting” ourselves. Even our marriages can benefit from this! To reset is to simply shut things down and wait until all the wires and sparks are completely cooled off. When there are no sparks, there won’t be heat.  If there’s no heat, there won’t be a fire. When the fire is out, it’s safe to resume."

~ Gert

More at https://mywindowsill.com/

Artwork from Gustave Baumann

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Baumann

Resting Easy ~Joel Salatin

“Food security is not in the supermarket. It's not in the government. It's not at the emergency services division. True food security is the historical normalcy of packing it in during the abundant times, building that in-house larder, and resting easy knowing that our little ones are not dependent on next week's farmers' market or the electronic cashiers at the supermarket.”

~ Joel Salatin

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Salatin

Artwork from Kristine Kainer  https://www.kristinekainer.com/

Two Roads ~ Rachel Carson

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been travelling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road — the one less travelled by — offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the Earth.”

~ Rachel Carson

More at https://www.rachelcarson.org/

Artwork from Lucy Timbrell

http://lucytimbrell.blogspot.com/?m=0

We Understood ~ Mohammed Faris

“Not long ago, local farms and markets were the only source of food in one's life. We understood where our food came from, the ground in which it grew, and its link to our Creator. Today, however, with the globalisation of the food industry and the ever-increasing urbanisation of humanity, we've lost this link to the earth and forgotten our dependence on the Creator to provide food for us.”

~ Mohammed Faris

More at  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProductiveMuslim

Artwork is a mural worked on by several artists. More at:

https://www.langleyadvancetimes.com/entertainment/collection-of-32-murals-to-be-unveiled-at-b-c-farm-museum-in-fort-langley-this-summer/

Overwhelmed by the Gifts~ Norman Wirzba

"To work in a garden is to be surrounded by the mysteries of germination, growth, and decay, and it is to be overwhelmed by the gifts of raspberries, tomatoes, and onions that surprise us with their fragrance and taste. But it isn’t all pleasantries. To garden is also to be frustrated by the disease and death that are beyond one’s control and power. Where did this blight come from? Why won’t this seed germinate? A late frost again? The temptation is always to give up and walk away. But that isn’t really a viable option. If people are to eat, they must eventually return to the ground.......

Gardening is one of the most vital practices for teaching people the art of creaturely life. With this art people are asked to slow down and calibrate their desires to meet the needs and potential of the plants and animals under their care. Gardeners are invited to learn patience and to develop the sort of sympathy in which personal flourishing becomes tied to the flourishing of the many creatures that nurture them. A garden, we might say, is a living laboratory in which we have the chance to grow into nurturers, protectors, and celebrators of life........ To garden well – in the skilful modes of attention, patience, sensitivity, vigilance, and responsiveness – is to participate in the way G_d gardens the world."

~ Norman Wirzba

More at 
https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/person/norman-wirzba

Artwork from Cath Read http://www.cathread.co.uk/

Silence has Aways Been a Battle ~ Joy Clarkson

"It comforted me to read of the Desert Fathers’ and Mothers’ struggle with acedia, because they made me see that we are not the first generation to fight this battle. The desert parents longed to know G_d and to cultivate that sacred silence and blessed boredom, and so do I. But befriending that silence was a struggle for them, just as it is for me. It made me realize that while smart phones and social media may impede our interior world, it is no real excuse. Impediments toward peace and quiet have always existed. Our shapeshifting opponent may have changed its guise from sleepiness to social media, but it is still there, doing all it can to rob our empty hours of their fullness.

We cannot give up the battle for holy silence and for blessed boredom simply because we live in a world with smart phones. To pursue silence, boredom, even loneliness, is a radical choice in our world, but it was a radical choice in theirs as well. We must choose to turn away from the constant entertainment that vies for our attention. We must allow ourselves to be lonely. Silence has always been a battle. Prayer has never been easy."

~ Joy Clarkson

More at http://itia.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/people/students/joy-clarkson/

Artwork from Carl Larsson http://www.carllarsson.se/en/

Meaning of The Rolling Hills ~Hal Borland

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?"

~Hal Borland

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal_Borland

Artwork from Clair Curtis

https://clarecurtis.co.uk/product-category/illustration/

Never Said a Word~ Arthur Gish

"The highest power we can imagine is the calm, the sublime. Anyone who has experienced the power of Quaker worship knows the power of silence. Dominic is reported to have visited Francis of Assisi and during their whole visitt they never said a word to each other.

Simplicity is to know G_d. It is the fulfilment that decaying societies and materialism can never satisfy or destroy. The longing for the infinite can be fulfilled only in relation to the infinite. Simplicity is to recognize mystery. People complicate things to deny mystery. Much activity, complexity and intellectualization are an attempt to escape from G_d. Simple faith is to live in a relation to G_d rather than to speculate about Him."

 ~ Arthur Gish

More at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Gish

Artwork from Kim Herringe

https://kimherringe.com.au/lino-printing/after-dark-reduction-linocut/