Sunday Session with my Shrink

I just spent a great session with my shrink. Together, we uncovered all sorts of problems that I have a tendency to try to ignore, bury or allow to run rampant. But by calming me down and giving me the time to look at each thing separately, my shrink helped me eliminate some of the bad and uncover more of the good in my life. My shrink, in case you didn’t already know, is my garden.

I often talk about the therapeutic qualities of my garden and on Sundays, I seem to do a little more “deep thinking” in the dirt than I do throughout the rest of the week. My garden-time often becomes as therapeutic as any session I have ever spent with a real counselor. I get to carry out just as much introspective thinking and soul-searching and I save myself a whole lot of money in the process.

One of my best therapies in the garden is weeding. For every weed I pull up, I think about some negative aspect that I am trying to eliminate from my life. Insecurities are probably the most pervasive weeds in my fertile mind. Self-doubt, fear and anxiety all pop up on their own and, if left unattended can soon grow to completely overshadow all of the beauty in my life. As I gently pull the weeds from my garden, I think about how easy they are to keep under control if I just work at them on a regular basis, rather than letting them keep growing and take over.

Some people I know resort to chemicals to keep the unpleasant things in their life under control. Not me. I choose to go the natural route, with my garden and with my psyche. Sitting down. Getting dirty. Confronting my demons face to face. Pulling weeds one by one is easy, calming and it doesn’t pollute the rest of the body of land that surrounds my garden.

My mind does tend to drift while I am doing my weeding. But my shrink gently gets me back in focus. Just as I am about to walk away and get side-tracked by some task that feels more important, a swirl of butterflies circles around me, reminding me of the beauty of a healthy garden and I begin reaching again in the dirt, finding the roots, and pulling another weed.

When I’m done, I sit for awhile and survey my work. My garden and my mind both feel clean and refreshed. I have removed so many of the things that were troubling me and causing ugliness in my life. And in the process I have created new spaces for beauty. A whole new blank canvas sits before me. I feel excited by the prospects. What shall I plant?

Growing Native! Share seeds to protect local water - Program kicks off Sept. 17th

I hate to see seeds or seedlings go to waste. When I find oak seedlings in my yard, which are typically the result of acorns being "planted" by squirrels, I always dig them up, nurture them to a height of a few feet, and give them to friends or family. The photo at the left is a "couple of six-packs" that I gave to friends when they bought their new home. Those trees are now well over 15 feet tall.

If you, too, hate to see a seed go to waste, you may be interested in Growing Native: Get Nuts for Clean Water, a program managed by the Potomac Conservancy. I learned about the program last year by reading this great article called Help with the Harvest by Kelly Senser of the National Wildlife Federation.

Growing Native engages thousands of volunteers in the Potomac River region each year to collect native hardwood and shrub seeds. The seeds are donated to state nurseries in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia, where they are planted and used to restore streamside forests throughout the 15,000 square mile watershed.

Since 2001, nearly 56,000 volunteers in 4 states and the District of Columbia have collected more than 164,000 pounds of acorns, walnuts and other hardwood tree and shrub seeds for Growing Native. These seeds have generated seedlings that will be used to restore sensitive streamside lands.

September 17th kicks off the Growing Native Campaign this year. For more information, visit the Growing Native website.

Here is some great information from their site about the importance of trees:

Trees provide many community benefits. 

Healthy trees are critical to human well being and wildlife prosperity. Trees cool our cities, filter the air we breathe, provide homes and food for wildlife, and better water-related recreational activities. Their leaves produce life-giving oxygen, and their roots reduce soil erosion and absorb pollutants that would otherwise foul our rivers and streams. Their branches and trunks are home to a bird watcher’s premier list including the great blue heron and American bald eagle. 

Native trees are important. 

Native trees are especially important because they are adapted to local soil, rainfall, and temperature conditions, and have developed natural defenses to withstand many types of insects and diseases. Because of these traits, native plants will thrive with a minimal amount of maintenance. Wildlife species depend on native plant communities for their habitat, so the use of native trees helps preserve the balance of nature. Plants and trees that are imported from other parts of the nation and the world can actually bring unintended harm, resulting in diminished wildlife and plant diversity. 

Our communities have a tree shortage. 

You may not know it, but according to American Forests, America’s cities have a deficit of 634 million trees. In this region, the overall tree cover continues to decline and at the same time, areas with little or no tree cover continue to increase. Replanting trees and reforestation is the answer and you can help! 

Trees address the problems of nonpoint-source pollution.

In the heavily urbanized counties of the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, nonpoint-source pollution from runoff of sediment, nutrients, and other toxins poses the greatest threat to water quality. Moreover, high-volume storm flow into stream valleys is a prime contributor to accelerated erosion of stream banks contributing to decline of in-stream habitat and extensive sedimentation into the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. A significant amount of this runoff originates from individual yards and homes. 

Growing Native provides future forests for healthy rivers and streams. 

In response, Growing Native engages volunteers of all ages and backgrounds in an effort to restore degraded riverside lands. Restoring sensitive streamside habitats will provide a front-line defense for the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.