“A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all, it teaches entire trust.”
–Gertrude Jekyll, from The Gardening Companion: A Guide to the Art of Garden Design
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
“The Summer Day” by Mary Oliver. Copyright © 1990, 2006, 2008, 2017 by Mary Oliver with permission of Bill Reichblum
Meet BGC
We’re all about school programs, public gardens, happy bees, satisfied birds, healthy lands, and garden literacy. Curious?
Fireflies
Missing the fireflies? Did you know that firefly larvae pupate for three years under the soil? That means anything you add to the soil during this time, they absorb into their bodies. If you’re adding herbicides and pesticides to your grass, the larvae beneath it ingest them.
Here’s another thought, from the Washington Post: Researchers looked at survey data from 50,683 people and found that contact with nature was associated with improved body image.
For calendar listings, please consult the drop-down menu at the top of this page.