Why We Need To Celebrate More, Not Less, As We Grow Older
"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. "--Ecclesiastes 3:1
Each day is precious to me, especially when I realize that the days ahead of me are probably fewer than the days behind. It's just as Frank Sinantra used to sing in "September Song": You turn around and it's summer, then you turn around and it's fall. Where did all those seasons go, and how many more will we be blessed enjoy? None of us can know the length of our lives, so it's always been important to me to celebrate what we do have with the people we love.
I will always remember my grandmother's eightieth birthday, which we celebrated as we did all her birthdays, with a huge party in July, and with watermelon and homemade ice cream just like she used to serve to the folks who stayed at her boardinghouse. I can see us now, sitting under huge trees--the whole family, immediate and extended, gathered at her house for an old-time family picnic, with a table of food that seemed never-ending. My great-uncle played his violin as he always did, and it gave all of us such a feeling of comfort. If you asked me to describe one of my sweetest, most heartfelt memories, that's the scene I'd recall. Can you imagine a happier, cozier blanket of life to draw around you, surrounded by all the generations gathered together, from the little kids under five to older relatives over eighty and everyone in between? That huge, beautiful green canopy of leaves and branches seemed as if it could shelter us forever.
I'm a great believer in gathering the family around, even when life's events may have pulled you apart. Years ago, after my divorce but before Cliff and I were married, my son Tommy was about to make is first Holy Communion. I wanted every one to be there, and I was determined to make it happen somehow.
It wasn't easy, but I took a deep breath, and then I picked up the phone. I told each of them, "This is for Tommy. I want you to be here, but you need to know that so-and-so will be coming, too. I will understand if you don't feel comfortable enough to come." Well, I was truly pleased that everyone who was important in Tommy's life chose to be there.
How wonderful it was to see my ex-mother-in-law, my future mother-in-law, and my mother, all sitting together on the couch. They sat there visiting with each other with such warmth during our celebration of this little boy they all loved, and everyone put aside thoughts of any conflict so we could all enjoy this special event. I wonder how many other households have found a way to mend fences during those times when it mattered most. I'm sure that our family is not alone in this.
Even more, because we agreed to set aside the past, at least for that day, we received a healing that we didn't expect. It left the pathway open for future celebrations, opening a door that many of us believed had been locked. It can be hard to open yourself to do something that feels awkward and difficult but when you focus on the love instead of the pan, you may be able to make peace.
In fact, the seeds I planted at the time of Tommy's Communion bore fruit when we all gathered in the summer of 1997 for his wedding. My ex-husband joined us at the head table and was recognized during the festivities. And even though my mother didn't live to see it, I still experienced such happiness--with Cliff beside me, and Tommy's father, his grandmother Dierickx sporting her lovely corsage, and his grandma and grandpa Lund with their flowers pinned on, all happy together because Tommy was happy.
It means everything to me, knowing that this tradition will continue into the next generation. Anytime anyone comes back for any occasion, we have a big family get-together, and now my son Jame's is often the host. Last Thanksgiving he opened up his house and invited everyone! He and his wife, Pam, prepared all the food, and the gathering was truly multigenerational, with both sides of the family present. You can count on us never to let a year go by without those family celebrations that make wonderful memories--graduations and weddings and baptisms--a tradition that each new generation will come to treasure.
As the years pass, each of these occasions takes on even more meaning for us. Christmas Eve has always been a special night at our house, a time for just my children, Cliff, and me. Now that they've grown up and scattered around, any of my kids who can come home give me so much to be grateful for. Most recently, Tom and Angie traveled here from Arizona, James and Pam and the two boys stayed overnight, and even though Becky couldn't join us, she called, as she always does. We traditionally have a great big extended family dinner on Christmas Day, and last year we celebrated JO's Kitchen Cafe. Finally, I had a big enough place to seat everyone around one table, and a big enough kitchen to fix all the food with ease!
Sometimes a tradition starts when you want to recapture a beloved childhood memory. When I first decided to hold my now biannual Healthy Exchanges Family Reunion Potluck Picnic, I think I really wanted to re-create what we used to have at Grandma's--and to share it with others who maybe didn't have that kind of tradition in their own families. When people tell me how comfortable they feel when they visit us here in DeWitt, I remind them that I consider them all part of my extended family--the Healthy Exchanges family--and I genuinely mean it. The notion seems to be contagious. During a recent lunchtime at the cafe, two couples who'd never met before sat together during a meal, and as they were leaving, I heard them making plans to meet again at the cafe for lunch!
I'm truly happy that I've found a way to create a place, both physical and spiritual, that gives people a real sense of belonging. I'm not a bit ashamed of being old-fashioned in that way. For me, love of family, love of country, and love of God are all part of who I am. I take comfort in knowing that, and I especially love to share what has made a joyful life possible for me. That's why I'm so pleased to be writing this celebration cookbook now.
"Serve the Lord with gladness..."
---Psalm 100
Make the Food You Prepare An Expression of Your Love And Your Faith In The Future
Have you ever noticed how many people focus on food as the culprit, as the cause of ill health or excessive weight? Are you one of them? I'd like you to take a moment to consider the true power of food, which is to nourish your body and touch your soul. It's become too easy to strip food of it's pleasures, of the colors and flavors that delight eyes and mouth. In an effort to "behave," as people put it, they settle for dull, boring, bland food. They do it because they feel it's "safe," but take it from me, nothing is more dangerous to a healthy lifestyle than that!
Remember that while you are nourishing your physical body, it's important not to starve your emotions and heart. I began to create Healthy Exchanges when I first understood that myself, and it has always been my goal to bring joy and pleasure back into the process of eating. When you're eating what you like, you're smiling inside and out. You feel cared for, loved, and that sensation of self-love is amazingly powerful. Recognizing that you're of value, that you deserve to be treated well, gives you the kind of strength and self-esteem that allows you to celebrate the positive things in your life, and to build on them.
Have you ever meditated right there in the produce section of the market as you gazed at a colorful display of fresh fruit and vegetables? It's so glorious, so appealing to your senses--the juicy red tomatoes, the shiny green cucumbers, the carrots with their green leafy tops (and even a bit of earth attached!). Just looking at those vegetables can actually give you an emotional lift. Often the last thing I do at night before heading home from the office is to walk out to my gardens and take one last look, pull one last weed, take one last sniff, maybe even grab a cherry tomato or two for the road! (We don't use any pesticides here at Healthy Exchanges, so I don't even feel I have to wash my "pilfered" treasures. I know not every one can do this at home, but you can always come visit me!)
Can you remember the last time you experienced a flood of sensual pleasure while you were out food shopping? Even if you don't have a garden or can't find a farmer's market nearby, you can still taste this feast for the senses at any grocery store; looking, smelling, touching the produce and admiring the variety of colors and textures; inhaling the wondrous scent of fresh baked bread; even enjoying the abundant variety of products on the shelves that we often take for granted (and that give visitors from other nations such joy when they visit our giant supermarkets!).
Try to allow a little extra time on your next visit if you can. Walk around your local farmers' market and visit every booth, even if you think you don't need what they're selling. Smell the fresh peaches and feel the rough texture of the red onions. Pick up a piece of the ripest fruit you can find, buy it and give it a quick rinse-off, then take a bite right there and then. As the juice dribbles just a bit down your chin, close your eyes and take in all the sensations at once. It's the closest thing to the Garden of Eden you'll ever encounter!
Practice thinking like a chef for once--don't think about what you're supposed to eat, but what you'd like to prepare and serve. What looks good to you? String beans? Golden ears of corn? Those beets shining like rubies will make a delectable snack when they're cooked and served cold. Sometimes you don't even know what you want until you see it, and there it is in front of you.
The proliferation of farmers' markets in this country has been such a blessing. Now we can all celebrate the harvest, eating what's just been picked hours before. Imagine serving a healthy shortcake made with freshly picked peaches and raspberries--what could be better than that?
I view the luscious abundance of fresh foods as a kind of living message from the Lord. These are His creations, and I can almost hear Him saying, "Take this, create something wonderful, and share it with those you love." So many of my best recipes were created on the spur of the moment, getting something in my hands and saying, "Now, what can I do with this to share it with others? How can I enhance the flavors it already has?" Being open to that spark of possibility will enhance your life in so many ways. Are you ready to explore your own God-given talents? See the food, close to your eyes, taste it with your mind--and make up a recipe!
Isn't it time to experience your own Field of Dreams? It's up to you: you can live in the shadows of deprivation or bask in the sunshine of abundance.
"Eat only as much as you need..."
--Proverbs 25:16
Making Peace With Portion Control: Yes, You Can Have More of That Another Time
If you've always been a professional dieter, you already know the feeling of deprivation only to well. Either you can't have what you want (you tell yourself, or one of the myriad of diet books and programs tells you), or you can't have very much of it. Well, I'm not going to be your fairy godmother, wave a magic wand, and tell you that you can eat anything you want in whatever quantity you want. But I will joyfully wave my magic whisk and tell you that you can have just about anything in moderation, even foods that used to live on the "forbidden" list.
The key to making a lifelong commitment to healthy eating is learning to enjoy the foods you love in reasonable quantities, which means learning to enjoy a healthy portion size. I recently answered a letter from a woman who was worried that having to attend six weddings in only three months spelled doom for her waistline. I remember what it was like to fear those special occasions where all kinds of food were plentiful and there always seemed to be cake at the end! But what I reminded my concerned correspondent is that we were talking about six--count 'em--just six pieces of wedding cake over a twelve-week period. Now, even the richest wedding cake doesn't have the power to put ten pounds on you--unless you use it as an excuse to eat everything on the buffet table the day of the wedding, and hen keep eating like that! Cake is just cake, and while sometimes it's very rich, it's still manageable as part of a healthy lifestyle. If enjoying the cake is important to her, then she could eat fruit for dessert for the rest of that weekend and maybe get in some extra exercise. That's it. It's simple, and yet it can be the hardest thing for some of us to handle.
Here's another flashback to my life as a professional dieter. Remember what it's like to have something you "shouldn't" have in the house? You tell yourself, "Guess I'd better eat it all up fast and get it out of the house. Then I will eat nothing but celery and carrots for a week, I promise."
That's a diet mentality, and it doesn't work. What does is learning to enjoy life on a daily basis, without those delirious peaks and depressed valleys that bingeing creates. Here's how it used to go: You've got a pint of low-fat ice cream in your freezer. You scoop out one serving, about a quarter of the container, and you eat it while watching television. When you're done, you think, "Oh, I shouldn't have eaten that. I'm just no good. Well, better finish it up and start my diet all over again tomorrow." You can be sure that whatever guilt you felt after the first serving will be multiplied when your spoon hits the bottom of the pint!
Why not consider another scenario? You bought the pint of low-fat ice cream. You enjoyed a healthy dinner, and then you sat down to dessert. You ate the half-cup serving of your favorite treat slowly and savored every bite. When you finished, you did the dishes, went for a walk with your dog, and had a relaxing evening watching your favorite sitcoms. The next day (or perhaps even the day after that) you decided to have the ice cream or dessert again. Eventually, yes, you may eat the entire pint--but when you make it part of the menu, divest it of the guilt and secrecy it used to have, it loses it's power to "hurt" you and becomes what it really is: a low-fat dessert choice with calories and fat grams. Enjoyed over four evenings instead of gobbled guiltily during one, the very same pint of coffee fudge becomes part of healthy nutrition plan.
What you're working toward is constant level of enjoyment. I want deprivation to become something you used to experience but don't anymore. It's not just about food volume, either. Most of my casseroles serve you one-quarter of an 8-inch-by-8-inch baking dish. That's a pretty substantial serving, but it's not my idea of a meal in itself. When you're composing a meal, I'd like you to think about the different parts that comprise it. You want it to be pleasing to the eye, the flavors have to blend, the textures complement each other, and the colors coordinate. A satisfying meal is something like a beautiful flower arrangement. Any one or two of those lovely blossoms would look pretty in a vase, but when you arrange them together, you get a glorious abundance that fills the soul.
If you are used to how it feels to "live to eat," you may sometimes question the size of portions (though most people tell me they've never eaten so much, or felt so well!). My sweet salads, for example, often serve six or eight people from an 8-inch-by-8-inch casserole dish. Why don't I give you more? Just as a composer arranges a piece of music adding just enough piano, bass, or saxophone. I like to think I'm orchestrating a healthy meal--and that piece of salad is not planned to be eaten on it's own. Sure, all by itself it may look modest on the plate, but when you team it up with your entree and a veggie side dish, you've got what my husband Cliff calls a REAL MEAL. I don't want any one portion to be out of proportion, and I hope you won't use my exchange information to cut your food intake too severely. Don't try too hard by putting your body in hibernation when you lower your calories too much. Try eating a truly balanced meal, enjoy it more, and see how your body responds!
We all ate those tasteless diet dinners, those spare little plates of dry tuna and a few lettuce leaves, or three-ounce piece of chicken or turkey lying naked before you without a drop of sauce or dressing. But those days are over when you decide to live, really live, with Healthy Exchange! Your plate now features a nice serving of flavorful casserole plus a vegetable dish plus a sweet or savory salad. Add a fresh roll to that, and then don't forget: dessert's coming! That's the way to enjoy eating well and living well all at once. The Lord didn't put all this abundance before us and not expect us to enjoy it--but in moderation. When you don't feel deprived anymore, a reasonable serving nourishes the body and truly satisfies the soul.
Think about this: What is the difference between eating to live and eating to enjoy living?
For me, an important part of the miracle that Healthy Exchanges has worked in my own life is that it's taught me to enjoy living as never before. I've worked hard to create a way of life that emphasizes pleasure and abundance instead of denial and deprivation. I've often sad that it makes no difference how healthy a food may be; if it doesn't taste and look good, no one's going to eat it, and no one's going to say "Gee, Mom, when can we have this again?"
I've provided recipes of all kinds in this latest cookbook, and my goal is to encourage you to try as many as you can. Tasting different dishes day in and day out stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain, and enjoying a variety of foods simply keeps life interesting. This isn't "low-cal" eating as you used to it. And this isn't a diet book that will tell you exactly what to eat and in what quantities. But it can be a healthy eating "bible" that you can turn to in moments of celebration and times of trouble, and find sustenance that does more than just provide the minimum number of calories you need to survive.
"For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things."
--Psalm 107:9
Why Doing The Best I Can...The Best I Can, Means Doing A Little Bit More
When I say that just "good enough" isn't good enough for me. I mean it with all my heart. Even one of my luscious pies isn't complete, no matter what's been layered beneath the creamy topping, until I sprinkle some nuts or mini-chips or coconut on top.
That's why I decided to share with you my philosophy of garnishing.
I want everything I serve to look as delectable as it tastes, and that means pleasing the eye as fully as a spoonful pleases first the tastebuds and then the tummy. Garnishing a dish is putting the period on the sentence--it's how I tell myself it's done. And I truly enjoy making each of my dishes special in some way.
What am I doing for when I garnish?
- I want the plate to look attractive. That also means letting a dish cool on the wire rack, just enough so it doesn't run all over the plate.
- I want the people gathered round my table to smile when they contemplate the dish before them. Their satisfaction is heightened by that first look, as they murmur with wonder, "Mmm, that looks good." In this way the eyes share what the mouth is shortly going to taste!
- I want to share whatever artistic ability I have with others. We can't all be Rembrandts, I know that, but anyone can learn to add a bit of color and crunch. It takes so little extra effort to provide a homey touch and ensure our loved ones feel cared for.
- I want to include foods in my healthy recipes that may be considered "out of bounds" so I use tiny amounts of these threats, these potentially "risky" foods, where the eye can see and enjoy them.
Garnishing is all about the finishing touch. It's that extra pat to your hair that your beautician gives before she tells you that you're done. It's that little extra effort your tailor provides when he presses the pleats in your favorite skirt so beautifully. There is a real difference between "good enough" and "really good," I've discovered, and my recipes are designed to remind people that they deserve more than just good enough. With these little touches, you can transform an ordinary meal into something extraordinary--and change the way you view this good-for-you cuisine.
These little garnishes of cheese or nuts or chocolate mean a lot, and they deliver so much more than the sum of their calories. You may only get four of five mini-chips on your peice of healthy pie, but when you bite down and get that whoosh, that chocolate rush, you feel satisfied by a minimal addition that doesn't feel like a little thing.
I've been asked if I have a special technique for sprinkling these little toppings so that every piecce of your pie or casserole provides exactly the same serving. Truth is, your hand grows steadier with time and practice, but if you keep it "slow and steady," and don't try to be perfect, just pretty even, you'll do fine! (And if you're a little off, accept it--instead of reaching back into the bag for a little bit more. Those extra calories can add up, so stick with the measured amount.)
"Every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labor, it is the gift of God."
--Ecclesiastes 3:13
Eating Alone, Eating Together--Creating Mealtime Rituals That Feed The Soul
Everyone eats some meals alone, but that shouldn't mean standing at the sink gulping takeout food from a cardboard container or gobbling greasy fast food in your car. Whenever you eat, wherever you eat, you will truly nourish yourself as the Lord intended by taking the time to treat yourself well.
You wouldn't invite a guest for dinner and not set the table or put on some relaxing music, would you? Well, it's time to care for yourself as you care for others when it comes to meals.
Ever since I began sharing Healthy Exchanges, I've been spending more weeks on the road than I do at home. (As I write that down, I can hardly believe it--but it's true.) Yet, even when Cliff and I travel the highways and byways in our motor home, our meals are served on place mats and there's always a centerpiece on our little table. The same was always true at JO's Kitchen Cafe. We didn't have to use pretty place mats for the guests who stopped by for the Peach Plate Special, but I wanted to appeal to their eyes as well as their mouths, and so we do.
Becoming aware of these little extras, these comforting rituals, may be most important for anyone eating alone. It's so easy for a single diner to scale down to the bare minimum: fewer dishes to wash if you eat out of the pan, no glasses to scrub if you drink out of a can. But I bet you won't feel satisfied after such a catch-as-catch-can meal, and that's often what triggers old, unhealthy eating behaviors.
It's vital to feed all the senses, to pause between bites and just enjoy the sensation of the sun spilling in through the window, or to listen to the birds outside. Even if you choose to have breakfast while you're watching the morning news, you're feeding your mind as well as your tummy. (Of course, I still sometimes have to caution myself not to gobble food to the pace of the breaking news reports!)
When we're home, we like to sit down at our dining room table for dinner. The cozy and familiar surroundings help us relax and remember how good it feels to be home at last. True, sometimes it feels as if it takes extra effot to set the table and slow down what might ordinarily be a hurried meal, but you're worth it. Tell yourself you've got the time, and you'll be pleased to discover that you usually do.
It's just too easy to become an unconscious eater if you're not paying attention to what you put into your mouth. At The House That Recipes Built, we created warm and inviting "break area," because we didn't want our employees eating at their desks. Instead, they can sit comfortably at tables and really "take a break" from ringing phones and piles of papers. In warm weather, they take their lunches outside in the garden at picnic tables, and in that pretty setting, surrounded by plants and flowers, the most ordinary meal tastes like a feast.
Do I always do what I suggest you do? I'm not Saint JoAnna, remember, so while I'm a believer in distinct mealtimes instead of eating on the run, I can't always manage what I know is best for me. I aim for at least 50 percent success, maybe three out of six meals eaten in a more relaxed, more enjoyable atmosphere. Sometimes I do better, and sometimes I don't, but I don't beat myself up about it. I just try to do my best...the best I can.
"Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well."
--Matthew 9:22
Having Faith In Yourself--
And Faith In God
Do you remember when you first heard the word faith? Perhaps your parents tried to explain it to you when you were a child, or possibly you were instructed about it in Sunday school. Maybe it's something you haven't thought much about for a long time.
When I first began working on this book, I recognize that this would be a good time to share my own experiences and thoughts about faith with you. Faith is not a diet plan written down in black and white; it's not something vowed in a contract you can file in a drawer and forget about. Faith, to me, means believing in something you cannot know for certain, except in your heart.
And yet faith is more powerful than almost anything else in helping us find our life's purpose and reach our life goals. Changing your life for the better asks you for a leap of faith, especially if you've tried and failed many times before to achieve what you most want. But if you ask for God's help, and you do your part, your faith can move mountains, and what earlier seemed impossible gradually and beautifully will unfold.
In Matthew 17:20, the Bible reminds us: "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you."
Have you ever held a mustard seen in your hand? It's so tiny, so easy to drop and lose sight of. But from something so small, great things may come, if your faith is strong enough.
Healthy Exchanges was really an act of faith from it's earliest moment of creation. I had no reason to believe that I would finally be successful in losing the 130 pounds that weighed me down both physically and psychologically; I had no evidence that the recipes I created to help me get healthy would point the way toward what became my mission in life; I had no idea that a photocopied collection of my recipes would lead me on such an amazing journey of personal and professional discovery.
All I had was a small kernel of faith in myself and in God. Each day my belief got a little stronger, and my faith began to grow, nourished by hard work and an unwillingness to "lose" what I had "gained," or gain back what I had gratefully lost.
My faith kept me going through the creation of my first cookbook, and even got me through my meetings with the New York City book publishers that led to my being published by Putman. But the true test was when Cliff and I had to make the biggest commitment of our lives (after our decision to get married): to buy the land and build a building to house Healthy Exchanges.
Even though I knew I couldn't continue what I had started without making changes, couldn't share my message the way I wanted to if I didn't grow, I felt very apprehensive. I will always remember the moment that brought our situation to a crisis point. At that time, I was running the business from my family room, and our house isn't all that big. One day I got up very early and sat down at my desk to work. About a half hour later, one of my employees arrived to start on a rush project. Hours and hours later, when I went to bed, there were still employees working in my house. I told Cliff the very next day that we just couldn't live like this anymore.
That weekend, when we were taking a walk in the fall sunshine, we walked through a cornfield at one end of DeWitt and saw a FOR SALE sign. I said to Cliff, "I think this is where we belong." We were both scared, but we agreed that we had to do it. We no longer had a home, only a business, and it was time for a change.
We would stop by as often as possible as The House That Recipes Built was going up, and even though it seemed to take forever before the walls went up and the paths through the muddy ground were laid, we found the process more exciting than we expected. What began as a kind of impossible dream began taking shape, and now, with all that's happened for Healthy Exchanges, we've been putting up a new building a year ever since!
It took a lot of faith to build my Recipeland, USA, to take Healthy Exchanges down an unfamiliar new road. It forced me to grow along with the business, and helped me find the courage to take a leap toward where I'd never been. What kept me going is what got me started, a simple prayer that hasn't changed all that much:
God, help me help myself so I can help others, for Your honor and glory.
Use me and Healthy Exchanges in any way You see fit, to do Your work and make me worthy.
And now, I'm embarking on a new journey that presents entirely new challenges--choosing to step back a bit from the business that hard work and faith created, so that I can make time for the people and work that I cherish most. Each path we choose requires a fresh act of faith, but I believe that with the Lord's help, I will choose the right one.
Planting Seeds and Cultivating Your Garden
For me, spending time in the garden is an opportunity to commune with God, to celebrate the miracle of life, to find serenity in a world that is so over overwhelming and even chaotic, and bring more beauty into my daily existence.
There's a powerful sense of satisfaction, too, in knowing that the vegetables on your table have been nurtured in your own garden. It's a wonderful way to reinforce your commitment to living a healthy lifestyle, and a bunch of freshly cut flowers in full bloom as a centerpiece provides a true feast for the eyes just as the veggies do for your tastebuds.
When I first started dreaming about our Healthy Exchanges building. The House That Recipes Built, I wasn't only thinking about a bigger kitchen to test recipes in, or Cliff's ever-growing print shop. I knew from the very beginning that I would have a garden--and that it would start with a rhubarb patch. (When I moved off the farm into my house in DeWitt, the very first thing that came with me was my rhubarb. Want to know from the tip of your nose to the ends of your toes when spring is definitely on the way? It's when those little green leaves begin to emerge from the loamy earth and whisper that beautiful sunny days are just around the corner!)
I've always had a garden, even when all I had to plant was a tiny corner of a backyard to raise tomatoes in. Once I realized how much time I would be spending at the Healthy Exchanges offices, and that I couldn't continue to garden and get the satisfaction I treasured at home, I knew it was time to bring my garden right down here. That way, whenever I had a spare moment, I could enjoy it--and I could also get pleasure from sharing it with other people.
We now have a tomato patch (in addition to the rhubarb patch), eight elevated gardens, and four more added this year. If you're not familiar with the idea of an elevated garden, just know that they're very attractive, easier to work in, and just about the only way to keep my veggies from feeding every rabbit for miles around! They're made by stacking landscape logs about three high, then filled in with dirt. Each one is about sixty-four square feet (8 feet by 8 feet), with a beautiful grassway between the different patches so you can wander among the strawberries and rhubarb, spot cabbages and green peppers poking their heads up, get a whiff of my fresh herbs growing, and help me decide when the tomatoes are just perfect to pick!
My other great garden pleasure is my orchard of fruit trees. I have sixteen dwarf fruit trees so far, and they already give me and others so much happiness. I could have started with seeds or seedlings, but this way I get to enjoy the fruits of my labor so much sooner. And I'm not the only one--so many people have told me they found comfort and peace walking in my little orchard amid the glories of nature. City dwellers who would come here for lunch got a true feeling of being in the country. Many retired people who'd moved off their family farms loved sharing in the wonderful colors and scents of the flowering shrubs and trees that seem to fill every foot of land!
When we first built our building, it wasn't easy to envision how beautiful the grounds would someday be. There was mud everywhere, and yet when I closed my eyes and dreamed of the future, I saw it much as it is today: with flowers everywhere, and flowering shrubs, trees for summer shade, and veggies so fresh you can nibble them right off the vine!
I often talk about making the commitment to live a healthy lifestyle, and about choosing to be good to yourself, positive instead of critical. My garden is a constant reminder of that kind of happy promise, and I celebrate my commitment by planting a few new flowering bushes or trees every year. Ever since I first owned a tiny piece of property, I've been doing it without fail--digging holes and planting trees that will show future generations that we thought about them "way back when." I want my grandchildren to know that we showed our love and shared our dreams by building a world that will be as beautiful for them as it has been for me all my life.
After all, if somebody hadn't planted trees fifty years ago, just imagine how much less joy I would find in the world around me. The trees I plant each year are for me to enjoy now, and for the generations that follow to enjoy for many years to come. I know they'll be grateful, as I was and continue to be, for the ancestors who left me a legacy of nature in their own gardens and forests.
I like to think of my garden as my way of "bringing the farm with me" no matter where I go. And when I smell the honeysuckle and lilacs, when I feast my eyes on gorgeous oriental poppies and my old-time, old-fashioned rose bushes. I feel a sweet satisfaction in my soul.
A garden is a wonderful reminder of the potential of dreams to be fulfilled, through hard work and commitment. Besides the fact that it's difficult to snack on unhealthy foods when your hands are covered in dirt, you can also apply the lesson of the garden to other aspects of your life. Just as a seed represents possibility, something that may happen, a vision of yourself as healthier and more energetic can be the seed of hope that keeps you on your path, that sends you in the right direction.
Even if you don't have a plot of land to grow a garden, you can still create a world of beauty on a windowsill or balcony. What more visit commitment could there be--to yourself and those you love--than planting and nurturing the seeds of a happy future. Start planning yours today!
"For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
Ann all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
--Isaiah 55:12
