My Little Babies in their Pots

3 healthy avocados and one a squirrel got 

I love my garden. When my hands are in the dirt taking care of my plants, whether it's planting, weeding, or harvesting herbs and flowers, I'm at peace and in the moment. It is my little time of "active meditation." 

My newest little babies are 5 brand new avocado seedlings. A couple months ago, my husband and I were really craving fresh guacamole, so I made a big batch and I had all these beautiful avocado pits left over. I decided to see how many I could germinate. Over the years of being a plant geek, I've come up with my own method for avocados.

Starting a new avocado pit

 I rinse the pits and then lightly wrap them in wet paper towel. I place them in an unsealed ziplock bag and hide them in a darker corner of my kitchen. I check on them occasionally, and after a few weeks, the pits have cracked open and the root begins to appear, it's pretty magical.

Out of the six pits that I wrapped, 5 of them produced roots. I planted all of five. Four of those sent out stems quickly, the fifth one looked like it was trying to but it wasn't making much progress. We've had super hot moist conditions all summer here in Ohio, so it's been good weather for them to grow in.

 Last week, I was disappointed to see that some animal, probably a squirrel, had climbed onto my deck and dug one of the pits up and eaten it in half, breaking the tree stem from its roots! But the rest were unharmed. In an effort to try to save the little guy, I've cut the end clean and dipped it in a rooting medium to see if he can survive, I don't have a lot of hope for him but maybe he can pull through. 

The little, slow seed finally did send out a shoot to the sky and he's doing fine at almost 6 inches tall! 

Slow little guy

Hopefully, they can all grow strong enough before October, to be brought inside and survive the cold gray winters in Ohio. 

My fresh guacamole :)

I'll share the recipe in another post!

Hope your week has been great!

Have you started avocados successfully? Do you have an "active meditation" activity? What good news do you have this week?

Kathy 😃🩷🩷

My Self-Care Garden

Hardy Hibiscus

"Self-Care" seems to be a relatively new concept. When I was a young adult, there was no talk of "self-care," at least not that I remember. 

The stress of today's world, though seems to have brought the idea of carving out time to care for yourself to the forefront of many people's minds. We need time to retreat from the crazy, over-stimulated world and simply breathe. To reset. 

Self-care can be anything where you are creating space for you. It could be extravagant like a spa day or it could be simple and cheap like making sure you work-out, meditate, or just curl up with a good book.  

For me, going outside and working in my garden is part of my self-care ritual. I love nothing more than to get my hands in the dirt and remove weeds from the soil. To commune with my flowers, trees, and shrubs. To breathe in the oxygen that they release and to give them my breath in exchange. To be surprised when a big fat nightcrawler wiggles up to the surface. And to be momentarily terrified when a wolf spider the size of my thumb appears in front of me. (When that happens, I usually surrender that part of my garden to the spider and work in a different spot.)

Double Begonia

It is hard, sweaty, filthy, work and yet as I'm crouching in the dirt, taking care of all my flowers, I feel them taking care of me. I give my time and sore muscles, but I receive so much more. Not only do I receive a sense of peace and oneness with a greater world outside myself, but they give me their beauty all summer long. I'm grateful for the time I'm able to spend in my garden and I'm grateful every day I gaze out my window and see my flowers smiling back at me. 

Today, on this cloudy day in Cleveland, I thought I would share their beauty with you.

Let me know which one you like the best!!

I'd love to hear what you do to make space for yourself and what you're grateful for today!!

Mandevilla

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathy

Clematis

Siberian Iris

Platycodon-Balloon Flower

Tiger Lily

Bleeding Heart

Rose of Sharon