Archive for the ‘The Simple Life’ Category

I get such joy from working in the garden, I often wonder, “Why doesn’t everyone want to do this?”

Think about it. People love a garden. They drive for miles to visit parks so that they can enjoy the luscious green and sniff that fresh air. Botanical gardens in nearly every major city and plenty of smaller ones attract thousands of visitors each year yearning to gaze upon the beauty of the flowers. (Millions on the days I’m there!) People are instant friends with vegetable gardeners in their offices who bring in baskets of their bounty to share. (“Zucchini anyone?”) They buy gardening magazines by the bazillions. They’ll slow down as they drive by to admire the gardens they pass on the way to work.

 

tulip-cutting.jpg
Cutting Tulips in the Bumblebee Garden – April 2008

And although most folks dutifully march outside to mow the lawn on Saturdays and maybe even do a bit of weed whacking to keep the home owners’ association Nazis at bay, few people actually rush home from work to deadhead their dahlias and turn their compost. I’m talking about creating the kind of garden that makes people want to linger. At least not the people that I know.

So why don’t more people actually create their own oases of beauty at home?

veggies.jpg
Lettuce and Veggies at Bumblebee – April 2008

When visitors see Bumblebee the first thing most people usually ask is, “How much time does all this take?” (I suspect they’re also wondering, “How much does she spend on this gardening hobby of hers?”)

I used to believe one of the biggest hurdles for most people is time. The desire is there, but most folks just can’t seem to work it into their schedules because we’re just too darned busy working to buy things. After all, the time gurus tell us that as Americans, in particular, we are possession rich and time poor.climbing-roses-april-28.jpg
Climbing Roses at Bumblebee – April 2008

But wait a minute. Think about this little nugget from the 2006 Time Use Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On an average day, nearly every American age 15 and older–a whopping 95%–had several hours of leisure activity. Men had 5.7 hours of leisure time and women had 4.9 hours of leisure time. (I won’t even go into that glaring disparity right now.) That’s every single day. But for both men and women, half of that leisure time activity was spent watching television!

That means that most U.S. men and women are spending close to three hours of time watching television every single day!

Well, that explains it. Or at least part of it.

Sure, not everyone is as hepped up to sweat in the sun while ruining their manicure as I am. And not everyone has the space to garden. Some people are not able to manage the physical demands of gardening. A whole lot of people have no idea even how to get started since most of us no longer live near the grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles who were traditionally our garden mentors. And I recognize that gardening on a grand scale can be costly, although there are plenty of budget alternatives to beautify the yard.

But for quite a lot of people, it’s mostly a matter of preferring to watch “American Idol” or “Dancing With the Stars.” Ultimately, it seems, Americans are making choices to tune out rather than to engage and create beauty right outside their own backdoors.

Sadly for them, these choices won’t amount to much at the end of their days. Our lives are defined by the choices we make. Some of us will know all the winning strategies to be the “Survivor.” And some of us will have lovely gardens, islands of peace, to share with friends and loved ones.

Robin

For me, peace of mind includes being organized and having a plan.

That includes what I’m cooking and when. I find that if I have a weekly menu plan and shop for the week I face far less of a struggle at 6 p.m. when it’s time to start cooking dinner. (We usually eat at 8:15 p.m. – I know. An ungodly hour for most people.) The ingredients are all there. The recipe is there. I have everything that I need.

I also find that posting a glossy designed and printed version of the week’s recipes on the refrigerator minimizes last minute requests and grumbling. Everyone knows what the heck to expect–and looks forward to.

Of course, around here planning a week of food that everyone will eat is no small task. There are many food fetishes and dislikes. It takes some serious head-scratching and thumbing through my vast cookbook collection. Recently, I’ve hit on the idea of theme menus. We have had Greek Week, International Week and Vegetarian Week. This week is Power Foods Week.

The menus also give me an opportunity to introduce nutrition ideas into the conversation without being overly dogmatic–important for the receptivity of teenage guys. (Surprisingly, my 16-year-old son prefers “spa foods.” Imagine my surprise!)

Since I go to such lengths to plan and design the menu, I thought I might start sharing them. So here’s my menu for this week, the Power Foods menu.

Power%20Foods.jpg

Bon appetit!

Robin

[Because I am in no position to preach to anyone about the environment, this is an open letter to myself on Blog Action Day.]Dear Robin,

You joined Slow Food USA. You have written about your yearning for simplicity. You have taken some baby steps toward environmentally sound practices and more healthful living. But I believe it’s time to stop joining, talking and taking baby steps.

It occurs to me that true change can only occur if you just…slow…down. Stop working seven days a week. Stop rushing around and living without, well, living. Stop being so impatient to get everything done right now. Live mindfully about what you are doing every moment and about the consequences of your choices and actions.

Slowing down will be good for you and for your family. What’s more, it will be good for the environment.

I will give you some examples of some of your personal actions that contribute to the environmental crisis we’re facing:

-You sometimes drive when you can walk. Do you really need to move your SUV from one end of the shopping center to the other as you do your errands? Can’t you walk there and back?

-You still use products such as weed killers and harsh cleaning products because they provide a fast, short-term solution, although they add little drips to the stream of pollution that is killing the earth.

-You drive past local farmers’ produce stands and buy the same produce at the grocery stores that is imported from the other side of the country–or the other side of the world.

-You still buy some ready-made foods rather than baking your own bread, making your own cheese or growing what you need with methods that don’t require chemicals, additives or being shipped from far away.

-You still throw clothes into the dryer rather than air drying them in the sun and fresh air.

-You waste energy by doing such things as leaving the computer on all night long so you won’t have to wait to read your email in the morning.

-You haven’t taken seriously the environmental cry to reduce, reuse and recycle.I could go on, but I don’t want to embarrass you here.

By slowing down, you will walk more gently on the earth. You can make some healthy changes that will mean better, healthier foods, less stress from hurrying around and more time with family and friends. You might also save some money and sleep better because you’ve gotten a bit more exercise (and, uh, saved some money).

Nuff said. Go out and do better now.

Robin

Right Now at Bumblebee

March 7th, 2010

It’s official. Dawn over at Owl Hollow News won the Grocery Gardening drawing.  Congratulations, Dawn. I hope you enjoy the book.

What’s on your plate today? The weather here is sunny and at least not frigid. I’ll continue my early spring garden cleanup and also clean and repair bird houses. The bluebirds have made their return and are already checking out the real estate. What a joy to watch over my Sunday morning coffee.

Robin

March 6th, 2010

I find this one of the most anxiety-producing times of the year in the garden.

As I head outside and begin the winter cleanup, the whole summer garden thing just seems incredibly overwhelming. There’s so much to do. And I’m just one person out there. Honestly, I felt like sitting down to have a good cry about mid-afternoon. But I managed to put one foot in front of the other and actually got a good amount of tidy-up work done. Tomorrow will be more of the same.

Thank you everyone who left a comment explaining how you approach reading and leaving comments on blog posts. The cumulative input has been extremely helpful. The overall consensus is that you’ll read comments if it’s an interesting discussion. You don’t usually subscribe to comments because it clogs up your email box. And you’ll only check back to see if the author has responded if you’ve left a question. That about sums it up.

On another note, I have selected by random number generator the winner of Grocery Gardening. She’s been notified. When she responds back, I’ll announce who she is.

Thank you everyone!

Robin Ripley

February 22nd, 2010

My lawn is a wreck.

I went outside to re-fill the bird feeders—AGAIN. The parts of my lawn that don’t look like the frozen tundra resemble a swamp. With every step I take my foot sinks down at least an inch. Walking to the feeders I can see my path in the mud.

I also see that we lost one small ornamental tree by the driveway as well as one of my rose trellises, which succumbed to the weight of the snow.

Spring better hurry up and get here. I have a lot of work to do.

Robin

February 17th, 2010

Are you sick of everyone talking about the weather? I am too, but here goes…

There is so much snow on the ground, I don’t know when it’ll all melt. On top of that, much of it has iced to the extent that moving it from one place to another requires a pick ax. Walking in the back yard to fill the bird feeders is like walking on a bumpy ice rink. There are trees and bushes that need a bit of first aid to remove partially broken branches, but I don’t dare risk skating across the ice with my pruners. Not yet anyway.

Still, there is hope. Although we’re expecting snow flurries today, the weather should warm up into the forties in the next few days, providing some melting relief.

But really, all this unrelieved WHITE is getting to me!

Robin

View archived notes »

Robin Ripley's currently-reading book recommendations, reviews, favorite quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists