Thai Food

When i go to the Farmers Market, i always stop at the Thai food booth and buy a red curry and a fish custard as take-away.

Now i'm harvesting Thai basil and freezing it as pesto, so i can make my own Thai food.

Meditation is a do-it-yourself exercise. You can't go out and buy a calm mind, no matter how many times you go to hear the Dalai Lama (or any other guru) speak.

I love Thai food, and i love the Dalai Lama. Now if i can just love meditation enough to sit myself down every day, i'll soon be harvesting the flavor of a spiritual life.

Photo from www.kalynskitchen.com

Harvesting Before Frost

The race is on to see how much i can harvest before frost. This morning's temperature was 40 degrees.

Really, there's not too much left in the garden, and that's good, because there's not too much space left in the freezer.

The tomatoes are in, leaving just a basketful of cherry tomatoes on the vine. The winter squash are in, but one gourd vine went crazy. I try to bring in one gourd every time i return from the garden. Then there's my 8 varieties of basil.

We plant many seeds during our lifetime--friends, family, career, spiritual path, service to others. Which shall we harvest? And which do we just let go of?

Many friends come and go. Our career ends. Family changes its definition: our parents die, our siblings drift into the distance, wives and husbands divorce, our children grow up, our grandchildren live far away. Who is our true family?

Our spiritual path may ebb and flow, yet gives us the ability to harvest kindness, mindfulness, and equanimity, no matter the season.

Basil Pesto

I'm making pesto, 1/2 pint at a time. I go out to the garden, harvest a few branches of basil, bring them into the kitchen, and grind them up in the food processor with olive oil.

In the past, i have overwhelmed myself by picking too much basil at once, then getting distracted, and eventually returning to a basket full of wilted leaves.

The small-steps method means more steps out to the garden and back, but, for me, it's more strategic than the extravaganza method of harvesting 3 or 4 basil bushes and then being overwhelmed.

Mindfulness leads us to small steps of insight and gradually awakens us so that we can let go of one stressor and then another.

I'm letting go of the idea that i have to harvest all my basil before frost. One branch at a time, one half pint at a time. So far i've frozen a gallon of pesto.

Photo from www.greenmarketrecipes.com

Transplanting Our Values

A local garden club is having a plant sale next weekend--an idea i hardily approve. September and October are excellent months for gardening--a great time for dividing, transplanting, cleaning up the flowerbeds, and even working on a new garden project.

Meanwhile, garden tours have ceased, and some nurseries have already closed their garden gates--Closed for the Season.

As some of us approach the end of our working life, how shall we divide and transplant the knowledge, wisdom, and skills we've acquired?

Being generous with our time and our skills, perhaps volunteering to serve others, is a great way to transplant our values and intentions.

What's most important to you?
How can you pass that along to another generation?

The Dharma is most important to me, and i'm teaching 3 classes this fall :)
But now, i'm going out to the garden to dig perennials for the plant sale.

Sun and Shade

In the summer, i go out to the garden in the early morning. By 10:00, the heat of the sun drives me into the shade.

Now, in the autumn, i stay indoors until the sun rises above the trees surrounding my house. Now i go out to the garden in the middle of the day. When the long shadows of nearby trees begin to cover the lawn, i seek out the last sunny spots and do my gardening there.

Sometimes working in the sun is pleasant; sometimes, unpleasant.
Sometimes shade is pleasant; sometimes, unpleasant.

Pleasant and unpleasant rule our actions. This gut response decides for us, then the mind (a.k.a. the ego) takes ownership and tried to define itself. "I'm a sun worshipper." or "I try to stay out of the sun."

But really, we are not one or the other. Most often, we are both...and.

I am loving these warm autumn days with a cool breeze blowing.
Pleasant.

The Meditative Gardener is at Glacier National Park

I'll return Thursday, September 13.

The Sweetness of Sun-Dried Tomatoes

I have an extravaganza of cherry tomatoes, so i cut them in half to "sun-dry" them in my food dryer. In fact, i grow the meaty grape cherry tomatoes expressly for drying rather than eating.

These sun-dried tomato chips are packed with enough flavor to make your tastebuds stand up and say, "Hooray!"

As we condense our meditation into concentration, the essential "flavor" of attention is experienced as sweetness.

I store the sun-dried tomatoes in plastic bags in the refrigerator, so that some cold winter's evening i can taste the sweet flavor burst of fresh tomatoes.