Lemony Webbles

the fruit tree

(Early spring- Maya raking a patch of dirt that used to be a pile of garbage and rocks)

We just got a few blueberry bushes to plant in the backyard and we've been thinking and talking a lot about virtues and how important their acquisition is, for both the kids and ourselves and it's all swirling around in my head and out comes a bunch of images and ideas, including a new idea for a quilt. The first virtue on our list on the fridge is kindness, and I read about it in the Family Virtues Guide (an excellent resource for training systematically to acquire virtues, written by Linda Kavelin Popov) this morning and I started thinking about kindess to people and the earth. You know the slogan, 'Take only pictures, leave only footprints'? Well how about 'acquire only virtues, leave only well-tended gardens'. And then I imagined a city garden, created in just a few square feet of dirt in the front of a store, 'The Fruit Tree', and it used to have garbage and a few hearty weeds in it and is then transformed by the kindness of a few thoughtful gardeners (with money to spend on plants, soil amendments, etc.) into a little oasis of fragrance. They would get rid of the junk, dig down really deep and add compost and whatever else was needed, and plant things that all smelled good- a weeping cherry tree, Russian sage, lavender, miniature roses, maybe even a trellis with some hearty climbing roses or, hey, some vigorous tomatoes even. And in the store they sell lots of good smelling things too, but not overwhelimgly so, just natural good smells. There would have to be some good local organic produce and some fruit trees and bushes, of course, maybe in big containers, maybe some flowers in season, and yummy candles and soap and books about gardening. But everything wouldn't be horribly overpriced. Very reasonable. Oh, and there would have to be a hospitality aspect to it- for more kindness to people- a little juice and snack bar and comfortable places to sit and chat. Ooo, I want to go there right now.

Well, the whole garden transformation theme is certainly not a new one. It wasn't my idea, but I sure do love it. Oh, and the quilt idea is to put that whole storefront with the garden and everything onto a quilt. Wouldn't that just be so delicious?