The miracle tree

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Was the weather absolutely gorgeous where you were this past weekend? It was here, and my thoughts turned once again to the plans I have for our yard and gardens. I’m still trying to figure out where a fig tree could fit into all of this, but I’m not sure there’s room for it. Even one fig tree would take up a lot of room.

The warm promise of spring just around the corner always exhilarates me, and I find myself thumbing through gardening catalogs and driving to my local favorite nursery to wander through rows of trees, shrubs and flowers while I plan and dream and re-plan and dream some more.

Every year, spring seems like such a miracle to me, and I’m always thrilled to see what decides to grace our garden again each year.

Speaking of miracles, did you know there’s a real miracle tree? It’s called the Moringa tree. Although it’s a native to the Himalayas, it grows in a range of climates and can truly save lives. The Moringa tree bears fruit and its leaves can be brewed into a tea or ground into a powder to be added to food. The fruit and leaves contain a surprising range of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and – get this – every amino acid humans need (Source).  Continue reading →

A replenishing place

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Hi, Friends,

Do you have a place where you go to renew your spirit or rejuvenate physically and mentally? For my husband and me, that place is the NC mountains. Even this time of year, when there’s still snow and ice on the ground – not to mention salt and sand on the roads – we love being there. How I feel when we’re there and when we’ve just come back is like the tree in this verse from Jeremiah:

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord … For he will be like a tree
planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear
when the heat comes.
– Jeremiah 17:7-8

Now, you may find it strange to have a verse about the heat in the middle of February, but I’ll tell you, my garden already knows that the heat is on its way. Two little crocuses have poked their heads up in my garden here at home, and when we were in the mountains over the weekend, I noticed that there are some bulbs there already eagerly forcing their way up through the thawing earth.

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Fig season is a long way off

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My minister, Ned Hill, spoke this last Sunday about his love of figs … and his inability to turn down the offer of some fresh figs from a stranger on a park bench in DC. The two of them conversed for a bit, and then, seemingly out of the blue, the stranger said, “My God, you’re a preacher!” Turns out the stranger was a Rabbi, and he could recognize one of his own kind.

Well, all of this made me crave figs, and we’re still dealing with a frigidly cold winter and the forecast for more of the white stuff coming our way. Dried figs aren’t really going to satisfy the craving, and so I’ll just have to wait patiently and, instead, fill myself up with stories about fig trees from the Bible. Continue reading →