GardenSpotlight

“Reggie Mourning wears a Marine Corps sweatshirt and two 9-millimeter pistol rounds on a chain around his neck. There’s an M14 round hanging from his keychain. His tour of duty with a mortar unit in Vietnam was long in the past, but never really ended. After coming home, he worked for years as a trucker with the jagged rhythms of the war zone wired into his brain — sometimes barreling cross-country, drunk and stoned, with only his dog as a companion. In 2007, sick, exhausted, on his way to becoming homeless, he made it to the substance abuse program at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center near Newark. “(New York Times, November 30, 2009) So what does this have to do with gardening?   Plenty!   Gardening is therapeutic for many, military or not.   It’s a chance to play in the dirt, get back to basics and just…be.   Not only that, but I would guess that for veterans, it provides familiarity.   The familiarity provided by taking care of   the plants as ...

I wanted to write today in honor of all the victims of 9-11 and in honor of our troops, working hard to keep us safe. Today is the 7th anniversary already of that tragic day. I'm watching it again on the news. Sometimes I hate to see the replays, but I think it's important that we're all reminded of that terrible day. Life goes on and we take things for granted. We need to remember our fellow Americans who have lost their lives or lost their loved ones that day. They don't need these reminders from the national media to remember. They remember everyday. There are parts of their lives just torn apart that they've had to try to rebuild. Think of the children who have lost one or both parents. Or the parents who have lost children who worked in the towers. Or sisters, brothers, friends, etc. who now have to carry on without that special person in their lives. My heart goes out to them all. I pray for them and I pray for justice. It's hard to try to ...