Just a Garden?

One of the first lessons coming from the ground was the sensation of being close to something again.  I felt connected in some way as I spread the soil around the garden, tilled it, raked out the clods, and evened it out.  The smell of the earth that you read about so often described in various outdoor episodes seems lost in print but truly comes alive in the garden.  It is as though our smell and sense of feel was created just for this-- and that it is something very familiar to us.  Take a deep breath of that earth!  That's a scent as good as Jeanette's baked bread, or the smell of her perfume close in, or fresh lumber, or the smell of a baby's room.   I suppose, if' it's not already there, that the smell of freshly tilled dirt in the garden is one of those 14,000 Things to Be Happy About. (http://www.thingstobehappyabout.com/). That's a family favorite book by Barbara Ann Kipfer; a book that gets pulled out on a Sunday afternoon while we snack around the kitchen table.  Yep, freshly tilled dirt is already added to this boy's version of 14,000 Things.

And, no wonder the ancient Egyptians were known to design personal perfumes to elicit various emotions and inspire thoughts. Apparently, Egyptians believed that the sense of smell and the ability to detect odors was the most important of the sensory abilities. It doesn't take much personal reflection to remember how we feel when we smell our own personal list of the greatest of smells -- relaxed and happy, satisfied and less anxious.  Pick your favorite smell.  Think of it.  Does that bring a smile to your face or heart?  No wonder it is a blessing from Heaven to have the ability to smell; to perceive something by an odor or scent.  In fact, one little plant that I added to the 2010 Dexter Garden is lavender.  Now that's an odor that seems to pervade both nose and soul!

Well, as precious as these things are, there was another lesson that rapidly descended upon me that I was completely unprepared for...