Gardening, Patience and Lyme Disease -Gail Allen

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience." (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Patience is a virtue and gardening involves so much patience. There are times when you can create an instant garden, like I mentioned in the post below, but creating an outdoor garden and letting it evolve into a mature landscape takes time,  planning, a lot of work, willingness to change as nature dictates and patience. Our gardens have been a work in progress for over 14 years and are over 4 acres in size. There are evergreen gardens, perennials, a water garden, hosta garden, vegetables and woodland garden.

It has been months since I have written, primarily because I have had to limit drastically my involvement with a myriad of my endeavors. Right now, I am having to put most of my energy into my paintings as you can see on my Easel Tides blog: Easel Tides: Gail Allen's Artistic Journey.

Gardening is my second favorite pastime, which I have always also pursued with vigor. The reason for the abrupt stop to the gardening, and this journal is: About two years ago after spending weeks in April and May clearing out a large amount of underbrush, to plant a new area near a garden shed, I became extremely ill, fatigued and couldn't walk well - or for more than 8 to 10 feet, dragging my left foot as I walked. I developed a large (18" diameter) raised red rash on my stomach. Severe headaches, like migraines, joint pain and numbness followed. Soon my memory was fading, my words were slurring, getting all mixed up and I had a short term bout of bells palsy numbness of my face. After many tests and months of extreme pain and anguish, I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease. To make a very long story short, my point in this post is to make gardeners aware of the dangers of Lyme Disease. If you Google the term Lyme Disease,  there are so very many stories and sites that will explain the symptoms and how to prevent it. I will put a list at the end of this article. Most cases show up in June, July and August, as it takes a few days to weeks of having  (the deer tick), the culprit that causes the disease, attached, to infect you. The deer tick is found in long grass or brush and is about the size of a pin head. It can be easily mistaken for a small mole, or possibly not even seen, except for the slight itchiness at the site of the bite, which is not necessarily where the rash occurs.


I still garden, but for this year, as I undergo long term antibiotic treatment for stage three or tertiary lyme disease and the symptoms wax and wane, sometimes to a debilitating extent - I have had to exhibit the pace of nature - patience. The weeds are slowly taking control, but thanks to the drought conditions we have faced in this area this summer, the weeds have been a bit contained and some have even died. I've been somewhat lucky in that. I'll be posting some summer pictures soon. 


For gardeners of all types, I hope you read up and make yourself aware of prevention and treatment of Lyme Disease. Don't wait to be stricken. Cases are on the rise at alarming rates, it simply takes education of how to prevent being bitten - by dressing properly, using the correct lotions or sprays to deter them and checking yourself as you come in from gardening in your yard. 

Some sites to explore:

http://www.columbia-lyme.org/index.html
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/ld_humandisease_diagnosis.htm
http://www.lymedisease.org/lyme101/ticks/about_ticks.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000669.htm

Beginning a Garden

Gardening involves partnership, love and art which transform life, and this resonates to all corners of the world. It is meditative, and all encompassing of body, mind and soul.  It should be always evolving and changing. If it is approached initially in this manner, it will result in an experience which is both emotional and physical to the creator and the beholder. Alliance of your own personality with this new space, and seeing it as a cooperative effort between yourself and nature -  as opposed to strictly designing and controlling nature, will bring harmony and success in your ventures.
  Many factors come to mind when considering planning a garden. What kind of gardener are you, or would you like to become? What are your traits and archetypes that will be influencing how you work in the garden.What would you like the space or "room" to be like - is it a a place of sustenance,  personal/private space or one to be shared with others? What senses (sight, sound, hearing, touch) are going to be kindled as one passes through?  What kind of garden will you plant - annual, perennial, water, grasses, flower, vegetable and fruit? What style attracts you? Is it English, Country, Asian, Mediterranean, Artistic, Soulful, Planned or Unplanned? What is the  climate zone like? What are the watering needs?  What is the soil like? Which local animals could be a problem and do you want to plant so as not to attract them? How do light requirements influence the success of your garden?
  At the outset, the journey can be spontaneous and happen in a learn as you go adventure. Or, you can take the time to ask yourself some pertinent questions and save some often costly and frustrating mistakes.  Writing things down can be the first step in organizing your thoughts and feelings, even if you never refer back to them again. Think of it as exploring your soul and focusing the mind on what the soul truly wants. It  is parallel to making a life plan; exploring your wants, needs, and desires, the  financial requirements and working out the details on how to get the end result.
 So, here, where the ground is snow covered and the "bones" of the area are clearly able to be seen - I am taking this month to look, think, write, sketch and meditate. It should be fun and filled with creative expression as I begin to sketch and revise my own "Soulful Garden".

Magical Creative Gardening

   The gardens are frozen over by snow right now, but underneath, roots are spreading and bulbs are multiplying. There is always an evolution in the works, even when it seems impossible. I have decided to evolve this creativity blog into my gardening journal. The thought germinated after a "Tweet"on Twitter by a gardening enthusiast referenced one of my entries in my painting blog, about our Japanese inspired garden in our backyard.  ( View "The Oasis" at   http://wwwgailallenartist.blogspot.com ) Gardening is, and always has been, as important an aspect in my life, as my artwork. It is an extension of my creativity through use of Spirit's life force. Gardening seems to sustain me - the ongoing joke in our house when I am withering indoors, (I am especially cranky during the dormant season) is that I "need to go dig in the dirt". There has always been a tug of war between creating artwork and getting out into the gardens.....which have become numerous. Over the many, many years gardening has been inspirational, fulfilling, irrational  - even absurd at times,  and sustaining. My husband is my partner in creation and keeps the irrational, artistic side of me in check.  Although not always enthusiastic when first getting wind of my newest "creation", he usually signs on - we seem to have this wonderful check and balance system and each spring we keep going through it again, thanks to two active imaginations.
 A bit of history on my gardening background. I was born to parents who were very creative and came from farming families. We were in the garden from the earliest I can remember and knew most flowers, trees and vegetable names before I was in fourth grade. We scouted for mushrooms on early Sunday mornings after church, under towering pine and oak groves. It seemed magical to me as a child. One of my earliest artworks was a flip book of a mushroom under the pine needles sprouting up. I always had plants growing, even when I lived in the city during college. Then our "real" journey began after getting married and buying our first house on an excavated sand pit! Sand and rocks and clay...oh my. The journey began. After multiple moves, we have settled on five acres which have evolved and expanded into gardens of every possible kind. I will be chronicling lessons learned,  putting up old and new pictures of our gardens,  as well as book lists and other sites I enjoy that you may find helpful in your gardening journey.
I hope this will be inspirational in germinating new growth in your creativity through gardening.  On this eve of a blue moon I would like to Welcome You to 2010 - Happy New Year, may it bring you peace, prosperity and happiness in your garden of life. All the best....