Pre-spring has shown it’s loveliness in the San Juan’s the last several days, until today’s rain and cold re-appeared.  I took the sunny, cool days as an opportunity to be out in the garden, excitedly working, remembering muscles that hadn’t been used in a couple of months.

Yesterday a few friends were helping me in our labyrinth garden, cutting back the ‘old growth’ from last growing season.  “Anything that looks dead you can trim back”, I shared as I looked over the entire garden.  I tried to give them a small section so as not to overwhelm them in this huge circular pathway garden space.  Quickly, the three of us were scattered throughout the area, each of us doing our own tasks of pruning and cleaning up the garden.

I began with the oregano bed.  A few days earlier another work crew of friends had swiftly swept through with flat shovels creating visible trenches between the labyrinth pathway and the garden.  Later, we will go back and add mulch to these trenches.  Next year the mulch will be used as compost in the garden.  One year’s mulch is another year’s compost.

I looked at all of the oregano plants; some covered with compost, others exposed in need of soil food, and even a few that were accidentally dug out of their growing space.  Those oregano plants, like us, were all in varying stages of life.

Some of us are fortunate to get the compost that we deserve and need to nourish us so that we may grow to blossom fully.  Others of us are exposed in the world without sustenance to help keep us strong and growing.  We might become thin and wilted and not encouraged to grow.  Still others of us may be ‘pulled away’ from our roots, needing to become grounded again, so that we may continue in life.  We might need a little help to reconnect with the earth.

After the oregano bed looked to be in good shape I moved to the garden sage plants.  I pruned back their old stems, thinking about my hair and how lucky I am to have a full head of hair.  Cutting it back once in awhile is necessary for it to look healthy.  A few new growth stems came loose as I was cutting, but I took this as a sign to bring a few twigs home with me to use later in my soups and stews.   I thought about the vibrancy of the sage, even during winter, its grayish-green color, its fragrant smell.  My senses were heightened just being near the sage.

My friends had their own experiences, one working in the calendula beds, the other in the feverfew and yarrow.  Each of us in our small world of the garden in that moment in time were cheerfully working with the soil, compost, microorganisms, and plants.   We exercised and stretched our physical body and muscles and allowed the natural serotonins and dopamine to help our immune systems and brain feel happy while simultaneously contributed to the beauty of our labyrinth healing garden.   What a satisfying day in the garden!  More to come!!