in the garden (Last Chance Idol: Wk 1)

[vik_thor]

In the garden, the standing stone has returned. The interns are excited. This is NOT groovy. (Reverend Mord)

Some of my earliest memories are of Annie's garden, which was on two sides of our property in Oakwood. The garden was probably at least an acre is size. A specific memory is eating fresh rhubarb stalks, and playing with the leaves, making houses out of them.
¶While Mom did take me to a Christian church (two of them in fact. I remember going to one in Oakwood itself, and a Nazarene church between Oakwood and Danville.) Christianity has never really taken in my psyche.

The next gardens I remember are my Great-Grandma Wisely's in Wayne City, and her daughter's Grandma Rose in McLeansboro. Ma Wisely's was a bit smaller than Annie's, but not by much, in my memory. No rhubarb (or standing stones) that I remember. Grandma Rose's was quite a bit smaller, especially as the years went on. The largest I remember it being was maybe 6'×10'. After Grandpa died, she didn't really do much gardening, but she did continue growing Castor Bean plants.
¶When I would stay with Grandma and Grandpa Rose for a few weeks during the summers while growing up, I would go to church with Grandma. The church where she went is gone now, but she and Grandpa are buried in the cemetery. Maybe I should plant a Castor Bean plant on her grave in memory?

In Cobden, we had a moderately large garden for a few years, I think before Mom and Dad divorced. I remember some type of vining plant, maybe cucumber? I remember homemade pickles fairly commonly. Corn and tomatoes. We had a blackberry patch also. After the divorce, Mom and I just went to a smaller flower garden south of the house, up the hill a bit. We also had forsythia bushes along the street, and a lilac bush in the front yard.
¶I did go to a couple of Christian churches in Cobden, but both were mainly to hang out with friends. My real religious experiences were by myself in the woods and fields north and east of our house. After learning about the Greek gods in English class, I did some self made worship of Athena.

Since graduating high school, I have not lived in one place long enough to make any type of garden. Most of them have been apartments anyway, with no outside ground space, though I have had a few potted plants, outdoor and indoor, both at home and work. Currently, I only have an orchid at work. Though we are now in a townhome, and have access to the ground for some planting. I spent much of today pulling out English Ivy from in front of our place. I'm hoping to get a bit of a flower garden going. With maybe some vegetables or fruit. However, since there are kids in the complex, it would probably not be a good thing to grow rhubarb or castor beans. (Though the local library does have a community garden…)
¶My current religious beliefs are odd and eclectic and changing. Animistic Pan(en)theistic Agnostic Apatheistic NeoPagan Humanist. Shinto. A bit of attraction to Shiva Nataraja, as the Lord of the Dance of Destruction. I do still feel honour for Athena. I also still feel a bit like I am trapped here in The City of Man, seeking a way to get back Inside The World

I would eventually sort of like to buy a house, and plant a garden. Get a colony of bees.
Eventually, I will die, and hopefully be returned to the soil, to nurture plants and animals.

Comments

[grail76.livejournal.com]

I think when the gardening bug hits you, even in an apartment, you find a ledge to put a plant on.

[vik_thor]

:)
I go through phases, in gardening as well as most other things in my life.

[medleymisty.livejournal.com]

I suppose that if I have ever had real religious experiences, they were by myself in the woods and the fields. I can relate to that.

*hugs*

[vik_thor]

»skritchiehugs«

[labelleizzy.livejournal.com]

I love gardening. And I love my pagan practice.
Hi!

Nice bit of nostalgia here.

[vik_thor]

Good Evening! :)

Once I got the Reverend Mord quote out, I went a lot more introspective than I was originally thinking.

[crisp-sobriety.livejournal.com]

I love the thoughtfulness of this piece, and the way you've linked your experience of nature with your spiritual life. There's a lot of power in that connection. Certainly fertile soil to write with!

(Also, dang, you have a good memory).

re: memory

[vik_thor]

No, I really don't have that good of a memory. Just snippets, mostly. And a lot of it is more a memory of having done something, rather than a memory of actually doing it, if you get the distinction.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

I was amazed to hear you refer to purposely growing castor beans in a garden. As a native of Southern California, I have been indoctrinated my whole life as to their poisonous properties. Thanks to your link to Wikipedia, I learned that castor beans do have some beneficial properties. At least for rats! Do you know in which way your grandmother used her castor beans?

I did have a friend who was Vietnamese who said that castor beans were used as toys in his culture. He demonstrated by breaking the seed pod apart and fiddling with the nesting seeds. He didn't believe me when I said they were poisonous, but my dad once had some neighbors to his lab come in and beg for help because one of their employees had gotten very sick after ingesting them.

I'll keep my distance!

(Unless, of course, I have a rat with a headache!)

[vik_thor]

I think it was pretty much decorative.

[eternal-ot.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading this memoir..and somewhat connected with the spirituality weaved in it..:) Good job!

[itsjustc.livejournal.com]

I love the you've linked your experience of nature with your spiritual life. very interesting.

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I like the specificity of the plants you remember from all these gardens.