This is short, but something I really felt a need to share. There's a delightful Spanish dicho I've been thinking a lot about recently - " "En un jardín crecen más cosas que las que siembra el jardinero." It's generally translated as "more grows in a garden than a gardener sows." What unexpected thing has been growing in my garden? Surprise. Really. "Surprise" as the noun rather than as startling exclamatory statement as you're jumping out from behind the sofa when someone's not expecting a party. Or maybe it's a feeling better described as wonder, or delight. It's discovering a bloom, or a tiny lizard, a brief cooling shower, or a trio of migrating Indigo Bunting eating seedheads. It sounds silly, but as I slowly molt into an old, wrinkled crone, surprise and delight are valuable commodities that keep me young in spirit. Far too many things threaten to drag me into a pit of cynicis...
If you're particularly interested in rainwater harvesting, see these posts: "900 and Counting" on 4/28/08, "First Crop" on 4/10/08, "Ongoing Saga of the Rain Tank" on 3/2/08, and "The Debate" on 2/7/08. Vermiculture was covered 8/12/08. Pond construction was covered in "The Heart of Our Garden" on January 22, 2008.