Gathering Graces 4/30/2020 Gardening and Friendships: Instruments of Grace

Today I experienced two of my favorite combinations....Gardening and Friendship.

And I love this quote by May Sarton, that sums up both gardening and friendship:

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help.  Gardening is an instrument of grace."


I think friendship can be the same way.  Friends can slow us down, make us patient, set us back into slow circles of nature.  Friendship can also be an instrument of grace.

Today I got to experience the instrument of grace through both gardening and friendship.

One of my favorite local nurseries is the Pine Creek Nursery run by "The Idaho Tomato Lady".  You can check out her website at www.idahotomatolady.com to see what she sells.

My friend Kellee texted me and said they were having an early bird opening for Facebook followers today and would I like to go with her to get some plants, especially tomatoes.  I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea.

I went to the website and made my list, and, once I arrived, I was ready to start boxing up some plants.  I ended up with nine different varieties of tomatoes, some summer squash, some cabbage, some cucumbers, a rosemary plant, a mint plant and some flowers. The Idaho Tomato Lady always has unique petunias that I like to put in the planter boxes around my patio.

Here are some pictures of what I purchased.

These plants won't go in the soil right away.  Last year I learned that you don't plant the tomato plants from the container you buy them in right into a bigger container.  They need to grow a bit more before they go into my final tomato containers.  So I transferred all my tomato plants and all other vegetable plants to larger pots.  They will stay in these pots for about two weeks until the weather looks warm enough to plants the veggies.  I will keep these plants in the garage at night, and bring them out during the day to acclimate and harden them to the weather.

Planning and executing my gardens is one of my special instruments of grace in my life.

After shopping, Kellee and I stopped by a local coffee stand and bought some drinks and headed to the Pinehurst Trailhead to do some social distancing visiting.  We had not seen each other since the end of December, and a lot had happened since then.

For a few hours we talked, cried, laughed, encouraged and enjoyed another special instrument of grace...friendship.

That evening I received this special message that made my heart sing...

Friendship....a special instrument of grace.