July 4th

The weather has stabilized as it usually does by the 4th of July. It feels like summer has finally arrived. The hot weather is making everything in the garden grow by leaps and bounds. The corn has grown to be "knee high by the 4th of July", so we're encouraged that we'll have a good crop again.

I've been harvesting beautiful full bodied Romaine lettuce as well as cuttings of young leafy lettuce. This is the season for Caesar Salads. They are the most refreshing after a long hard day working in the sun. We met a woman who is 84 that eats 3 heads of Romaine a week! Maybe that's the secret to her youthful appearance and energy.

The first Blueberries were ready on the 4th of July. What a celebration for me, because I love them so much. The bushes have matured and they are loaded this year. Since I planted a variety of types, we will have blueberries throughout the summer. Yum!

We've gorged ourselves on Strawberries for the last month, too. Strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream from Polly the Coffelt Farm cow, is heavenly!

July 16th -19th

The hot weather has finally broken. We have had record temperatures this month. One day reached up to 92 degrees! The rains started on the night of the 16th and have hardly let up. We've had real downpours with intermittent showers. Yesterday the island landscape was socked in with low lying clouds. I drove to town and could not see the hillsides or mountains on the island. Today I found some flowers and plants bent over with the weight of the rain. It's really too wet to work in the garden, so I will wait until it dries out. It is suppose to clear up by Saturday, the 21st.

The land feels like it is really enjoying the rain. It is interesting, too, to see how the plants in the garden green up after a rain. I wonder how the peppers, tomatoes, and corn will do with the damp days and nights.

We're eating artichokes, broccoli, chard, pok choy, beets, and lettuce from the garden. It's a daily ritual now to go to the "Blueberry Bliss" Room and pick a bowl full for the day. The Boysenberries are getting ripe and plump. The robins have been watching and waiting. I noticed them diving in the patch in the early morning, so I've netted them the best I can.

I put a bamboo arch-like structure on the entrance to the Omega Room and was given 2 pots of Honeysuckle from the nursery in town which I've planted to climb up and over the arch. Adding this arch changed the energy of the Omega Room and the garden. I found that if I stood near the archway that I could feel the strengthening power of this energy. This is the area where the energy is the most powerful in the garden. We understand that a ley line runs through the garden there. It was fascinating to see how these pyramid shaped sides to the archway, amplified and grounded the energy.

We just had our first garden talk (Gandhi and Love) and the people attending were able to feel it too. One woman felt that she was blessed when standing there. This is very wonderful to witness, as this is really what this garden is about. The quality of its vibration is growing and transforming, just as we all are.

July 26th

The rain continued for week with intermittent showers and downpours. The island felt like it had a cloud sitting on it that wouldn't lift. I worked out in the rain when I could but then there was no place to dry off all of the wet clothes, gloves, and shoes. That meant doing frequent loads of wash and using the dryer rather than the clothes line. We finally broke down and turned on the propane fireplace to help dry out the house, since it was starting to have a damp moldy feeling. I cringed to think of what might be growing and spreading throughout the garden, so I tried not to think about it.

The TV news showed scenes of terrible flooding in parts of England. There was another rainstorm headed their way. It was a good reminder that things could be a lot worse. However, we happened to be watching the DVD of "The Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore this week, and it became really clear that this is just the beginning of more bizarre weather for the planet. Anthony and I do a lot of the right things to prevent Global Warming, but I felt inspired to do more.

On Monday the 23rd, after 7 days of rain, we had our first break in the weather and the sun came out. My watering schedule had been interrupted with the rains, so I wasn't sure if I should water or not. Most of the garden looked like it was flourishing, however the delphiniums and painted tongue (Salpiglossis) were almost wiped out. Signs of fungus could be seen on the roses and the potatoes and some brown streaks on the tomatoes that could be the blight! Urg! It is too early to tell, so I am holding them well and strong in my mind.

As the week progressed we continued to have more sunny days. I started to see many of the plants wilting. This indicated to me that they did not have a deep watering during the week that they needed. Although the ground looks moist and fluffy from the rainy week, I am watering again and will see if my instincts are correct. Meanwhile, I doing a thou rough clean up of any leaves that look diseased and disposing of them far away from the garden.

July 27

Today, I followed the "nudge" to lay brick down in the Omega Room. Anthony wheelbarrowed down 4 loads of pavers that we had left over from the walkways along the front of the house. As it turned out he loaded just enough to make a double row circle around the birdbath and an outer circle that frames in the room at the edge of the flower bed that surrounds the room. The energy of the room is now amplified to an even greater extent. When we brought in chairs to sit down, we discovered that our feet naturally rested upon the circle of bricks, which allows the energy that is being gathered to easily come into the body. We are witnessing the power of sacred geometry at work in this room.