Reinventing Sparks

I started this blog on January 12, 2009, in the dead of winter when spring taunted from the distant future and my teeming summer vegetable garden sighed from the distant past.

It was "project-launching-mode" time, and I dreamed of a beautiful, uplifting, smart book about spiritual gardening, faith-based farming, and the kind of meaning that can be found only in the dirt under our fingernails.  This blog would be the seed of my book, the hub of a sparkling conversation about gardening and growing as a spiritual practice.

In my very first post, I wrote, "I am excited about this beginning because it's been awhile since I've had one.  I don't know what's coming next.  And man, do I love that.  It's time."

Now it's 10 months later.  This is my 131st post, and I've had 98 comments. But my book proposal languishes half-finished.  A drenchingly rainy summer, a mid-season move to a new house, a "real job," and a slew of personal problems conspired against my ability to grow any significant food of my own.  And those same aforementioned ills downshifted the blog into periodic-posting-land.  Sigh.

We're officially into harvest time, my favorite season. Harvest is, when you think about it, the celebration of an ending--the end of the growing season.  But every ending is also a beginning (unless you believe the trailer for the new 2012 movie....but that's for another day).  So, readers, I say again:  "I am excited about this beginning because it's been awhile since I've had one. I don't know what's coming next.  And man, do I love that.  It's time."

I'm reinventing this blog to be about a broader concept of Sparks in the Soil.  Only the soil is not mere dirt, it's the fertile stuff of my life.  Like you, I'm searching for meaning....everywhere.  In my garden, but that's a gimme.  Also in the pool at my aquacize class, in the grocery store and in my kitchen, on the web, in my neighborhood, in yoga, and at work. 

As I wrote back in January, "Soil is a beautiful mystery.... It produces wonderful things when it's in balance."  So can we, especially if we look hard enough for the sparks that lie buried in what looks at first glance like mere dirt.

The sun is rising.  Can you see the sparks?  More to come.

Comments

[John]

I'm in! I've missed me some Sparks, so I'm glad you're expanding the mission to include other spark-laden facets of life.

More fodder for the conversation = more posts = more chances to find common threads where you least expect them.

Bring it!