Online Gratitude Journal March 2010 Edition #38

I skipped my monthly Gratitude Journal last month. I actually had the draft ready to go, but the format just didn’t feel right any more after I renovated this blog to Real Life Spirituality. So this month, I am trying on a new format. (Photo credit)

Gratitude for my earthly life

Living in this physical world is fun in many ways. Some people see life as school, and that is true, but I also think it’s like a big amusement park. You can be scared and sick with some rides in the park, or you can have lots of fun by choosing the rides. And sometimes getting sick on the crazy ride is exactly what you want. It’s all up to you.

Spring means gardening. However, I am not into the kind of serious, heavy gardening that involves tiling, pushing the wheelbarrow, and weeding. I’m just not built for that kind of manual labor, plus I only have a deck right now, no garden. So I like growing herbs and some vegetables in containers.

This month, I started my first batch of microgreens. Microgreens are bigger than sprouts, so they need soil and sun, but they are harvested early before they grow to full size, so they need only a tiny bit of soil and time investment.

Look what I am getting! These are cold-tolerant plants. The light greens on the left are winter salad mix (lettuce, arugula, corn salad, radicchio, endive, parsley, and chervil). The smaller dark greens are kale that I planted a week later.

Okay, so I need to practice putting the seeds more evenly, but you get the idea. If you have some sunny spot, you can do this — truly FRESH live greens for your salad! Full sun is ideal, but another good thing about growing microgreens is you can do it even with less sun. It will take longer to grow, but because you are not after fruits or tubers, your plants don’t need tons of sun for photosynthesis.

I’m so happy and grateful for the sun, the water, the earth, and all things green.

I highly recommend this. It’s so much fun to watch the cute little greens come out of soil. If you have small children, they would love it, too — a sure way to get them eat their salad

Gratitude for my friends

Evita Ochel made a great fun bucket list of meeting blogger buddies. I agree, we bloggers spend so much time communicating with other bloggers and commenters that they feel just as close to, or sometimes even closer than, our offline, in-person friends. How wonderful it would be to meet up with them!

So here is my version of blogger meet up dream plan. Perhaps when I write 500 posts and become really famous, I get to do this Less than 300 posts to go — it’s good to have something to look forward to:

First let’s pay respectful visit to Barbara Swafford, who inspired Evita to write her bucket list and who lives in the same state of Oregon — hey, it’s only a few hours drive! Let’s see if she wants to join this world tour.

Then down to California to see Lisa, the Mommy Mystic to do chakra meditation together.

Next I fly to Ohio to see earthmother. I hope she can take me to a hike and show how to forage edible wild plants. I will also drive to Columbus, where I lived for 10 years, to see my old colleagues. I consider Ohio to be my American home town.

Then I will hop to Wisconsin to see Lance. If I remember right, the sweet Kim & Jason are in the same area, too. We will goof off and surprise even the four year olds

From there, I will fly to the East Coast. Let’s see, I can’t miss my long-time friend Hunter Nuttall in D.C. Perhaps he can teach me how to utilize my left hand more and therefore balance my brain. Or we can discuss personality types and starseed groups.

I love reading food blogs. Choosing Raw is one of my favorites. Gena is smart and compassionate. I’d love to have lunch with her at Pure in NYC.

After the bustling of the Big Apple, I head north. Before crossing the border, I will meet Jenny Mannion in upstate New York to see her new healing center. (By the time I get to do this tour, I’m sure it is up and running.)

In Canada, Evita will be waiting for me. We will discuss the science of healthy eating and living.

Hmm, as I check my Google Reader, I notice some of my blogger buddies haven’t been posting for a while. Is Cath Lawson still in England or will she be in Canada?

In Australia, I need to visit Melbourne to see Albert, the revered Urban Monk, and Robin.

Maybe I missed a few of my friends here — forgive me. This is just a starting place of a fun project.

Okay, this is it for today. Many thanks to all the readers, commenters, and blogger friends. I hope you are enjoying the spring. And don’t forget the April Fools Day — one of my favorite day Plan something fun and silly.