This is my story of a garden

A blog by Barbie Darwin Burr

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” ~Carl Jung

It started six years ago, as the cheapest, quickest way to stabilize a part of the yard where we ripped out overzealous poison ivy and rangy scrub oak.

The garden was set on the poorest, rockiest, rootiest soil, and built with little more than memories of places I had loved, and time spent outdoors with my dog, Spot. I amassed a lot of information about water, dirt, mulch, light, and temperature, as well as growing, collecting, eating, cooking, saving, and sharing food.

As all of this was happening, I acquired a marble statue of Persephone, and that inspired me to build her a home dedicated to Carl Jung's mythic shadow side. Spot died, how I miss him. Groundhogs, rabbits, and chipmunks encouraged me to shift from vegetables to flowers, and think about the garden as a place to sit and look out at a view. Then there was the cutting garden with dusty miller and dahlias for the wedding. And then there was the wedding, with Newbury Street stylists coiffing hair in my potting shed.

Very soon, I think this patch of land will become something else, although I am not sure what. Before it is a hazy recollection, I want to try and write down the story. It was such a wonderful place.

I am back

October 3, 2022 Wow, time has passed since my last entry. I love that I can date my first bean dish to February of 2021. I am back, with renewed bean enthusiasm. I also have huge garden enthusiasm. More to come.

bag of beans

Plant-based recipes

Pulling together a plant based diet might seem very random, because I am pulling from a lot of different directions.  But really what is happening is that I am moving intuitively through a transitional moment.  I am opening my mind, body and spirit to wisdom from my oldest memories, while …

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bowl of quinoa, almonds, flax seed, blueberries and almond milk

Yesterday,  February 25, I toasted Ezekiel cinnamon raison bread and slathered it with  almond butter.  It was high in protein, high in fat, crunchy, chewy, sweet, savory, and satisfying.  This morning I am making quinoa.   The print on the package was tiny, so I had to guess a bit …

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stack of recipe books

Plant Based Recipes

Recipes! I am always short of time. I promised myself I would write today, and now I am rushing. Here is my early library, and my early recipes. Spoiler- they are all good, but fall woefully short on logistics. I started by seeing what Martha Stewart had to say, because …

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