ACTION PRECEDES INSPIRATION

Everyone will be sick of me telling the tales of another happy Wednesday but when I am happy I like to pass it on. Gardening was at my place this time and we spent a nice couple of hours removing some of my squash plants and some other bits and pieces and getting the beds ready to plant and sow in over Easter. After morning tea and when they had all left, I stood out there for ages with a watering can and soaked the whole area. Then, to conserve the moisture and get the worms and microbes working, I cut up pieces of the carpet underlay (coconut fibre) that I had picked up a couple of months back and laid them over the soil and then wet them too. I didn't put straw or other loose mulch as I don't use mulch except in summer, because I want the dark soil to absorb the warmth of the sun all winter long. This carpet underlay can be easily removed, piece by piece, when I am ready to plant into that spot. We put lots of the weeds and deep-rooted plants we removed into a plastic bin, added some cow manure and some comfrey leaves and filled the bin with water to make a liquid 'tea' I will use on the new seedlings in a couple of weeks. (I know its not a perfect brew Deb, but it'll do!)

As always, the 5 of us chatted away about this and that. Lou told me that the terracotta pots we installed before the heat wave had kept her seedlings going beautifully (which is something because Lou sometimes forgets to water her plants!) Kathy always has stories about 1 or more of her 5 grown children, I seem to always injure Glenys in some way, today I only tipped compost inside her shoes (sorry Glenys!) and Sally is like a tornado and is equally difficult to control but she gets an awful lot done! Sally and I were digging up some kikuyu together (its always a good idea to stick close to Sally - it makes you look like you have done more work that way!) when Sally said something profound.

Action precedes inspiration.

I stopped and rested on my fork in the style of The Aussie Summer gardener. "You're so right" I said, thinking more about this. That is what happens for me with writing on this blog. Often I don't have anything in particular to write about but I want to keep new stuff coming up all the time. Then I go out into the garden and all it takes is a few steps out the door and I see or think something and I rush back inside with fire in my belly or a smile on my face and before I know it, thoughts are pouring in and words are pouring out.

This leads on to a comment I wrote on Pattie's Foodshed Planet, the other day:

.....I love that idea that we and others are scratching below the surface and the time is right to do something with what we find there. I am digging a lot deeper than ever and turning over some beautiful, rich experiences. When I bring them to the surface I hope they fertilise the minds of everyone around me...

It is only by doing something that inspiration comes and it is amazing where it leads us, just amazing. In particular, who would have thought that a previously-solitary gardener like me who had only heard the word 'blog' from son Alex 18 months ago, would offer to set up a blog for a new seedsavers group and that it would sweep me up in its path and, with the addition of nutrients from other bloggers and sunlight from the garden and a fair amount of action, inspire me so much that I can look at the Feedjit map and the hit counter and think wow! , Sally is right, small actions can inspire huge creations.

Here are some other words of wisdom I have found:

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. --Orison Swett Marden

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. --Will Rogers

Ideas are funny little things. They don't work unless you do. --Unknown

Life is like a taxi, the meter keeps ticking whether you're getting somewhere or standing still. --Lou Erickson