So whose knee are we talking here, anyway? I mean, if it’s mine the corn’s not meeting the standard. If it’s my “almost five” grandson, things are ahead of schedule! This year, gardening keeps me focused on life, on what might be if you believe.
Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Back in March, I was planning and planting my gardens, something I never had time for when reaching out and outreaching with literacy initiatives. Originally, I envisioned seedlings in the cellar as the good light and extra space seemed best. However, I learned I needed great light so plywood splayed around the living room and seeds germinated!
Working with all my seedlings this Spring kept me busy enough (in and around dragging through the day!), and also got me to thinking, thinking about things other than cancer. Sunshine is for growing food, flowers, trees, and life. Flora, the goddess of flowers and nurturer of botany, needs light. Light is life.
Ironically, here I find myself dealing with metastatic melanoma and learning how to live with the sun and not directly in it. That same invaluable sunshine that gives life to us can also take it away. Each day I choose to find inspiration in the light, the power it brings to Mother Earth. Find your passion to see you through and the courage to stay out of the darkness!
Three Sisters Garden
One of four siblings, and with 3 of us females, I decided to try a Three Sisters Garden this year. Some of my seedlings included corn and winter squash. These are two of the Three Sisters vegetables, and I later planted bean seeds directly into the garden, representing the Three Sisters. The day I planted the seedlings of corn and squash, the clouds melted into rain. At first I thought it could be sister tears though quickly realized this gentle, unexpected rain was to settle the plants, to nurture, just as my sisters always had with me.
Remember the book Carrots Love Tomatoes? The Three Sisters Garden is of Native American origin and is a variation on companion planting. Each of these 3 plants, winter squash, beans and corn, provides nutrients and growing space for the others. I was reminded of this method last Fall when I read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. After borrowing this book from my library, I purchased a copy because it resonates with me deeply.

My two sisters have passed, each of a different cancer, and this is my way of recognizing the hole that lost love leaves and that we all incorporate loss into life. Nurturing ourselves, remembering others, and living the best damn life we’ve got today. My garden is definitely an experiment…in patience, in growth, and in the hope of tomorrow. But then, isn’t life an experiment as well?

Knee high by the Fourth of July? Hell, yeah! What are seeds of inspiration that you sow? Please comment on how you look to the positive! #threesistersgarden #melanoma #melanomatheskin #cancer #garden
We Can-cer vive!
Janis