"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair."

KAHLIL GIBRAN

Sometimes, in a world with so many gadgets, iPods, iPads, iPhones; with so many ways to connect, Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, email; we forget to go outside and smell the roses. Especially in a stimulating city like Los Angeles, with new must see movies, galleries, concerts and parties popping up every weekend, it becomes more challenging to take in the outdoors, a little blue sky, some sun, the color green. 

Access to places of outdoor glory may be difficult for some Angelenos to even access. With notorious traffic jams of an over-populated city, stillness and simplicity have become anomalies. Children are exposed more to the stimulation of technology, than to the reality of their surroundings. At a time when their senses are developing rapidly, stimulation from a garden space or simply being outdoors, exposes a child to new tactile, olfactory, and visionary stimulation crucial to development.

Farragut Elementary Gardeners Fall '11
Photo By: Tiffanie Ma

A garden space allows for questions, curiosity, collaboration, and creativity to flourish. There is this palpable grounding experience of serenity. Although perhaps not always consciously, students, as well as grown-ups, can sense this.

I have directly experienced this during my time at Farragut Elementary school and my internship at the Garden School Foundation. As I reflect on my past gardening for this year, I will use my gardening journal  to remember those moments both of awe..and ewww...and share them in this blog. While it would be impossible to include every detail of discovery, in every garden space, I will do my best to capture the essence of these experiences with specific excerpts and photos. First, let me continue with teaching at Farragut Elementary School.