If, like Farmer Bob and his Cows that Type, the doe who took up residence in our yard this past winter found a typewriter on our property. I think she’d write something like this: Dearest Gardener Shoshanah, Thank you for installing a new salad bar last fall.Yours truly, who enjoys my favorite sunny spot, namely, the sunny crest of the hill from which I get a great view of your kitchen, was thoroughly excited at the prospect of fresh and tender plants brought right to my home.I was looking forward to varying my usual diet of invasive vines and [...]

יְגִ֣יעַ כַּ֭פֶּיךָ The Labor of your Palms Shortly before the Jewish holiday of Purim, a truly majestic Pine tree, double trunked and reaching for the heavens, came crashing down at the end of my block.  Thankfully it damaged very little, but I’m sure dealing with the aftermath was a pain for it’s owners, and I was sad to see it go.  Still, as I saw the arborist trucks line up at the end of the block I realized there was an opportunity here - free Arborist chips! A truck full of arborist chips is a tremendous amount of mulch.  [...]

עַ֤ד שֶׁיָּפ֙וּחַ֙ הַיּ֔וֹם וְנָ֖סוּ הַצְּלָלִ֑ים סֹב֩ דְּמֵה־לְךָ֨ דוֹדִ֜י לִצְבִ֗י א֛וֹ לְעֹ֥פֶר הָאַיָּלִ֖ים עַל־הָ֥רֵי בָֽתֶר׃ (ס) When the day blows out gently And the shadows flee, Turn about, my beloved and be as a gazelle or a fawn on the hills of spices! Song of Songs is spring in glorious, full and sweeping poetry. It is an explosion of pent up energy, of longing, flowering, growth and life pulsating in full color. This heady mix is framed as a romance and often understood as a spiritual allegory. The beloved, in this extended poem, is compared to a צְבִ֗י א֛וֹ לְעֹ֥פֶר הָאַיָּלִ֖ים. [...]

בְּנ֥וּ בָתִּ֖ים וְשֵׁ֑בוּ וְנִטְע֣וּ גַנּ֔וֹת וְאִכְל֖וּ אֶת־פִּרְיָֽן׃ Build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their fruit. Jeremiah 29:5 When the prophet Jeremiah sent a letter to the people of Judea, newly exiled to Babylonia, he did not encourage them by promising a rapid return to their homeland. He did not tell them to fight to return, to lobby their new government, or even to pray for a miracle. Instead, he told them to do what probably seemed impossible, to accept their fate and to move on, for this generation, and yes, the next one too. Do [...]

אַתָּ֣ה הִ֭צַּבְתָּ כָּל־גְּבוּל֣וֹת אָ֑רֶץ קַ֥יִץ וָ֝חֹ֗רֶף אַתָּ֥ה יְצַרְתָּם׃ You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; summer and winter—You made them. Psalms 74:17 The glory of the sun in winter. It can transform what seemed like brown uniformity into a tapestry of gold, bronze and silver grey. On a beautiful winter day, I spent an afternoon at Brookside Gardens where all the gems of winter were on display. Winter beauty is quite different from that of the three other seasons. Its colors are muted, a minimalist palette of desaturated warmth where moments of light or color take on a [...]