A Sensory Experience in the Garden

By Carol Woolum Roberts

It is the last day of August as I write about my weekly awareness, which was experiencing all the beauty of my gardens using my five senses.

I spend time out in my backyard every day, but my time there still tends to offer me surprises and delights that I don’t expect.

As I sat at the table on our patio, I was truly moved by the beauty of my surroundings.  The last day of August in the garden is a truly bountiful place, as flowers continue to bloom, vegetables ripen, and birds come to feed.  I had this moment this morning, as if the scales were dropped from my eyes, and I looked at my view,  and it took my breath away.  All I could do was say a prayer of thanks to God for giving us this beautiful space and the chance to enjoy it in this small moment in time.

If seeing the beauty was not enough, a winged choir gave Paul and I our own chorus of “chick-a-dee-dee-dee” or “fee-bee-ee” as we listened to the chickadees swoop and dive around our neighbor’s bush that was full of dried berries.  The birds also ventured into our vegetable garden.  At one point, a hummingbird joined in this multi-winged chorus.

August is also harvest time.  Each morning I find ripe red tomatoes, green or yellow cucumbers, ripening summer squash in the shape of green globes or elongated cylindrical yellow and green squash.  The taste of a tomato taken right of the vine on a hot summer day is a mixture of tart and sweet richness only found in a summer garden.

From the time I plant them in spring to the time they are ready to be taken from their pots, petunias offer a continual sweet, pungent smell throughout their growing season.  Roses are also one of my favorite garden smells.  I love grabbing a leaf off one of the herbs I have growing in pots, smelling the peppery smell of basil, or the surprisingly honey-like smell of the melon sage.  Mint, oregano, sage, thyme and rosemary, all offer the savory smells of the herb garden.

The garden is full of different textures to feel as I walk the perimeter of the yard.  Bumpy succulents in a pot under the Virginia Creeper.  Silky soft fur on my cat Clark.  The prickly skin of the Japanese Cucumber at harvest. 

A place with so many sensory experiences helps me feel alive.  It helps me experience and appreciate the beauty that was created for us here on earth.  It helps calm our souls, and slow down. 

Taking time to be aware of our surroundings helps us know what it means to be.

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Describe a time you experienced a Weekly Awareness with all five senses.  What was your experience?

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