She’s a wife and mom, grandmom, real estate agent, tennis player, cook, gardener, and much more. Her name is Lorelei, and she’s my friend.
She nurtures beauty in many ways, like the peonies above.
She spends a lot of time outside—in her garden, caring for her chickens, and playing with her little granddaughters when they come over. Her husband Mike is a huge help, and they often work together out there.
The shelter-in-place order has given her more time to work outside to tend her flowers, nurture her seedlings, and plant her vegetables. It’s early in the growing season, but so far she and Mike have harvested fresh salad greens, radishes, and eggs. Lots of eggs.
Lorelei has been keeping and caring for hens for 12 years. Here are a few of her girls.
They cluck and peck while we walk in the garden checking on the young plants. I’m struck by how organized and orderly everything is in raised beds with retaining walls, in square wooden planter boxes, with circular cages for support, and little handwritten stakes identifying the plants.
Down the slope several years away is a metal arched trellis that should soon support red Chinese Noodle Beans, which will grow 12"-18". She planted the giant beans for her grandgirls, and I can picture them running through and around the trellis, playing, laughing, and pointing with delight.
Lorelei’s green thumb grew from her own childhood spent in the gardens of her parents and grandparents. She and Mike have been gardening in earnest for themselves the last five years or so.
They have created a lush little oasis of goodness beside their house. It’s a lot of work but it’s worth it. She loves the colors and shapes of the flowers, fruits, and vegetables as well as the foliage of the garden.
“God meets me here,” she says.
Lorelei loves cooking her garden-grown goodness and sharing its abundance with others. As her friend, I’ve enjoyed the fruit—and vegetables—of her labor, not just in tasting and eating them, which is treat enough, but in walking in the beauty of the garden. It’s a quiet, colorful space full of life and light and wonder.
It’s a feast for the eyes—and for the soul. For mine and, I hope, for yours now too.
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