Garden of Peace and Meditation

recent 35mm shots / Lake Shrine

 'You are a wildflower, a beauty unsurpassed.'

-Paramahansa Yogananda

I recently got some 35mm film rolls developed and came upon a few stellar shots (upon many missed shots!) from our family morning trip out to Lake Shrine in the Pacific Palisades to celebrate Elijah's birthday. Have you heard of Paramahansa Yogananda and his centers for self-realization? Have you been to one before dear reader? 

I highly, highly recommend a walk around Lake Shrine. 

Let the peacefulness and flowers wash over you. 

Always.

 

. . . just a few more shots! Seriously though, The Ecology Center is such a magical place!

Found this image off Cheri's Scout Holiday site from when she visited the L'art du Jardin expo in Paris. How lovely it must have smelled in the Grand Palais filled with all these plants and flowers and trees, right! I can always count on Cheri to be in the most of magical of places. 

Happy Saturday to you!

the wedding garden

inside their geodesic dome, where the magic begins

the ecology center!

flower seedling starters

creating lil planting nests for them in between straw

seedling starters happy beginnings

taking a break inside for tea with evan

I've written about The Ecology Center  before. I helped on the flower front with Green Feast here and here. Now my friends Evan Marks (founder, brilliant mind behind The Ecology Center) and Krissy Morrison (remember our natural dye workshop with her?) of Colour Plantae are getting married and having their party at The Ecology Center this October!

The three of us have started a wedding garden to have fresh flowers and herbs to cut and use! How beautiful is that? And fun! Evan got the seedlings started and I commenced planting them in their gardens this week. This is the beginning of a really special gesture, I can feel it. All the while just being there is such a moment of peace, of positivity and of sunshine. If you should want to pay them a visit and volunteer I can guarantee you that you will leave the grounds so lifted and full of life. It's abundant everywhere there. This is such a dream project. I'm all about this kind of awareness and respect, not just for Evan and Krissy but for what they represent, what The Ecology Center represents, and all the people there who put in so much time and heart to educate, to grow, to share, and to make the world a better place. Did I mention they just got their beehive all set up...now go and get some honey and make your life a little sweeter!

Edible Gardens LA

Lauri Kranz has a gem of a job with her Edible Gardens LA. She builds, plants and sustains organic vegetable gardens and teaches gardening at local schools, helps chefs, families and anyone with an interest in having a home garden grow lush gardens full of organic vegetables. From her mouth to ours. Check out more here. Here's to you Lauri, brilliant wonderful woman!

merci david for sharing this with me*

Kokedama: String Garden

I made some really sweet kokedama's this weekend to sell at Shelter Half. If you have a small apartment or want an easy-to-take-care of lil' plant friend or simply love moss, you need one! Hang one from your window (preferably not full sun all day) and watch your space get a little dose of magic. Go and get yours (or email me about an upcoming workshop to make your own)!

Falling Garden

Lovely Lauren sent this my way and my jaw dropped. Just the title alone, Falling Garden, conveys so many prolific thoughts. This confetti + nature inspired art installation was brought into being by German artist Gerda Steiner and Jorg Lenzlinger and was created for the 50th Venice Biennial Art Exhibition. Did any of you see this by chance? You can read more about it here. Breathtaking. I'd so love to waste the day away laying on the ground and just staring up at this magnificent embodiment of beauty and letting thought after inspired thought pass through me...sigh.

(Thank you Lauren)***

The Eden Project

Have you heard of or been to The Eden Project in Cornwall, England? It's a global garden that was built in an unused clay mine to inspire and educate people! It's so much more than a garden too. It houses concerts and art shows, sometimes using the plants and gardens as canvases, it grows food and brings people together from all across the world. My dear friend Cheri goes and visits about once a year and she always holds it in such high esteems. It's time for Elijah and I to go I think!

My Little Garden

I've been tending to a little garden that Elijah & I planted at the beginning of summer. My very talented friend Sunny made me 2 winsome gardening beds for my birthday this year and I've slowly been hunting and gathering seeds, sprigs, and plants to make this little garden grow. Sometimes, when I get home, there is a wonderful little package of seeds waiting patiently for me to find them on my doormat or a gift of wildflower seed bombs all that my wonderfully cool and lovely neighbor Lauren so kindly leaves. Those are the best kinds of gifts. Unexpected and just waiting to be tended to so they can bloom.

Have you been to the New York Botanical Gardens?

(via Lula)

Stella's Anniversary Garden

This is one of the most exquisite and romantic gardens I have ever come across! It belongs to Stella McCartney and her husband Alasdhair Willis. The story of how they came to buy the desolated house and turned it into a lush Eden country house is very inspiring and very telling of how transformative a role nature can play when it is incorporated with restorations! Stella likens the home to a "a redbrick box within a garden within a garden within a garden." She also likes to plant a tree whenever a new building pops up on the horizon to give their place a sense of magical isolation. The Anniversary Garden was a present from Alasdhair to his "beautiful wife Stella" for their sixth wedding anniversary. And I was especially moved when I read that instead of presents on their wedding day, the couple asked guests for trees! They were showered with remarkable trees from all around the world, including redwoods! I honestly cannot think of anything more romantic and heartfelt than presenting someone with a garden as a gift. You'll definitely want to read and see more of this fairytale here.

(Thank you so much Cheri for sharing this with me)*