Hippity Hoppity Easter’s on its Way By Cynthia Brian “It was Easter Sunday. The full-blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Spanish Student Blossoming fruit trees, poppies adorning hillsides, and daffodils illuminating walking paths… the sirens of the start of spring have sprung. As seedlings pop through the soft soil and new green growth emerges on hedges, trees, and vines, uninvited wildlife visitors tend to hop, fly, sc

“May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks May your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright Happy hours that stay with you all the year long.” Irish blessing. My first introduction to the Emerald Isles arrived when I was seven. First grade was the beginning of my education since pre-school and kindergarten did not exist in our neck of the woods. A new school had been constructed with young teachers dressed from head to toe in black with white collars wh

“The heart is like a garden. What seeds will you plant there?” Buddha The first vista I witness every morning as I traipse downstairs in my pink fluffy slippers to grab a cup of java invigorates my day. Outside my stairwell window, a tall crimson camellia tree sways in the breeze flanked by a shimmering evergreen flowering pear. Rounding the corner, I look to my right. Through the hand-made stained-glass arch, winter and spring co-mingle. The bright cerise flowers of the peac

https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1426/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Let-the-sun-shine-in.html Digging Deep with Cynthia Brian, the Goddess Gardener By Cynthia Brian “When the moon is in the Seventh House And Jupiter aligns with Mars Then peace will guide the planets And love will steer the stars. This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius.” Lyrics to Age of Aquarius by The 5th Dimension Astrologers don’t agree that it is the dawning of the Ag

February is American Heath Month and Black History Month. It also celebrate two significant holidays, Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day. During Covid-19, people are afraid to visit a physician for preventative care. The good news is that patients can take care of their health at home with virtual consultations, home monitoring, and testing devices. Find out what you can do to stay healthy and stay home. February is a month of pruning, planning and perusing in your garden. T

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.” ~ George Moore Like most of us who have been sheltering at home for the past eleven months, traveling to foreign lands has not been part of my normal activities. At first, I was immensely disappointed to cancel my 2020 exotic trips, especially the one that would have reunited me with my European pen pal with whom I’ve been corresponding regularly since I was nine years old. That’s a long ti

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever” – Mahatma Gandhi I popped the crunchy pods of my just-picked sugar snap peas into my mouth as I uttered a prayer of gratitude for the food I grow to nourish my family and the gardens I cultivate to nourish my soul. The past few weeks have brought the fragility of life into focus amidst the mounting death toll from the pandemic and the anxiety aroused by the political rampages. We need to return to our

Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian Garden Trends for 2021 By Cynthia Brian “Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right!” Oprah Winfrey HELLOOOOOOO 2021! We have been holding our collective breaths for the past ten months desperately anticipating a new beginning with a new year. Are you feeling a renewed enthusiasm for living? Are you ready to dig in? Every year the Garden Media Group releases information on what trends are formulating for th

By Cynthia Brian “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all year!” Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol One sentiment was universal this season in the holiday cards and emails…hope for a safe, healthy, prosperous future. 2020 has been a year of enormous challenges, chaos, and crisis amid a frightening pandemic that rendered many people feeling hopeless and helpless. Even with shelter-in-place mandates and Zooming taking the place of “being there”, resilience wil

By Cynthia Brian “The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives. I rejoice when I see anyone, and especially children, inquiring about flowers, and wanting gardens of their own, and carefully working in them. For love of gardening is a seed that once sown never dies, but always grows and grows to an enduring and ever-increasing source of happiness.” Gertrude Jekyll Watching the wide-eyed w

Fall Fireworks By Cynthia Brian “Let the beauty we love be what we do.” ~Rumi Sitting on my balcony, watching the ginger orb of the sun shoot sparkles and glitter throughout the dusky sky, I am besotted with the fireworks of fall foliage on the horizon. The colors and intensities change daily as I attempt to capture the essence of their beauty in my camera lens. A red-branched Japanese maple is glimmering gold one day. Four days later it is pumpkin spice orange. My liquid amb

Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian As the Leaves Turn By Cynthia Brian “A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” Ralph Waldo Emerson It’s only five in the evening and the darkness of night has arrived. I’ve been out in the garden prepping the soil as the sun sets and the moon rises. Normally by this time of the year, I would have had all my spring bulbs and perennials planted and my lawn re-seeded. But we have had no rain and the daytime temper

“Listen to them–the children of the night. What music they make!” Bram Stoker During this season, life is about the kids. This is a time of magic, wonder, and things that go bump in the night. Halloween has always been a favorite holiday for most children in the United States but this year, Halloween, the way it has been celebrated for decades, is canceled. No random trick or treating, no gatherings, no haunted parties. Since school has been online, kids yearn to get together

Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian “Too blessed to be stressed!” Bumper sticker By Cynthia Brian Are you feeling more in touch with Mother Earth as we near the beginning of eight months of stay-at-home mandates because of Covid-19? Or are you feeling antsy, stressed, and out-of-sorts? Retreating to our landscapes was initially a salve to the pain of the corona virus, social unrest, and political nastiness as we encountered improved air quality, quieter skies, a

Pres Pass: https://blog.voiceamerica.com/2020/09/30/risky-business/ Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener Cynthia Brian By Cynthia Brian “Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield.” Dwight D. Eisenhower When you bite into a crunchy apple, eat a bunch of juicy grapes, or slather butter on roasted sweet corn, unless you’ve grown these crops in your personal garden, do you ever wonder about the life of the farmer who provides

Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian Press Pass: https://blog.voiceamerica.com/2020/09/16/fall-in-a-pot/ Fall in a Pot! By Cynthia Brian “Truth comes out in wine.” Pliny the Elder “The people who give you their food give you their heart." Cesar Chavez The fires and smoke have ravaged farms and vineyards throughout Northern California, including my family vineyards in Napa County. The grapes are plump, juicy, and ripe. Harvesting would normally be in full swing t

By Cynthia Brian “When the ancients first observed Sirius emerging as it were from the sun…they believed its power of heat to have been so excessive that…the Sea boiled, the Wine turned sour, Dogs grew mad, and all other creatures became languid.” John Brady, 1813, a Compendious Analysis of the Calendar. Forever the optimist, when I penned my last column, The Dog Days of Summer, (http://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1413/Digging-Deep-with-Cynthia-Brian-the-Goddess-Gard

By Cynthia Brian “Dog Days bright and clear, indicate a happy year!” The Old Farmer’s Almanac, 1817 Sirius, the Dog Star, rises in summer in the Northern Hemisphere with the “dog days” traditionally beginning on the 3rd of July and ending on the 11th of August. The ancient Egyptians welcomed Sirius as a forecaster of the floods of the Nile River. They could prepare for the river’s overflow delivering much needed rich soil to their deserts or destruction to their lands. The Gr

Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian By Cynthia Brian “Summer afternoon -- summer afternoon; the two most beautiful words in the English language.” Henry James The blackberry bushes flanked the horse stables on my grandparents’ ranch. My grandmother was a genuine horse whisperer. She lovingly cared for a herd of adopted steeds and rode in parades in her fancy Western wear. She even trained the horse for the television show, My Friend Flicka. Together, after an ea

https://www.lamorindaweekly.com/archive/issue1411/Digging-Deep-with-Goddess-Gardener-Cynthia-Brian-Sweet-savory-summer.html Digging Deep with Goddess Gardener, Cynthia Brian Sweet, Savory Summer By Cynthia Brian “Steep thyself in a bowl of summer.” --Virgil Summer! Just saying the word puts a smile on my face. Since I was a little girl, the months of July and August were times of great joy, working as a laborer picking or cutting apricots, peaches, and pears in neighbors’ orc