Effortless Abundance

Last month I wrote about my new garden and the sacred serenity it brings to me.

Just one short month later, the earth has lavished us with her effortless abundance.

We have enjoyed so many gorgeous lettuces, green and yellow beans, herbs, and spring onions, and experienced the immense joy of sharing this abundance with friends and family.

The garden is now overflowing with crisp bunches of celery, still more beans, and huge, ruffly wands of rainbow chard. I’ve even had a handful of early cherry tomatoes, the sweetest little rounds of sunshine I’ve ever tasted!

We had an unusually cool and wet weekend recently and my inner gourmet goddess went a little crazy with all the garden abundance.

A friend still had an overflowing crop of rhubarb in his garden and asked me if I wanted any. I did…and I got busy!
I made four jars of Rhubarb Apple Chutney, a favorite family recipe. It was a first time chutney making adventure, and worth every stir! So yummy!

I wanted to use the celery, yellow zucchini, and swiss chard, so I got busy again, making some tomato sauce with all the vegetables. Haven’t tried it yet. It will be a winter treat.

After all the rain, the Swiss chard was begging to be picked.

I found a recipe for a Savory Swiss Chard Quiche that was so delicious with fresh lemon thyme and chives from the garden, and unusual, with its handful of currants and pinches of nutmeg.

Having a garden, one can’t help to feel abundant and at the same time notice how effortless feeling abundant is.

Not so different from Epicurus, 300 BC, who was all about wealth consisting not in having many possessions but in having few wants. The way to experience abundance is to think, feel and act as if you have enough, and share what you can with others.

Experiencing effortless abundance to me, is all about deep gratitude and humility…about simple pleasures and exquisite beauty.

It’s an effortless thing to add beauty to one’s life. All you have to do is look around. The more you notice it, the more you experience!

Is there even a difference between experiencing beauty and experiencing abundance?