A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 21
One of the most depressing experiences I ever had was going to a Bonsai exhibition. There were rows upon rows of ‘adult’ trees – maples, oaks, juniper, cypress, beech - no bigger than table-top Christmas decorations. I was horrified to discover that some of these trees were hundreds of years old, but unlike their free cousins in the wild, towering proudly over the earth with their branches stretched heavenwards, these stunted trees would never be allowed to reach their full potential.
Image courtesy of Nicola Whitaker Continue reading ‘Bonsai Christians’
A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 20
I learnt gardening from my dad. When I was three we moved into a newly built house, or, as they say in these days of poor grammar, a ‘new-build’. Like most new-builds, the patch of ground attached to the house was more a builder’s dump than a garden, with broken bricks, cement powder and general rubble thinly covered by a layer of poor quality top-soil. Undeterred, or at least that’s how it appeared to my three-year-old mind, my dad set about turning the wasteland into a place where flowers could grow.
Continue reading ‘Passing it on to the kids’
A Gardener’s Gospel – Week 19
Last weekend two of the neighbourhood kids – Jessica and Rosa – knocked on the door and asked if they could pick some of my flowers. They were making perfume. They didn’t care about the overgrown grass and the spreading weeds (I’ve been busy the last two weekends and haven’t had a chance to mow); all they saw and smelt from the road were roses and lavender. Continue reading ‘The un-ornamental garden’
A Gardener’s Gospel Week 18
In the first post in this Gardener’s Gospel series I mentioned that when I first took over my garden I enthusiastically pulled up a whole lot of ground foliage thinking they were weeds – among them St John’s Wort and, what I’ve only recently discovered, were Spanish bluebells. Well fortunately for me (and them!) the Spanish bluebells grew from bulbs and despite me decimating them above ground, they’ve now made a comeback. Once these pretty blue flowers started flowering again, I realised my mistake and after searching my book of ‘Flowers by Colour’ by Jan Wilson, I finally identified this holocaust survivor. But it was only when they began to flower that I was able to recognise them.
Continue reading ‘By their fruit you will know them’
In my capacity as the editor of a writing website I’ve just read a book called Charity's Child by Rosalie Warren. Now while The Crafty Writer is not a religious site and looks simply at the business and craft of writing, being a Christian is what defines me as a person, and my Christian world-view colours the decisions I make. Up until now that has not been much of a problem over on The Crafty Writer as the business and craft of writing in itself is neither ‘Christian’ nor ‘non-Christian’, but that was challenged with Charity’s Child. Continue reading ‘When churches go wrong’
In this fifth session of our Writing as Worship and Witness series we will be looking at ‘prophetic writing’. For those of you who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with prophecy in a charismatic context, I hope to explain that it’s not as wacky as it sounds, and for those of you who feel at home with the ‘prophetic’ I hope to explain that it is far more ordinary than we often expect. Continue reading ‘Prophetic Writing’
A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 17
About six years ago I planted a handful of chili seeds, and within six months I had two beautiful indoor pot plants that continued producing fruit for over four years. But then, for reasons I still have not been able to fathom, they died. Undeterred I planted another crop last year and was very excited to see some young plants sprouting up.
Continue reading ‘The ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have nots’’
A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 16
The garden is going through a growth spurt. Andre, the lawn, is showing signs that his bald patches may soon fill in, the St John’s Wort is growing like a triffid and the box wood is sprouting shoots faster than a postman clocking off for lunch. It’s time to get out the power tools.
Continue reading ‘Power Tools’
A Gardener’s Gospel – week 15
I opened my curtains this morning to the beautiful sight of a Norwegian Whitebeam bursting out in full leaf. The silvery green clusters are like fingers on a flexed hand that seemingly, overnight, have been flicked from a clenched fist. But you know what? I knew this was going to happen. While the rest of my garden doesn’t always seem to live up to its promises, the Whitebeam, that towers over everything, can be trusted to come through year after year.
Continue reading ‘Promises, promises’
Welcome to my site - I'm Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, author, playwright and writing teacher. This site contains thoughts and articles I've written on a range of topics. I hope you find them useful.
Democracy Rules - OK?
Riots in Kenya, roadshows in America and assassinations in Pakistan make one wonder how healthy the 21st century’s state of democracy really is. It’s a doctrine espoused almost universally but applied with only relative success. So why is it still seen as an ideal of modern governance?
Image courtesy of e-strategy.com Continue reading ‘Democracy Rules - OK?’