Tag Archives: Learning

The Salem Garden is a Year Old? Really? Your Kidding Me!

WordPress sent me a message the other day to tell me that I’ve been blogging for a year. Seriously… one year? They must be kidding!

Lots of great things have happened since I started The Salem Garden and I didn’t really plan on any of them. You know that I turn everything into a list, so here’s what happened:

1.  I found out that blogging is fun, interesting and maybe a little bit addictive.

2. I also learned that blogging takes a lot of time and energy.

3. However, the time commitment decreased as I kept blogging.

4.  But, the time commitment then increased because I loved reading other blogs and learning about the craft.

5. I connected with friends, interesting people and gardeners from all over the world.

6. I also connected with friends, interesting people and gardeners from right here, in fun, new ways.

7. I learned a lot about gardening. This happens when you read gardening blogs, so keep reading!

8. I found my blogging voice.

9.  I got a wonderful paid position as an adaptive gardening specialist (I had never even heard of an adaptive gardening specialist). My first job in seventeen years has given me the gift of vision about what I’d like to do professionally in the future.

10.  My family did well with all of the above, almost all the time.

A year ago I had no idea or expectation about where this would go.  I knew that I had something to say or do but I didn’t know what it was or that it would be life-changing. I had spent many years raising my young children and enjoying every minute so I couldn’t  imagine doing anything else.  Thank you so much for reading, following, encouraging and sharing your thoughts with me.  You have all made the last year into an amazing journey!

I love sharing photos, so here are some of my favorites from the past year. Click on any image to view them as a slide show.

With lots of love and gratitude,

Michele at The Salem Garden

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Just One

I’m on the move this week! We’re hosting a student from Ota City, Japan, so we have lots of fun family activities planned and I have a new child to take care of. My Mom and nieces are visiting my brother and sister-in-law in New Hampshire so we had lunch with them yesterday and we’ll meet them at a nearby amusement park tomorrow (with the Salem Ota students). One of my children is going to sleep-a-way camp in NH on Sunday. My little guy is going to sailing camp next week and my oldest son’s golf team tournament is on Monday. There is so much to do and so much to prepare for! This is a busier than usual week but not too far off the mark from what we consider to be “normal”.  Life with five kids means lots of action and commitments.

People often ask me how I can take on projects like gardening or blogging. I think that one of the keys for me is to learn just one thing a day about something that I’m interested in.  I find one new idea or skill to add to my knowledge base each day and before I know it I feel pretty confident about what I’m doing. I could never accomplish anything if I had to learn about a topic all at once, my brain just doesn’t work that way (there really isn’t room)! So, I break things down. I also do this with household tasks or in the garden. I’ve learned about parenting, gardening, blogging, health care concerns, how to use a computer, cooking… I could go on and on. It really helps me to try to embrace  little accomplishments and bits of knowledge and store them away.

Consider reading just one page a day of the instruction manual for your camera or learning just one new cooking technique or one word of  a foreign language. You might be surprised at how quickly  your  “just one thing” turns into something that you really enjoy and feel great about.

You can do anything!

Michele