A Perfectly Fine Front Lawn

16 April , 2010. Denise Ferguson

I had a nature pee last night. I have two toilets. One is sitting like a beacon on the front lawn and the other is upside down in my office. I guess I could have used either of those, but thought total nature would be better. It was, but not much. I took the meaning of ‘giving back to the earth’ to a whole new level. As a yogi, I am on a path of maintaining equanimity of mind. This week, fighting off a cold, sans bathroom and hot water, a toilet and vanity getting in the way in my office, equanimity of mind has been a little challenging. I function well in organisation and my life is just that - a life of order. I enjoy doing the things I am good at as best as I can and I love the challenges of learning to perfect the things I am not very good at. Cue the bathroom project. I am definitely not quitting my day job.

It is so easy to be angelic when everything is going right and life is easy. My challenge this week is to remain in a state of grace when things around me are a little hectic and not always going to plan. For the record, the bathroom project is going fine now..... now that i’ve swapped all the wrong things I bought and my dear friend is able to fix the bath in such a way that I won’t have to return the toilet (fingers crossed). Here’s hoping whoever lives here when I’m done won’t need too much space in the vanity cupboard as those weird pipes won’t fit back into the wall. Also, when it comes time to replace the vanity again someone may get a bit of a surprise when they see the gaping hole in the wall behind it. My neighbours still suck and the place is still a dump but I remain composed and kind. Grace under fire? I’m trying. Who needs a mat, this is yoga at its best.

An Inter-Dependent Relationship with Mother Earth

13 April, 2010. Denise Ferguson

I got excited over compost last week. It took three car trips to drag several very heavy bins of compost from one home to mine. I felt satisfied as we dumped the bags of fertile dirt onto my lawn and I decided it was time to get my own bin. On Saturday I met a friend for brunch and asked if I could have a bag of leaves she had raked off her lawn. Usually I steal her clothes when I visit, so she was delighted that all I wanted that Saturday was a bag of dead leaves. I mentioned that it was probably a better option to give them to me than to risk getting caught and photographed at 10pm again by her neighbours as she sneaked her leaves into their rubbish bin. It seems her neighbours weren’t as grateful for her leaves as I was, perhaps they should start composting too.

I believe that caring for the environment is an extension of caring for myself and my home. Not only does a garden provide more nutritious food and beauty of surroundings, but it is a way to give back to the earth from which we constantly take. I now have an inter-dependent relationship with Mother Earth, and we are becoming better friends. Becoming environmentally aware is a bit like practicing Yoga, once you start you want to do it more and more.

So I have a compost bin now, and I get excited over all types of waste. The local paper goes in, and I can recycle used paper towels by tossing them in too. Food scraps (of course) and the dead flowers I pick from the garden go back to the earth via the big bin. As for my sneaky friend who takes from the lawn and gives to her neighbours... she’s joined the movement and her leaves go in her shiny new compost bin. As the leaves fall off the peach tree outside the lounge window, I don’t need hers anymore because I’ve got my own. I think I’ll go back to taking clothing souvenirs from her house, it’s getting colder and I need a new jacket.