What if I told you that you could have SO much abundance in your garden that you’ll start to RIP OUT plants to make room?

I know this may sound out there or far-fetched. But it’s totally possible when you live in the 5th stage of Spirit Gardening… AWE!

This one stage has the power to completely make all other stages feel like a warm up to true Spirit Gardening. I’ll explain how in a bit…

But first let’s talk about how we get to awe. 

If you’ve noticed a theme so far, kids know how to do this a lot better than adults! The whole world leaves us in AWE when we’re kids after all!

Remember thinking that your Dad was the strongest man in the world? 

Or that your Mom made the best mac and cheese EVER?

That’s because you were probably living in a state of awe. Everything is new and exciting! And there are all these people around us who have more experience at this “life” stuff. 

When you’re young… you might’ve felt like these people had superpowers or magic at their fingertips.

*spoiler alert* They probably didn’t use magic, but what they DID give you is much more powerful…

You might even be thinking right now… what could possibly be more powerful than superpowers??

One word… LOVE!

Yes, as a kid you might’ve had a lot of people sending love your way. And it feels AMAZING! 

You might’ve gotten bedtime stories before you went to sleep…

You might’ve gotten animal crackers and juice boxes when you needed a break during the day…

Or you maybe had play time and recess when it was time to move your body…These are all ways the world shows you LOVE when you’re young!

*sidenote* Why did we stop all of this as adults?? I think a regular nap & juice box time would solve a lot of the world’s problems and make us all happier too…

And here’s a not-so-surprising surprise… this technique works for your garden too!

You may have seen two plants Ikea did a study on in my Spirit Gardening talk at the Superfood Garden Summit. They experimented with “loving” one plant and “bullying” the other one. The result?

The plant they loved thrived and the one they bullied struggled:

The same lesson works in your own garden too. If you focus on what is thriving and love it, you will start to help it thrive even more! To be honest, I don’t know exactly how it all works.

But I’ve seen it work for my students too many times to think this isn’t real.

Somehow when you focus your love on what thrives, it expands!

It wants to grow even more for you and make even more delicious herbs and vegetables!

And if something doesn’t respond to your love, guess what?

You can actually PULL it from your garden. Yes, that’s right. You can take plants out of your garden at any time. 

Because here’s the counter-intuitive truth… the thriving parts of your garden will be more than happy to take up the space! This may seem totally crazy, but it works. And if the plant you’re pulling out is one you really want to harvest this year… don’t worry!

Sometimes just pulling out one plant that is doing so-so and replacing it with a fresh starter is enough. Eventually (and with enough love), you will get to harvest all the vegetables and herbs you want. All plants respond to love. But you don’t need to go crazy loving on your plants either (but you can if you want to!)

Sometimes just having your morning coffee with your plants and telling them what good things might be happening in your day is enough.

And if you want MORE examples on how gardeners like you love on their plants, come to the live Q&A session tomorrow, September 8th:

>>> CLICK HERE to save your spot for the Spirit Gardening LIVE Q&A

I’ll be sharing some of my favorite techniques for living in Stage 5 of Spirit Gardening, Awe.

It’s really a magical stage to be in once you practice for a while!

You don’t have to “pass through” the other stages to get to Awe either. I’ll show you how to reach stage 5 of spirit gardening even if you haven’t practiced the other 4 stages yet. Just come to the free, LIVE Spirit Gardening Q&A session.

I’d LOVE to see you there. 🙂

Peace and AWE,
Stacey

Gardening is the best way to get the freshest, healthiest food. 

But what if I told you that it turns out that gardening does a lot to keep your MIND healthy too?

Because studies have shown that gardening provides equally incredible health benefits for your brain including:

• Reduced stress and anxiety by making you feel more peaceful and content.
• Boosting your self-esteem when you see your hard work pay off with a bountiful harvest.
• Improving attention span and concentration by focusing on a task without the usual indoor distractions.
• Encouraging social bonding when you garden with others or share your harvests in your community.

And that’s just from “traditional gardening.” 

When you start to apply Spirit Gardening, it takes these health benefits and amplifies them. That’s why in the 4th stage of Spirit Gardening, Evolve…

…you focus less on action and more on feeling!

Today you’ll take what you’ve learned from the previous three stages and decide how to grow and evolve from it. 

Here’s how…

Stage 1: You had wonder and curiosity and you asked questions.
Stage 2: You listened to your plants and noticed things about them and your garden.
Stage 3: You took playful action.
Stage 4: Now your garden has responded to what you did and you’ll choose how you respond to your garden.

Your garden’s response may or may not be what you expected. Maybe you wanted bigger zucchini and a more abundant harvest. But instead, you got similar-sized zucchini from last year and less of them.

This is where the opportunity to evolve and grow lies. Because no matter what your outcomes are… you get to choose the “story” attached to what happens!

Many people react to not getting the result they wanted with guilt, anger, or shame. They feel like a failure. Like something they did caused them to fail. But I want to introduce a very special idea to you (one that’s taken me years to understand)…

What happens in your garden is not your fault. But how you choose to respond to what happened is your responsibility.

Your garden is an amazing place to connect with and work through these darker emotions. It’s okay and totally normal to feel that guilt, anger, and shame! But when you Spirit Garden you’re able to release those emotions because these feelings are just teachers to help you get closer to your goals next season.

…and you always win! Because you either got what you want or you gained a lesson.

In one case you got what you wanted (yay!). Or you learn a priceless lesson that you will never forget! 

In this stage, as you grow and evolve you’ll come to realize that your garden does so much more than nourish and rejuvenate your body. It nourishes and rejuvenates your mind as well. 

These are the things that are going to improve your garden. It isn’t focusing on tactics and strategies. It’s focusing on your feelings and the lessons you learn about life.

You’re going to feel more successful AND I promise that given enough time, you will see positive results.

Whether this sounds crazy to you or like the best form of therapy, this is just the tip of the iceberg!

Which is why I want to invite you to join me LIVE this Wednesday, September 8th for “How to Practice Spirit Gardening Q&A”.

>>> CLICK HERE to Register for the Live Spirit Gardening Q&A

I’ll be answering your questions about Spirit Gardening and how it can help improve your garden, your mindset, and your overall well-being.

This is the way to lifelong gardening success. This is the way to love your garden. This is the way to appreciate the plants, animals, and people in your life. 

So if you want to learn more about how you can change your gardening mindset with Spirit Gardening… I look forward to seeing you in this free live Q&A!

>>> CLICK HERE TO Register for the Live Spirit Gardening Q&A

Peace and carrots,
Stacey

Have you ever seen children playing house? (Or remember doing it yourself!) 

Pretending to be adults going about their everyday life. Going to work, making dinner, going shopping. They turn things that we adults often find dull and boring into play.

And they have a blast doing it!!

It turns out (and numerous studies have shown this) that imaginative play is how children develop their social, emotional, and language skills. 

Play is learning.

There are reasons that so many math games, reading games, and science games exist. You and I are designed to learn more when we’re having fun!

This is why Play is the 3rd stage of Spirit Gardening.

This is what makes Spirit Gardening different than learning from a book (or even any one of my other courses!)

Instead of thinking “I want to plant tomato seeds because that’s what everyone grows in my neighborhood,” you say “what do I think would be fun to grow?”

You go get the seeds of the plants you actually want to grow, you plant them, and then you see what happens.

In this stage, you want to take the curiosity and wonder questions of stage 1. Then combine it with the ease and observations you made in stage 2. Put them together and what do you get?

You get inspired action that feels like PLAY!

What have you noticed around your garden? What questions have those observations raised for you? Listen to the little intuitive hits, the ones that seem to come out of nowhere. Trust those and try them.

Maybe you saw a toad in your garden. It sits peacefully in the corner, observing just like you. Maybe you felt a connection with that toad and think about putting in a toad house.

You have fun with it! Maybe you create a cute little toad village. Even if it takes up some of your precious gardening space.

Your little toad friend moves into his new toad abode. After a few weeks, maybe you notice more toads hanging around your garden. You might also notice those caterpillars that were leaving holes in your broccoli leaves have mysteriously disappeared.🐸🍴🐛

When you approach gardening this way you’ll find surprising things happening. Some will be good, like toads acting as a natural pest control. Some not so good like dandelions making a home in your new flower bed. But here’s the beautiful thing about approaching your garden with a playful mind…

There’s no failure in play.

When you approach your garden in a playful way it will always feel like a success! You’ll be excited to come back and learn, to experiment, and see what happens. You might even discover a new gardening breakthrough!

So if you want more inspiration to turn gardening into play….

>> CLICK HERE to join me for the Live Spirit Gardening Q&A 

On September 8th I’ll be answering all your questions about Spirit Gardening, live! Click the link above to register so you don’t miss out. 

I’ll share even more ways you can add play and have fun in your garden.

I look forward to seeing you there!

Peace and Playfulness,
Stacey

P.S. — I saw this joke and had to include it in this email for you! 😉

Have you ever had a job where it felt like your boss might’ve been looking over your shoulder?

Like they were “just checking in” to make sure you’re working?

When you have a boss like this, it’s easy to pick out work that makes you “look busy”…

(Even when you don’t have any real work to do.)

It may sound strange, but this is relevant to your garden too…

Because many gardeners I’ve met treat their garden like a “job” where they have to constantly stay busy. Or they start to feel like they won’t get their payday of a harvest at the end! They say they HAVE to be working when they’re in the garden. 

And they put a lot of pressure on themselves for not doing enough planting, weeding, pruning, watering, harvesting…

Sometimes it can feel like their mantra is “There’s always SOMETHING to do!”

But is it actually true that working all the time gives you a better garden?

Well you might want to consider these truths…

A seed that gets the right amount of sun and moisture will sprout. 🌞🌱Nature flourishes and thrives without any help from us. I know it’s hard to believe, but sometimes doing less IS more. Especially in your garden.

That’s what today’s stage of Spirit Gardening, Ease, is all about.

But how do you “do ease?”  Here’s a helpful question to ask yourself…

When do you feel the most “at ease”? 😌

Think about going to your favorite coffee shop to meet your best friend. You feel relaxed and comfortable. You can tell your friend anything and not feel judged. You can even just sit in silence observing the goings-on around you and feel at peace!

That is “doing ease!” And it’s something you can achieve in your garden every day.

When we’re “at ease,” we’re most observant of the world around us. You can take in the little things in nature and, most importantly… listen to what your plants are telling you!

Being at ease is also a state of being with yourself. You’re trusting your intuition and what you feel is right for your garden. 

I’ve learned more about what my garden needs from taking a few minutes a day to just sit among my plants than I have in hours of diligent tending and weeding.

And going to your garden shouldn’t feel like going to work. It should feel like visiting with your best friend. You want to sit in your garden and observe. Breathe, relax and enjoy being among your plants.

So that’s your goal for this stage of Spirit Gardening. 

Have one day this month where you just SIT in your garden and be at peace instead of “doing” your next project.

Of course, if you want to know more about how to “do ease” in your garden. Or how to turn down the volume on the “boss” in your brain telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing…

>> CLICK HERE TO Register for the Live Spirit Gardening Q&A

I’ll be doing a live Q&A on September 8th, answering all your questions about the 5 stages of Spirit Gardening and how they can help you get more joy and abundance from your garden.

I hope to see you there!

Peace and Ease,
Stacey

P.S. —  I’ll be back tomorrow to show you how to have more FUN in your garden while growing even more than ever before!

“It feels like turning on a ‘light switch’ in your brain.”

That’s how one of my students described this meditation. Because in just one, simple visualization meditation you go from a world in your garden that is…

• Small
• Lonely
• Hard
• Full of challenges

…to a world that is…

• Big, unlimited potential
• Connection
• Easy and flowing
• Surrounded by solutions

And yes, you can do this all with ONE simple visualization exercise in your garden! 

Pretty neat right? 😄

The real secret to this meditation isn’t anything complicated or confusing. It is just a simple reframing of your mind to go from a closed state to one of abundance. I’ll tell you more about how I came across this in a minute…

But first, let me introduce you to the first stage of Spirit Gardening that we’ll be exploring together today…

Wonder!

This is the first step to gaining more joy, hope, and energy in your garden. You start here because it is all about one thing… being curious!

When your mind is in a curious state it’s almost impossible not to find happiness… because Mother Nature is so freaking cool and mysterious!

She’s like an elusive mistress of sorts… 😉

When you start with a curious mind everything else will start to just get easier. And the way to start is so simple, I’m pretty sure a 3-year old invented this. All you have to do is say to yourself…

“I wonder why ________ ?”

And you can do this anywhere, anytime! Just find a comfy chair or a place to sit in or around your garden. Then look out at your plants and just start to ask questions. Here are a few primers for example…

• Are there plants around you that you didn’t notice before you sat down?
• Do leaves or flowers stand out to you that didn’t before?
• How about any insects or birds?

You’ll soon find that just sitting in your garden, wondering, will open a whole new world for you!

And you’ll start to feel excitement and joy around you again.

Now, let me tell you a little secret… the reason I was able to discover this was because I was feeling a little down on myself one day. I felt like I was watching other gardeners have success with plants and crops that I had struggled with for years. And I couldn’t help but feel like I was a little broken.

The voice in my head was asking…

“Why does it seem like there are things that I can’t get for myself?”

When I heard this thought, I decided to sit down and meditate on this for a bit. I asked nature in my meditation to show me that life is full of abundance. And that I too CAN have beautiful things for myself in my garden.

When I opened my eyes, nature was there to greet me with a WONDERful surprise…

All around me were tiny asparagus plants popping up through the soil! 

Now normally this wouldn’t be a big deal except that these asparagus plants shouldn’t have been there at ALL in September! Asparagus traditionally shoots up in early summer where I was growing. And by this point they should’ve been tiny, dried up nubs by now. 

But here they were… right in front of me!

Nature was showing me the magic of her abundance right there. 😊🙌🌿✨

And it had been there all along. The only difference was that now my mind was primed to see it.

Which is what I want to give to YOU in Stage 1 of your Spirit Gardening Journey… Wonder!

Here’s how.

(This is a shorter version of the full visualizations and meditations you’ll see inside the Spirit Gardening Course)

Just go out in your garden, take a few deep breaths, and close your eyes for 5 minutes. And while your eyes are closed, ask Nature to show you her abundance.

Then open up your eyes and start writing down all your “I wonder why _______?” questions.

Trust me, this process is magical! 🧙‍♀️🧙‍♂️

And after you’re done, I’d love for you to bring what you learned to our special Q&A session on Spirit Gardening I’m holding on September 8th at 10am PT / 1pm ET. I’ll be going live with you to help you answer any gardening mindset questions or challenges you have.

You can register for this FREE call right here:

>>> Click here to register for the How to Practice Spirit Gardening Q&A

I’d love to see you there and help answer any Spirit Gardening questions you have. And if you don’t have any questions yet, that’s ok too. You’ve still got 4 more stages of Spirit Gardening to go through.

Tomorrow we’ll talk more about the second stage… which will take a lot of the STRESS out of your garden.

Because gardening should be EASY! You’ll see how to have ease in your garden on demand tomorrow. Until then, happy WONDERing in your garden!

Peace and wonder,
Stacey