SUCH GENEROUS SPIRITS!

If there is one thing I have learned through my experience with dahlias, it is that people are good. I realize that it has become very easy these days to whine and complain about the state of the world, mankind and humanity - how nothing is the same as it used to be, that the world is going to the dogs. I beg to differ. Two of our members, Fernie Slabaugh and Sherry Anderson, shared their own time and money designing a workshop for aspiring dahlia growers today at the Wenatchee Home and Garden Show. They did an amazing job, and the amount of knowledge they have between the two of them is vast!

Many of you read my blog last month, after I returned from the NW Federation Board meeting, recounting the many way I was blessed by the kindnesses of so many in that small church meeting room in Seattle. You may think I am looking at the world through rose-colored glasses, but there is a lot to be said for optimism, and there is a lot in my experience to support the validity of it. Since that meeting, I have continued to encounter the bounty of generosity that people are just waiting to bestow on me and others. Just a few examples: The Brants, a family of four, braved the snowy passes on March 3 to come over to spend an entire day with us, teaching us new and better methods of growing and propagating dahlias. They have even followed up with us on Facebook and continue to monitor and provide feedback. Then there are my fellow dahlia society members: I bought a large shop light at an estate sale for $1.50 - a bargain, right? My intent was to hang it over the table in my downstairs storage room work area, so I could do cuttings from tubers. However, this light was hard-wired to go into a ceiling. I needed a plug, and asked Fernie if her husband Darrel (Jack of all Trades) could help with that....He didn't hesitate to say yes, and before I knew it, I had a big old wall plug on my light. I repaid him with some pretty delicious cookies! Then there was the hanging: I knew I needed to hang it from those beams in the ceiling, but I didn't know how to find them. All it took was a mention to fellow dahlia grower Mike, (Another handyman extraordinaire), a couple lengths of chain and four eye-bolts, and he was over, drilling holes in those wood beams under the sheetrock (I can't remember the real name for them), and within 15 minutes, my shop light was hung over my table. Most recently, growers such as Bernie Wilson and Dick Williams have once again generously donated tubers to our club for our dahlia of the year and our tuber auction - also, the wonderful Brant family, donated enough tubers to us that we were able to raise over $400 auctioning them off at our workshop - Amazing!

Today on Facebook, my friend and high school classmate John M., who lives in Ellensburg, posted a picture of horse manure - yes, HORSE MANURE! - on a flatbed trailer that he had gathered from his horses. He was just sharing the fact that the hay he bought for his two horses last year had been "converted" into another beneficial resource! I know that to the uninitiated, this may sound kinda gross, but to a gardener, this is the kind of talk and images that make my heart race! Half-jokingly, I posted back to John - "I Want, I want!", not knowing that he would then make an amazing offer to bring as much of the aged (year-old) stuff as I need - from E-burg to Wenatchee - the next time he comes to town - a round trip of almost 200 miles. He will come and drop it off at my house. He left his number, which I called, and found that he was indeed serious, and committed to doing this for me.

Anyway, I didn't mean to go on and on, but I have been so overwhelmed by generosity....I need to share something real soon - I need to think about what I might have that someone else might need, and share joyfully......Maybe I'll make John some homemade cream of chicken, mushroom and broccoli soup! It's a start, anyway.....