As a songwriter I embrace settings that allow my creative brain to shut out the minutia of daily life whenever possible, to invite inspiration in. My garden is that place for me. Over three years ago, I was between albums with no immediate pressure to produce more content and no outside expectations. Life was throwing some milestones my way. The approach of a 50th birthday coinciding with a first child heading off to college may have encouraged a greater awareness that my life was taking a new turn. Whatever the impetus, stepping onto a fresh page in life often leads to reflection of the many written up to this point.

I had penned my first essay several years ago (Love Letters To My Garden) and from time to time would find myself with ideas I wanted to express beyond the lyrics of a song. I began showing up at my computer more frequently after gardening as a means of further expressing my experience and the clarity it was gifting me with. I had no agenda or any idea I was writing a book or an album that would be intertwined. In both my songs and my essays, and after years of searching, I gave myself permission to be free of boundaries and simply create.

If writing had only been as a means of understanding the impact nature was having on me, that would have been enough. However, as I began to put those thoughts and revelations on the page, a transformation was taking place. In both my songs and my essays, the garden was revealing itself as a metaphor for life. I began to view my experiences to date in a full circle way that was much bigger than myself.

One day it came to me that these songs I was writing at my piano, the ideas forming themselves as I sat at my computer, and this garden I had been shaping for over 12 years were not three separate entities…but one. They should be delivered as such. Through challenges, kinship, and place of retreat, each thread had been a mentor weaving its benevolence in and out of my journey forward. Perhaps if they had done so for me, they could for someone else as well.

I am not an expert and this is not an instructional garden book. I am an enthusiast, and since perfection is often the enemy of a good time, it has never been my goal. Rather, I have strived in my music, essays, and garden to embrace the moment at hand, whether through mistakes or accomplishments. You don’t have to enjoy digging in the dirt in order to relate to what’s offered here. You simply have to be alive, because the one truth my garden has secured in me is that all living beings are more alike than we are different. In our desires, and shortcomings, and ability to thrive under sometimes adverse conditions, we are one.

I’m excited to share this unfolding path with you, lyrically, musically, and visually…and wish you each a garden’s worth of inspiration.