Spring is coming: Time to BE, BURST, BURGEON!

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

Hallelujah for transformation! Hallelujah for SPRING TIME! Hallelujah for when that which was silent, hidden in the ground like a tulip bulb or within the buds on a tree, suddenly and magically appear singing: TIME TO BE, BURST, BURGEON, GROW OUT LOUD!

How do we acknowledge or mark the change in a season like spring? For me, I begin by looking for outward signs. I may feel a change in the temperature or quality of light. I am drawn to the street to go to the park to look up or down everywhere for plant signs announcing winter is over.

Perhaps I wait for a cultural symbol, a human demonstration that time is spinning ahead. On a walk yesterday, I saw this mannequin head posted on the perimeter of someone's yard in Oakhurst, a small community across the train tracks from where I live in Decatur, Georgia. "Posted" with polka-dotted pink ears, her appearance announced to me: TIME TO PREPARE FOR SPRING! 

Yes, dear pilgrims, it is time to shift, grow, breathe warmer air, dance, and say thank you! 

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! SOUL BLOG with me and tell me what you do to prepare for the change of seasons and how you celebrate spring time!

A NEW VISION FOR MY CREATIVE MISSION! : I AM THE FLOWING CENTER OF THE CYCLE OF LIFE (Or the first work day at Mulberry Fields Community Garden)

FIRST WORK DAY FOR ATLANTA'S MULBERRY FIELDS COMMUNITY GARDEN AND GREEN SPACE.  On the first weekend April, members of Mulberry Fields Community Garden arrived to work on their garden plots and help repair garden frames, build a compost area, weed, and plan a fund raiser. (photo by Hallelujah Truth, aka Ruth Schowalter and Mulberry Fields Community Garden member!)

Hallelujah for SPRING and feelings of RENEWAL! Hallelujah for the first work day of Atlanta's Mulberry Fields Community Garden and Green Space! Hallelujah for natural beauty that inspires us all to breathe more deeply and to expand our ways of BEING here on this Earth!

Every SPRING, as a drawer, painter, blogger, and long time member of the Atlanta Artist Conference Network (ACN), I re-examine my mission as an artist and CREATE a new vision for my work. Although I am currently taking a break from ACN, I have maintained the worthwhile work of establishing a VISION for 2013.

One's  creative SOUL is a bit like a garden, so I have taken the liberty of using the spring cleaning at Mulberry Fields Community Garden to introduce a similar event occurring in the field of my heart and artwork.

The photos posted here in this blog entry represent the steps I followed in spring cleaning my VISION:

• Yes, first, there is the requisite WEEDING. What has grown that is no longer useful or needed? What needs to be extricated in order to allow new and surprising growth? 

• Then there is the CLEANUP!

• The NURTURING!

• The PREPARATION of the soil!

• The PLANNING!

• Finding healthy PLANTS to grow!

• CELEBRATING the planting!

WEEDING. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

MORE WEEDING. Lesly Fredman wrestles with mint roots deeply embedded amongst the raspberry bushes! My Chiboogamoo and I also spent some of the morning fighting with the mint roots! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

• 

  GENERAL CLEANUP. Richard Bathrick headed towards the chicken coop and goat quarters! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

READY FOR ACTION. Sophie, is very busy keeping the goats in order. Especially since yesterday, she received two more wards--2 one-week old baby goats! Behind her a long time resident watches all the attention being given to the new babies (see next photo)! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

IT TAKES A COMMUNITY TO RAISE A GOAT. Bella, one-week old, is not wanting to drink her milk. Jesse Bathrick, seated, holds Bella while Zoe attempts to position the bottle with its special goat nipple the way baby goat would have nursed from its mother. Chiboogamoo watches the procedure at a respectful distance. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

EVEN MORE WEEDING AND PREPARING. Community members can either take an entire plot of garden in half of one. Behind Jesse is someone putting finishing touches on the new area for composting! (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

PLANNING THE PLOT. Matt Huffman, left, and Me, Hallelujah discussing where we will plant the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers. My honey and I will be sharing our half plot with Matt and Lesly. (photo by Chiboogamoo)

SELLING ORGANIC PLANTS. We were very lucky to have Nori from Urban Sprout Farms to come and sell Heirloom tomatoes and other organic veggies, soil amendments, and worms. If you want healthy food, you need to start with organically grown plants from their inception. (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

THE CHICK-A-BILLY! We community gardeners are already looking forward to the summer solstice and lighting this metal sculpture that breathes fire. Can you see how it is part chicken and part billygoat? (photo by Hallelujah Truth)

After completing these spring cleaning and planting steps in my mind, this is the motivational statement I am planting in the garden of my for soul for 2013:

HALLELUJAH TRUTH'S 2013 VISION STATEMENT 

I am the flowing center of the cycle of life, member of the Dancing Yes Tribe--Mother Conch!

That's Coffee with Hallelujah! If you are interested in understanding what this vision statement means for me, SOUL BLOG me! Ask and I will explain! My question to you is this: What do you envision for yourself for this 2013 growing season? How would you express it in a phrase or sentence?