Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden

by Kathryn Hall

Overview

When veteran book publicist Kathryn Hall becomes an empty nester, she happily moves to a small village along the California coastline, gets a dog and starts a garden, realizing a longtime dream. Fashioning a lifestyle she had not anticipated, she has found herself beginning every morning out in the garden, in her PJs, ever since. Early on, she had an epiphany. "Everything I observed in the garden was also true in my life." She began taking notes. Over time and many gardens, and the creation of her award-winning gardening blog, she distilled her metaphorical observations into Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden. In it she lovingly offers readers 52 profound and memorable insights, sharing a lifetime of heartwarming and poignant stories, both in and out of the garden, designed to encourage and spark each reader's own inner journey to find his or her own unique truth, joy and purpose.

"...as luscious as a peony in full bloom. Thank you for walking me in the garden of your heart."
--Dawna Markova, Ph.D., author of I Will Not Die an Unlived Life and co-author of Random Acts of Kindness

"Hall uses the enduring metaphor of the garden...illuminating the human adventure." --Spirituality and Practice

"...Kathryn Hall shares her insights about the knowledge and inspiration found in gardens and the natural world..."
--Publishers Weekly

"[Hall] creatively shares her observations with poignancy, humor and grace. Take it to the beach!" --Beverly Hills Times

"Simple and profound, it will help awaken your own graceful flowering!"
--Brooke Medicine Eagle, author of Buffalo Woman Comes Singing and The Last Ghost Dance

"...a fascinating read. I highly recommend this book!"
--Bob Tanem, "In the Garden with Bob Tanem", KSFO, San Francisco

"Hall skillfully writes with the style of ladies who lunch. Her writing is a joy to read: elegant, fun, and definitely unique."
--Dig It! Magazine

"...this book is insightful, practical and entertaining." --New Spirit Journal

" This is a spiritually uplifting and wise book!" --Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., Cultural Anthropologist, author of The Four Fold Way and The Second Half of Life

"Miss Hall's book is truly fascinating. It keeps readers engaged, and leaves you with a string of deep thoughts to mull over late at night..." --Examiner.com

"It's easy to get drawn in to reading the eloquent prose and seeing one's self in each of the pages turned."
--Helen Yoest, author of Gardening with Confidence

"A lifetime's worth of heartwarming and poignant stories" --GreenPrints magazine

"The garden as a metaphor is by no means a new literary concept but this is a fabulous packaging of that idea."
--Telluride Watch

"I wanted to enjoy every page, every story as long as possible... These stories teach and nourish the soul and spirit."
--Ewa Szulc, blogger, Ewa in the Garden, Poland

"...one of the best books I have seen for the spiritual community." --Ronney A. Aden, editor, Inner Words magazine

"A lifetime's worth of heartwarming and poignant stories" --GreenPrints magazine

"Each lesson is brought to life with meaningful and touching observances of the author's own time in, and out of, the garden." --Whole Person Calendar

"...a remarkable and riveting read."--Midwest Book Review

"...one of the best books I have seen for the spiritual community." --Ronney A. Aden, editor, Inner Words magazine

"This revealing collection sheds light on the soul's yearning for beauty, joy, and meaning wherever you are."
--Alan Briskin, author of The Power of Collective Wisdom

"Kathryn Hall has written a gentle book--she leads the reader from chapter to chapter as if wandering along a beautiful garden path."--Book of the Month, A Garden Runs Through It, Master Gardeners, University of California, Davis, CA

Product Details

BN ID:	2940014173049
Publisher:	Estrella Catarina
Publication date:	03/29/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	228
File size:	556 KB

About the Author

Popular gardening blogger Kathryn Hall is the author of Plant Whatever Brings You Joy: Blessed Wisdom from the Garden, in which she shares 52 insightful life lessons based on her working in many gardens over the years, each illustrated by a story from her life, designed to spark the imagination--and innate wisdom--of every reader. In addition to being an inspired gardener, she is a devoted mother, a keen Nature observer and a passionate animal lover. She has enjoyed a life of travel, living for years in Amsterdam, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Her orientation is towards spiritual practice and global citizenry and she cares deeply about the protection and restoration of our beloved planet.

Kathryn was the contributing health writer for The Financial Times Guide to Business Travel (Financial Times/Prentice Hall, London). Her articles have appeared in Science of Mind, Ode Magazine (Holland), GreenPrints Magazine, The Whole Person Calendar, Bird Watcher's Digest, Stone Voices, Greenwoman Magazine, San Francisco Business Times, Western North Carolina Woman, OdeWire, and Garden Writer Association's Quill and Trowel. She herself is inspired by the writings of Thoreau, Emerson, John Muir and Emily Dickinson. She holds a degree in English from Kent State University and completed graduate work in Social and Cultural Anthropology at California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.

Kathryn Hall is also an internationally known book publicist, who has spent the major part of over three decades promoting books designed to make a difference, expressed in her popular tagline, "Changing the world one book at a time."

Kathryn lives and gardens in wine country in Northern California with her two beloved Border Collies and a small tortie named Coco. She enjoys and counts her many blessings in a large garden overflowing with roses, irises, nasturtiums, sages and butterfly bushes, herbs and fruit trees and berries, attracting the attention of hummingbirds, ravens, swallowtails, robins, California sisters and an occasional wandering possum at night.

Kathryn's can be found at her blog at www.plantwhateverbringsyoujoy.com and at her FB fan page at www.facebook.com/plantwhateverbringsyoujoy She would love to hear from you!

Editorial Reviews

Miss Hall's book is truly fascinating. It keeps readers engaged, and leaves you with a string of deep thoughts to mull over late at night...Plant Whatever Brings You Joy is a meaty book that asks you to evaluate yourself over and over again...Kathryn Hall does an excellent job in drawing it out for everyone.

Examiner.com - Allyson Szabo

A garden is much more than a place of beauty and delight. It is an oasis for one's spirit and a workshop for one's soul. Tending and caring for plants opens one up to daily encounters with the primal forces of life and death. Kathryn Hall is a diligent and creative book publicist whose motto has been: "Changing the world one book at a time." What we didn't know is that she is also known worldwide for her successful gardening blog www.PlantWhateverBringsYouJoy.c

Spirituality and Practice - Frederic Brussat

Plant Whatever Brings You Joy is not a "how-to" gardening book, but, rather, a book of observations about life gathered from the garden. Hall skillfully writes with the style of ladies who lunch. Her writing is a joy to read: elegant, fun, and definitely unique. Buy this book now.

Dig It! Magazine - Mary Jasch

"[Hall's] latest offering comes to us garden lovers in the form of a book: Plant Whatever Brings You Joy which encapsulates Hall's "blessed wisdom from the garden" -- culling over twenty years of horticultural experience into 52 life lessons. Each lesson is brought to life with meaningful and touching observances of the author's own time in, and out of, the garden.

Whole Person Calendar - Monte Ferris

A lifetime's worth of heartwarming and poignant stories...

GreenPrints Magazine - Pat Stone