“In return, Joe taught Jay more about the garden. Slowly the boy learned to tell lavender from rosemary from hyssop from sage. He learned to taste soil- a pinch between the finger and thumb slipped under the tongue, like a man testing fine tobacco- to determine its acidity. He learned how to calm a headache with crushed lavender, or a stomachache with peppermint. He learned to prepare skullcap tea and chamomile to aid sleep. He learned to plant marigolds in the potato patch to discourage parasites and to pick nettles from the top to make ale and to fork the sign against the evil eye if ever a magpie flew past.”
"She always had that about her, that look of otherness, of eyes that see things much too far, and of thoughts that wander off the edge of the world."
- Joanne Harris
Awareness
"He always planted at a new moon and picked when the moon was full. He had a lunar chart in his greenhouse, each day marked in a dozen different inks; brown for potatoes, yellow for parsnips, orange for carrots. Watering too was done to an astrological schedule, as was the pruning and positioning of trees. And the garden thrived on this eccentric treatment, growing strong, luxuriant rows of cabbages and turnips, carrots which were sweet and succulent and mysteriously free of slugs, trees whose branches fairly touched the ground under the weight of apples, pears, plums, cherries. Brightly colored Oriental-looking signs taped to tree branches supposedly kept the birds from eating the fruit. Astrological symbols- painstakingly constructed from pieces of broken pottery and colored glass set into the gravel path- lined the garden beds."
- Joanne Harris
Growth
"For me, the magic of Hawaii comes from the stillness, the sea, the stars."
- Joanne Harris
Nature
"The expert in anything was once a beginner."
- Helen Hayes
Learning
"Learn as if you will live forever, live like you will die tomorrow."
- Mahatma Gandhi
Learning
"To know how much there is to know is the beginning of learning to live."
- Dorothy West
Learning
"In the beginner’s mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind, there are few."
- Vince Gironda
Learning
"I am always doing what I cannot do yet in order to learn how to do it."
- Vincent van Gogh
Learning