Sunday was National Simplicity Day, celebrated on the birthday of Henry David Thoreau.
Most people know Thoreau as the author of “Walden.” What many people don’t know is that Thoreau loved to garden. At Walden Pond, he grew beans, potatoes, corn, peas and turnips.
He also spent countless hours simply observing the natural world.
Thoreau believed that we learn more when we slow down and pay attention.
Gardens have a way of reminding us of that.
They don’t care how busy we are or whether we’re having a bad hair day.
They invite us to relax … to notice … to breathe, and to bee. (I couldn’t resist!).
Did you know I’m writing another book? The first one, “Chicken Soup for the Gardener’s Soul,” was a group effort — I was one of five co-authors. This next book, “Cultivating Joy Through Gardening: 365 Daily Meditations,” is due out at the end of 2027.
I have 237 out of 365 stories in the can, and I plan to have the rest of them finished by the end of August.
So, if you don’t see me around town much, I’m either in the garden or writing about it.
Occasionally, I check in with Fun Holidays, a website that lists celebrations for each day of the year. That’s when I discovered National Simplicity Day.
How do gardening and simplicity go hand in hand?
According to Blue Zones researcher Dan Buettner, gardening combines three powerful ingredients for a long, healthy life.
1. It keeps us moving without thinking about exercise.
2. It encourages us to eat more fresh, plant-based foods.
3. And it gives us a sense of purpose — because every day something is waiting for us in the garden.
Then I started thinking about stories that capture the spirit of simplicity.
Today, I’d love to share them with you.
And I’d love to invite you into the writing process.
After you read each story, would you rate it on a scale of 1 to 10?
Your feedback helps me discover which stories resonate most before the book goes to press.
In an interview with Martha McBurnie, the former master gardener at the University of Rhode Island, she shared a fascinating experiment she tried using aspirin. After reading an article, she had a hunch that aspirin could help her plants.
So, she mixed aspirin with water and sprayed it on her tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and other plants. The results were “pretty amazing,” she said.
“Aspirin activates something in plants,” Martha explained. “When plants are stressed, they naturally produce salicylic acid (the active ingredient in aspirin), but not in large enough quantities to fight off pests and diseases. Adding aspirin boosts their immunity, much like how we might drink echinacea tea to fight off a cold.”
Her formula was simple: one and a half uncoated aspirins in two gallons of water, with a bit of yucca extract (or mild soap) to help the solution stick. She sprayed every three weeks, and by the end of the season, her plants were thriving.
“They looked like they were on steroids!” she laughed. The vegetables were bigger, healthier, and pest-free.
At first, the university scientists teased her, but by summer’s end, they were impressed enough to begin their own studies. Martha even achieved a 100% germination rate using aspirin on seeds.
“So my husband is losing his hair,” she joked, “Maybe I should try and spray him with aspirin water!”
During the summer, my friend Sally lives on Spruce Island, a remote island in the North Pacific. She tends a big hoophouse where she grows everything from giant cabbages to baseball-sized Brussels sprouts.
As the end of summer approaches, she always gets a little anxious.
“I want it to stay like this forever,” she told me once. “Cabbages, nasturtiums, bumblebees, the hanging basket of strawberries … I don’t want it to end.”
Then her husband arrived on the island.
He went straight to work, and she joined right in — shredding cabbages for sauerkraut, turning berries into jam, packing cucumbers into pickles, hanging garlic to dry.
“It woke me up from my dream,” she said. “There’s no end — just the flow of the seasons.”
“When I’m feeling winter-weary, I just look at the freezer and pantry and think, ‘Wow, summer is still here.’”
I was sitting on a bench in the airport, next to a large potted plant, rearranging my stuff before heading through security. I zipped my backpack, stood up, and started toward the line.
That’s when I noticed a woman standing beside the plant. She was carefully pouring something into the container.
A uniformed airport employee walked over.
“Ma’am,” he said politely, “you’re not supposed to do that — water the plants.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “I know what I’m doing. I’m a master gardener.”
He looked at the plant. Then he looked back at her.
“But ma’am,” he said gently, “that’s not a real tree.”
Thanks, and see you next week!
NEWS: The Garden Tour is coming back! Here are the dates:
IMPORTANT: If you would like to have your garden featured on the tour, contact the following people by July 25:
Town: Myra Scholze: 907-942-0700
Bells Flats: Karen Millstein: 907-942-2081 (kmills@ak.net)
Meanwhile, things to do in the garden:
— Harvest garlic scapes and start checking the bulbs for possible harvesting
— Thin carrot seedlings
— Slugs are starting to show up. Be Slug Aware!
— Keep hoophouses and greenhouses well-ventilated to prevent mold
— Start seeds for: lettuce, broccoli, cress, arugula, and other quick-growing greens
— Make compost — no more food scraps in the garbage!
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