C is a supervisor for a family crisis organization. Her work is stressful. When she spoke about the 3-acre spread that she and her husband own in North Carolina -- a garden that backs up to a wooded area -- she said that, although she comes from a family of gardeners, she began gardening primarily to relax -- to take her mind off of her work.

Then, as her children grew up, gardening became a way to simply enjoy the natural world. During a brief interview, "C" itemized numerous "healing" benefits of gardening, chief among which is the meditative, peaceful state one enters.

"In the course of my day, I visit and see some violent places. Ironically, that's not the pressurized part of my work; it's the administrative details that get to me -- the paperwork and those endless supervisory tasks.

"Gardening cultivates mindfulness. It's peaceful. Quiet. One begins listening to all the little natural sounds, like the chirping of birds. You feel the sun's warmth, smell the earth, the newly mown grass -- it's a whole healing package, of quiet and natural sounds and fragrance, all rolled into one.

"Gardening is a nurturing art -- it makes sense to me that so many women garden as their children leave home. And anyone, man or woman, with a love of seeing things grow, will grow from their gardening. I started out simply -- it was my way of relaxing. Now I'm planting flowers and vegetables (peas in Spring; all the lettuces; and Heritage tomatoes, our favorites) and although it may sound prosaic. And, as a result, I've begun family traditions.

"Every year in the fall, we started doing this thing I call 'gathering the greens'... We go outdoors and gather up fresh pine greens with which we decorate the whole house. The air is crisp, we can smell the woods and the smoke from the fireplace -- the whole family looks forward to 'Gathering the Greens.'

"Gardening feeds the spirit -- it leads us to gratitude. I'd have to say that it's hard to be or work in a garden of any size without being filled full with the spirit of gratitude."