Honest Scrap Award, Mother Nature Edition

Thanks to Rosey at Dung Hoe for honoring me with this award. That someone thinks I create things that are "brilliant in content or design" makes me feel proud and humble at the same time. The Honest Scrap Award Rules are simple to follow, and so here they are:
1. You must brag about the award.
2. You must include the name of the blogger who gave you the award and link back to that blogger.
3. You must choose a minimum of seven blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with this award.
5. List at least ten honest things about yourself.

Rather than telling you 10 things about myself, I am choosing to tell you about Mother Nature, since she is the ultimate designer of all things in nature. I love her deeply and want to help make her voice known. So here are things you may or may not know about her.

1. Please don't try to second guess me - if you took the age of every living thing on earth, and added them up, I would be millions of years older then the total. So, I think I might know a thing or two about how the earth is supposed to function and grow, and will teach you if you only stop and listen.

2. I live everywhere - from the tallest mountain to the lowest valley, from the hottest desert to the coldest oceans. Please be a nice guest in my house, or it could soon become inhospitable. I may have to ask you (not so politely) to leave.

3. I am happy to share my bounty with you, but I ask that you don't take advantage of my generosity. Rather, only take as much as you need, and leave some for the rest of the world and its offspring.

4. I love creepy crawlies, including snakes, spiders, beetles, and all of the other things that most people are afraid of. So the next time you think about squishing, poisoning, or otherwise getting rid of them please remember they are dear to my heart.

5. Although it is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, nothing artificial can compare to the magnificent sunsets, flowers, mountains, streams and animals that I have given you, so please treat them with care.

6. I am the original creator of diversity. Meadows, forests, oceans, and plains have thousands of inhabitants who all are part of a complex ecosystem working together. Monocultures have no place in my plans. You can learn allot about diversity simply by studying them.

7. The soil of the earth is made up of trillions of living, breathing organisms. Pick up a handful of nice, crumbly soil, and you are holding billions of bacteria, fungi, protozoa and nematodes. Not to mention worms, centipedes, ants, beetles, and other scavengers of the soil. Do you really want to destroy all that just by tilling?

8. I am a peace lover. There is nothing as peaceful as the sound of the waves, the silence of the star filled night sky, the breath of the cool breeze, or the sight of a flower slowly opening.

9. I am quick to cause destruction. Volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornados, floods, drought, wildfires all come quickly and many times without warning.

10. I am a lover of all things living. Please help all things live to their fullest potential. I will be forever thankful to you and reward you with beauty and bounty.

That's it. I hope that you have found many things to ponder in the list!

Finally, here are my 8 picks for blogs and bloggers I think deserve this award:

1. Susan Harris of Sustainable Gardening, Garden Rant, and LawnReform.org for being unfaltering in her pursuit of educating gardens and others about sustainability.

2. The Galloping Gardener of Life in a Day for the beautiful and inspirational quotes and images she gives us.

3. Jean of Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog for continuing to try and convince us that she is just an "amateur" photographer, when we all know that she is anything but.

4. Diana from Elephant's Eye, who shows us what is like to garden in South Africa, and has such beautiful flowers.

5. Marie from 66 Square Feet for her combination of food, wine and gardens.

6. Nancy at Gardening Gone Wild for her photography skills and helping to put all the design contests together.

7. Robin at Garden Help for providing great help to vegetable gardeners.

8. Susan Tweit, a fellow Coloradan,  at Walking Nature Home for her truly inspiring journaling about life and nature.

Please don't feel like you have to participate, but I am looking forward to reading from those of you who do!