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Environmental Consultants’ Council Liaison
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Pat Carver, Chairman
14315 Hale Road, Dade City 33523-7522
Phone - 352-567-3844
Summer: P.O. Box 1837, Maggie Valley, NC 28751
828-926-3991
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One
of
the purposes of FFGC is “furthering the education of our members and
the public in the field of environmental awareness through the
conservation of natural resources.” National Garden Clubs,
Inc., Deep South Region and Florida Federation of Garden Clubs,
Inc. are on the cutting edge when it comes to addressing environmental
concerns.
The Environmental Consultants’ Council (ECC) of Florida is committed to
educate in environmental studies in order to improve and maintain a
highly qualified leadership; to assist with Environmental Study Schools
in Florida and to encourage the organization of local
environmental councils so they can provide continuing study in
Florida. The ECC has recently adopted several projects including:
1. Promoting the use of fluorescent
bulbs.
2. The recycling of batteries.
3. Adoption of the low-flowing and dirty
Hillsborough River, which is the source of drinking water for the City
of Tampa.
The Council would also like to encourage everyone to become more aware
of the issues and ramifications of Global Warming and to do everything
they can to be part of the solution.
The Environmental Consultants’ Council wants to encourage FFGC members
from all the districts of the state to establish Environmental Study
Schools and to enroll in the classes. Teddy Roosevelt would
remind us that we did not inherit this land, we are holding it in trust
for our children. We must be good stewards and protect it for
them.
Do help FFGC to increase public awareness and activism on today’s most
important environmental issues. Become an Environmental
Consultant!!
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We
can make a difference
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The Daffodil Principle
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “Mother, you must come
to see the daffodils before they are over.” I wanted to go, but
it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead. “I will
come next Tuesday,” I promised a little reluctantly on her third call.
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and
reluctantly I drove there. When I finally walked into Carolyn’s
house I was welcomed by the joyful sounds of happy children. I
delightedly hugged and greeted my grandchildren.
“Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds
and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these
children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!”
My daughter smiled calmly and said, “We drive in this all the time,
Mother.” “Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it
clears, and then I’m heading for home! I assured her.
“But first we’re going to see the daffodils. It’s just a few
blocks.” Carolyn said, “I’ll drive. I’m used to this.”
“Carolyn, “I said sternly, “Please turn around.” “It’s all right,
Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself is you miss
this experience.”
After about twenty minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I
saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand
lettered sign with an arrow that read, “Daffodil Garden.” We got
out of the car, each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down
the path. Then, as we turned a corner, I looked up and
gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
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It
looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it
over the mountain peak and its surrounding slopes. The flowers
were planted in majestic, swirling patterns, great ribbons and swaths
of deep orange, creamy white, lemon yellow, salmon pink, and saffron
and butter yellow. Each different-colored variety was planted in
large groups so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its
own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
“Who did this?” I asked Carolyn. “Just one woman,” Carolyn
answered. “She lives on the property. That’s her home.”
Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house, small and modestly
sitting in the midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house.
On the patio, we saw a poster. “Answers to the Question I Know You Are
Asking”, was the headline. The first answer was a simple
one. “50,000 bulbs,” it read. The second answer was, “One
at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and one
brain.” The third answer was, “Began in 1958.”
For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of
this woman whom I had never met, who, more than forty years before, had
begun, one bulb at a time, to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an
obscure mountaintop. Planting one bulb at a time, year after
year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she
lived. One day at a time, she had created something of
extraordinary magnificence, beauty, and inspiration. The
principle her daffodil garden taught is one of the greatest principles
of celebration.
That is, learning to move toward our goals and desires one step at a
time-often just one baby-step at a time-and learning to love the doing,
learning to use the accumulation of time. When we multiply tiny
pieces of time with small increments of daily effort, we too will find
we can accomplish magnificent things. We can change the world.
“It makes me sad in a way,” I admitted to Carolyn. “What might I
have accomplished if I had thought of a wonderful goal thirty-five or
forty years ago and had worked away at it ‘one bulb at a time’ through
all those years? Just think what I might have been able to
achieve!”
My daughter summed up the message of the day in her usual direct
way. “Start tomorrow,” she said.
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