One of my favorite movies growing up was the classic film, The Secret Garden. I watched it over and over again with my mom and since then I’ve always had a secret desire to have a little garden of my own. For the first time in my life, here in Laguna de Apoyo, I have my very own garden! Well, honestly it’s the hostel’s, but when the hostel is closed and it’s just us on property, it feels like its all mine.
It’s a wonderful garden, more fantastic than anything I could have ever dreamt of in California. It’s filled with beautiful bright colored flowers and butterflies of all patterns scatter throughout.
There are tropical plants I’ve never seen before, coconut trees and mango trees.
But my favorite parts of the garden, are the different veggies, spices and herbs we have growing in our very own front yard. We have basil, cilantro, hot little peppers, bell peppers, tomatoes and jalepenos.
I love going over to the garden to pick the ingredients we need when JB & I make spicy chicken curry, spaghetti or homemade pad-kee-mao.We’ve been getting really creative in the kitchen during this quiet month all to ourselves, so having our own homegrown ingredients to use in the dishes has been an extra treat.
Everything in our garden inspires me in different ways. The herbs, spices & veggies inspire me to get creative in the kitchen. The flowers, butterflies and tropical plants create the perfect atmosphere for me to be my most creative self when working on everything from our LOOTB website & store, to business development, marketing and especially in my writing. The garden overall also fuels my passion for photography and inspires me to take pictures of my surroundings daily. It’s not just a garden to me–its a place that inspires my creativity, promotes my growth as a person and makes me appreciate every aspect of the beautiful nature around me. How can it not? I mean look at these pictures…
The veggies in Nicaragua that we purchase from the markets are locally grown, which we love and are of course supportive of back at home. The difference, however, is that the locally grown fruits and veggies are LESS expensive than the mass production/imported produce–which, logically, is how it should be right? Well having our own produce to cook with is the ultimate option because not only do we know it’s super fresh, free of pesticides and 100% organic– it’s also free! Now that’s the best of all worlds.
My favorite place to eat in all of Nicaragua is right in the middle of our garden on a little table overlooking the laguna (and the flowers that surround us) with JB. I love our garden. And although I may not have a hidden key to enter it, I still like to call it my “secret garden”. Being located on a private resort in Nicaragua is secret enough, right?
See the whole beauty of Q’s garden in photos:
My favorite movie too! I love the pictures and I love seeing how happy, healthy and peaceful you look. I cannot wait to see the resort and you in your new home away from home. Love you and love to JB, xoxox AE
Thanks AE, love you and miss you so much! Cannot wait until you come here and see it for yourself, you’ll love it and it will be the happiest of times 🙂
Lots of love and hugs,
QBear & JB
Our garden is still in the “work in progress” stage but we have many of the same plants. I envy your herb garden! I noticed that you had some poppies, I was looking at some seeds the other day and I may try them. There sure aren’t many things that have fragrance but they sure are pretty. Are you getting much more rain? We sure haven’t been!
I highly recommend the poppies! They’re a wonderful bright orange that always makes the garden look sunny and colorful. Gardens are always a work in progress, but that’s the fun part about them right? 🙂 We haven’t been getting nearly as much as we expected, but are sure enjoying the warm sun! Hope all is well with you.
Cheers,
Quinn
Quinnie… what a peaceful and pleasant environment you have created. Your pictures are splendid but your words are even more pictorial.
Thanks for a ray of Nica sunshine on a wet SF day!
Love
Martino
Thanks Martino, that means a lot to me coming from you 🙂 Miss you tons, can’t wait to see you soon!!
Lots of hugs,
Quinn
Really gorgeous photos!!! I especially like that shot of the lizard. Ours in Côte d’Ivoire are super-skittish & tough to catch in a nice photo:)
Thank you Jeanette! These little guys are REALLY hard to capture in a photo. I was just lucky that the fella posed like a model for me 🙂
-Quinn
loved this tour of “your” garden 🙂
Thank you Adita, so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
-Quinn
Me encantaron las fotos!
precioso Jardin!
Muchas gracias ElsaSu! Me encanta mi jardin 🙂
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I loved The Secret Garden too! Living in Tucson is a very different kind of gardening, but it makes me appreciate each flower so much!
I have seen some amazing cactus flowers in Tucson. 🙂
What a beautiful spot.
It really is. Thank you for your appreciation.
Beautiful photos! Thanks for sharing. This really inspires me to make a garden. I think i’ll start with a cactus
For sure. At least you won’t have to water it everyday. 🙂
What a wonderful garden 🙂
It really was. I’m glad you appreciate it too. 🙂
I know the feeling of “attaching” to someone else’s garden. I did a lot of WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms)stops on my longer travels (Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy.) By the way, you should check out Rancho Mastatal in Costa Rica when your’e there. I think you guys would have a lot in common.
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are there all in your garden?
Yeah. They were all my little babies. Flowers and plants are truly a spectacular thing.
Ya, its right, agree with you
gorgeous pictures! thanks for sharing!
Your welcome. We are glad you think they are gorgeous.
Love this so much. Love your out of the box business, and your SWING! 🙂 Also, just recently, I’ve been journeying with the story of the The Secret Garden and have been spoken to so much from the movie starring Margaret O’Brien. Also… if you’ve not heard it already, here’s a beautiful song of devotion of our inner secret garden, by Misty Edwards: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUW5dkoCjnU
Gorgeous shots and the model was stunning, of course!
Thank you very much. I’m glad you liked the photos 🙂
Beautiful and inspiring post and blog. Thanks for finding me! I’ll visit often.
Thank you very much. We can’t wait to hear from you again. Your kind comments are always welcomed.
A beautiful girl in a beautiful place. Kisses from Greece.
Thank you very much. From Nicaragua. Have a great day.
Ohhh! I love that movie, awesome pictures.
Thanks for the compliment. That movie is one of my favorites of all time.
I’m another one who loves the “Secret Garden”, the book which I read as a child is still one of my favorites now that I’m a grandmother-and the original movie was wonderful. Your secret garden is lovely…and the butterflies are so brilliant and beautiful! Thank you for sharing this.
Your very welcome. You have some amazing photos of flowers as well. Thank you for your complimentary comment.
Such a beautiful garden. I love to see gardens that really make people enjoy and show life to the fullest, attracting the people and the wildlife around to it. My aim is to give people the same beauty in their own gardens here in the UK. Thanks for sharing this, really enjoyed this post.
Your welcome. I like how your goal is to get gardens to attract people and wildlife to them. Thats an amazing goal.
The Secret Garden. One of my favorite childhood books and it still sits on my book shelf and I’m in my forties. I started reading your blog from the beginning … You both are an inspiration. I think I’ve read most and trying to catch up with your last few posts. Also love all the inspirational videos you have shared. Best of luck on the rest of your journey.
Cool. Thanks for your comment. We will try to make more videos. It means a lot to us to know you have followed us from the beginning and you are reading our older posts. Thank you so much for everything that you do.
It reminds me of my summer visits to my Tia Moncha’s in Dos Rios Costa Rica we had a family of sloths hanging from the trees in her garden I love it there. I miss mornings making cheese and grinding corn for tortillas that was the life. Your garden is beautiful. Last time of was in Nicaragua there was much civil strife.
Wow a family of sloths sounds like an amazing sight. Sounds like an amazing time for you. Thank you so much for sharing with us.
You have a very nice blog. I can tell you put your heart and soul into it! You’ve inspired me to do more with mine.
Thanks. Our blog is our life and our dream. We are glad we inspired you.
Lovely blog and photos. Makes me want to fly out of this cold weather and catch some sun! Keep them coming : )
For sure. We know that feeling. Just stand near a heater and close your eyes. That’s what we did 🙂