I am pleased and proud to present a guest post written by my beloved teacher and best friend the Lady Yeshe Rabbit. Visit her blog at Way Of the Rabbit.

Artemis Gardens: Sebastopol, CA

I believe that the Great Goddess hears and responds to the needs of the Earth, for the Earth is Her body. She shows Herself to us in many distinct forms. Among these many faces of Goddess, we find Artemis: Protectress of Women in childbirth, Huntress, She of the Land.

Artemis shows Herself to me in the city landscape as a statue of a deer at the mall, with the dogs who prance around my neighborhood accompanied by laughing maidens, in the archery lessons I recently took at a storefront range in Fremont. She finds many ways to make Herself known to me.

Recently, I was in Sebastopol, and I stumbled upon a roadside sign that I just had to follow. It said "Artemis Gardens" with an arrow pointing down a side road. Naturally, when one sees a golden arrows next to the name of a Goddess, one follows. So off we went.

I have to admit that although my rational mind knew to expect a garden shop, I secretly hoped there would be some kind of golden gateway into a rustic glen of luminous beauty where women have created a paradise. But that said, this one-woman shop was a paradise of its own sort.

Check out Artemis Gardens on Facebook, or go visit on a Friday or Saturday between 9-3 at 8934 Bodega Hwy, Sebastopol. There is a beautiful garden there, with beehives, an archery target (though that is for personal use of the owner, so leave your bow at home), and some of the most wonderful, rare, and heirloom plants you could hope to find.

Artemis knows that it is of the utmost importance that we humans preserve biodiversity. The message I got from looking at the catalogue of offerings at Her nursery was that preserving and propagating small, unique lines of diversity in vegetables and fruits are of most significant priority right now.

Consider the varietals: Yellow Onion of Parma, a very rare Italian heirloom. This onion matures late in the season and keeps well over winter. The intelligent interactivity of that onion's life cycle with the realities of winter make this a wonderful, strong variety of onion that served to provide flavor and nutrients long past harvest season.

And how about the May Queen lettuce: a sweet pale yellow/pink-hearted lettuce that is grown from 19th century heirloom seeds. Or its mild-flavored cousin, the Merveille des Quatre Saisons, an all-seasons lettuce that fares well in a high tunnel in winter that was popular well before 1885 in France.

Among the tomatoes, these stately varieties are rare and wonderful, of the heirloom stock: Caspian Pink, purple Russian ("huge yields" says the flyer), these tomatoes are suited to the the cool weather, so we got some for our front yard in Alameda, where it is sunny, but there is always a cool breeze from the Bay.

My beloved Albert transplanted them lovingly into buckets, the way he watched his father do it when he was small. When we get the raised beds in later this Spring, we'll transplant them. This morning, I go out to water them with love and gratitude for the diversity of life on this planet, and to continue to be mindful in my interaction with the Great Mother's body.

Artemis protects women as we walk out in the world, and also in our own homes and gardens. May She continue to bless this small, woman-owned business in Her name, and may She continue to safeguard our biodiversity!