Dear Garden, I'm Going To Love You Til My Heart Is Compost
A simple gift from a friend: a handful of organic seed packets and an organic gardening book. Carrots, beets, kale, lettuce and a few other greens. After the last freeze, I planted the seeds.
Checking in and watering the seedlings became part of my daily ritual. It gave me a chance to slow down and just be; if only for a few minutes. It was the beginning of a new partnership with nature and I could sense I was falling down an epic rabbit hole.
I failed miserably, but it was a blast! I had so much fun watching things grow. Even though I made every mistake in the book, the garden became a place of solace and peace.
Each morning, I went out to check on the seedlings and when the day finally came to harvest my carrots, I was so excited. I eagerly dug them up to discover some extra-tiny baby carrots. I was thinking, "Oh, This must be how you grow baby carrots!" No, that's just how you don't grow carrots very well...It didn't matter, I was hooked on getting my hands dirty with my first taste from the garden.
It boggles my mind when I try to wrap my head around it. A simple seed, waiting for the perfect moment to unfold and take off. It patiently waits until it’s time comes. I place them carefully just beneath the soil, give them a drink, and cheer them on. Out of one tiny seed, life arises. Slowly at first, but once it sets root, there’s no holding back. Creeping and climbing over obstacles to reach toward the warm rays of our closest star.
Within the seed, exists a knowing. An understanding that all will unfold perfectly, as long as it continues to follow the light. Then, it blooms! Life explodes and unfolds in the most beautiful way. Colors and aromas unlike any I’ve ever known. Flowers that are so perfectly designed by nature to provide nectar for the birds and bees who in turn pollinate and keep the wheel turning.
After the joy of watching the seed rise to meet the light and bloom for the world, it bears fruit! Who would of thought that such an amazing process takes place with each and every fruit and vegetable we take in. Think of all the flowers and scents we are missing out on by remaining disconnected from this process!
And just when we think it couldn’t get any more amazing, we open up the fruit to find hundreds, or thousands more seeds ready and waiting to do the whole thing over again. It’s hard to put this fascination into words, because it truly is an indescribable experience to reconnect with nature with our hands in the soil.
It changed my life and inspires me daily to share this gift with everyone I meet. I never knew a love so deep existed just beneath the surface. Consider this an invitation! Let me know if I can offer any advice in the gardening world. You've got this!
Onward and Upward,
John
Start a front yard community garden: http://foodisfreeproject.org
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What a beautiful post! Thank you for it. It so captures what I feel when I'm in my garden every day and I know that the seeds want to realize themselves, it is soooo beautiful. BTW: Be proud of your first small carrot, mine was much smaller and totally crooked!
It's so great to be connected on here @antje! Glad the words resonated with you. I definitely was very proud of my small carrot. It was small but magical!
LOL! I had many very small carrots over the years and I was also definitely proud of them because they are indeed magical!!! I'm now planting a variety called "Paris Market" and they are small and round and lovely and grow in our soil!
Nice! I'd love to see a photo when you harvest them. How cool!
Yes, will write about my carot journey soon!
Beautiful post! I love the close up of the beans, what a great shot, and the butterfly on your nose...oooh too cute!! Yeah, I totally innerstand, it's hard to describe what this process means, in the micro and the macro, however, you did a wonderful job capturing the beauty and wonder of seeds turning to life <3
Thank you! Innerstanding, nice! That's the perfect word for how the magic of the garden makes me feel. :)
Keep on inspiring Pyramid John! xoox
Loved this post and your passionate words.
I share your love for watching seeds germinating, plants growing, fruits ripening.
It's really a privilege to have a garden and enjoy all of those daily, free, miracles.
Best wishes!
Free miracles, indeed! I love that. Thanks for the kind words and happy growing!
I really enjoyed this post. I've failed miserably at growing carrots. My cats have dug them up each time and killed them lol. I have a bunch of blueberries from my yard I'm going to try to get seeds from. They are in the freezer now but after 3 months I'll thaw them and try to plant them. It's amazing to get seeds from plants you grew and create brand new plants.
I can relate to the digging from cats along with out pet piggies. Maybe plant a little catnip to distract them? Keep us posted how the blueberry seed saving goes. Very exciting! What growing zone are you in?
Perfect description of the obsession with dirt, plants and all things gardening!
Thank you! It's certainly hard to put it to words but I got my mind out of the way and just let the words flow. Happy growing!
Growing your own food is so special. It is one of the ultimate connections that all humans need to make with the earth. It should be compulsory for everyone to do at least once in their life.
I started my journey of growing when I was about 7. My dad gave me a little patch of rough ground at the end of the garden. It was only about 3 foot square but I planted seeds and tended it every day until the radishes and then the lettuces and then the carrots popped up and grew to eating size.
I remember I was so proud when I took the first produce into my mum. A couple of radishes I think it was. That evening's meal was special - whatever the rest of it was, the radishes were the main attraction.
From then on I was hooked. Wherever I have been I have grown things - in tubs on a balcony, in pots on the kitchen windowsill, or great cucumbers between two layers of secondary glazing in a flat in London.
Now I am lucky enough to have a large garden. And I grow more and more each year. Last year we went 4 months without having to buy in any vegetables or salad. This year hopefully 6 months. Now with the polytunnel arriving I would like to achieve 8 months of vegetable independence.
Whatever you do, just grow.
That is amazing to hear! I definitely want to give my future children the chance to tend their own little plot and fall in love with that magic. I love how your radishes were the main attraction. What a fond moment! Congrats on reaching 4 months of growing your own abundance! I'm inspired.
Gardening. What a beautiful experience :)
It really is. Magic is real in the garden. :)
This post has received a 7.96 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @foodisfree.
Amazing results, and really beautifully put into words.
Since I lived in a village all my life, I've seen such things happening all the time, vegetables and fruits growing, and while I don't know how to take care of them and how to help them grow, I always help prepare the soil and make it ready for the seeds.
Congratulations for your article, and for your garden! :)
Thanks so much for your kind words and thoughts! That's awesome that you get to work in the soil often. What we give to the soil will be returned to us many fold! Do you live in a tropical climate or what is your growing season like?
Thanks for the reply!
I live in Romania, in eastern Europe, so no tropical climate, and I couldn't exactly describe it, in technical terms it's a "temperate continental climate".
We start planting the seeds in April, close to May, and since we don't plant anything except cucumbers, tomatoes, some beans or potatoes, we harvest often. The weather can't be described, but it rains often, and sometimes we get really big storms.
I don't really know how to describe anything, I'm not that good at gardening, sorry :p
I'm near Asheville, NC and I can relate. We get a lot of rain and it's borderline temperate rainforest climate. But we still have winters like you. My favorite inspiration is the forest. It doesn't need fertilizer other than fallen leaves, no irrigation(stores water in the soil), and grows abundance without any weeding either! We too can plant gardens where most of the work is simply keeping up with the harvest. That's my goal! :)