I realized that in my previous post, “garden notes,” I actually didn’t include a single garden photo, but rather my surroundings while in and out of the garden – a break on the porch, a cold drink on the patio, some deer that wandered through.
Sometimes I think I would do well to have a little gardening business, just so I could spend more time out there. I love the work of the garden so much. I like the heavy digging, the weeding, the moving of plants, the tending of plants. I don’t mind troubleshooting and I enjoy garden research. Even though there have been frustrating challenges, I have been able to rise to the challenges and even find interest in working through them (like pests for example).
Maybe it’s the perfect balance of physical labor, which I do so well with (I am a JUST DO IT kind of girl), and the parts that require me to slow down and think things through, plan things out (which I don’t always have the patience for when I just want to do it!)
Gardening has taught me a lot of patience. And as an organic gardener, there are rewards of that patience showing up in ways I hadn’t known how they would look.
The work of providing for ourselves in a way that is direct, foundational and basic – such as feeding ourselves – is so simple and animal, free of superficial complications. Maybe this is why gardening is like meditation for so many people.
I actually sat down to just share a few photos, but I guess I had some thoughts to share too. Gardening, particularly growing food, is like nothing else for me. It’s satisfying to me in a way that is hard to describe. Maybe you know what I mean.
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I will be sharing over at Tend this year, every Tuesday. I’ve been following Tend since it started 2 years ago, and am looking forward to sharing in this year with them (and you!) as a contributor. Hop on over there if you’d like.
liane
i know what you mean. 😉
abby
thanks for saying so. Sometimes it’s hard to express a feeling and it’s nice to know when someone gets it!
Denise
thank you – you just inspired me!
we have to reconsider somethings this year – privacy vs. sunshine.
I value both.
Denise
i should add – that our trees provide the privacy but block the sun into the garden. time to get creative 🙂
abby
I totally got it! (though it took me a second:)
I can relate – privacy vs sunshine. Both are so important to us too. Though in terms of gardening, there are a lot of shade tolerant plants – kale, lettuce, rhubarb, peas, beets, carrots and more do well without full sun.
Liesl
I’m glad it fills you up. It does me too. (I just went out today to pull back the mulch on the garlic we planted back in November. So many have come up. It’s our first time growing it and I hope it does well!)