I’ve found that starting something new, even when it wasn’t a part of the plan, usually turns out to be exactly what was needed. God works in mysterious ways. Everyday I give thanks to him for offering me and my family a chance to wake up in the morning, and breathe in a new adventure. Even when the rest of the world is out of alignment, each day is another chance to choose to live, and let live. Life’s too short not to look at it that way.
Tennessee has brought new changes, new challenges, and new relationships to our lives. The relationships we are building with friends, and relationships with the land. Life here is simple. Laid back. We feel safe. We feel free. And along with all the rain we get here, is a whole new world of opportunities. This year, I finally got to have a vegetable garden!
To prepare, I watched some youtube videos, talked to some friends, and went out and bought a bunch of seeds and tools. My husband agreed to build some raised beds, I planned the layout, and my son helped me plant our first seeds in starter pots. We watched them sprout, and were so giddy to see the first seedlings come up!
Then we learned the first challenges of gardening. We lost about half our seedlings. After losing those seedlings we just planted more seeds. We watched it bloom into a full garden! But we also started to notice some plants dying out due to pests and/or heat, light, or water issues. I didn’t do much about it, since other plants were still thriving. We were so excited for our harvest to come!
My first garden allowed me space to be reminded that if you don’t put the work into something (into learning that which generations of humans have successfully done, like gardening), when you try to re-invent the wheel – it usually doesn’t work out too good. It wasn’t the worst, but it wasn’t exactly what I expected.
I should’ve done more research, and been more hands-on (learning about the soil, what the pests were and how to combat them, and the right and wrong time to plant), but I didn’t put the time in. I should’ve listened when I read what spacing was needed. I should’ve realized that over planting would make it difficult for anything to grow to it’s full potential, but I tried to do it my own way. I wanted it thick and full immediately, so I put things too close together. What I needed to do was have a little more patience.
Next year, I’ll do better. Despite the disappointments, I’m still so grateful for everything my garden gave us this year. We got herbs, beans, cucumbers, lettuce, green onion, a pumpkin, a few snap peas, some (odd) carrots, tomatoes, gorgeous (huge) zinnias, and a big lesson in “it ain’t as easy as it looks”.
Perhaps, the lesson in it all, is that I can’t know what I don’t know. In gardening, as well as in all things in life. To assume you know it all and can be successful going along with only a basic knowledge of something, just won’t get you very far. Knowledge is power, and you can’t always fake it, ’til you make it, especially when it comes to growing a delicate resource such as food.
I’m going to go ahead and skip the fall garden this year to focus on learning as much as I can for the spring season. I’m not giving up. I’m learning from my failures and planning a more spacious garden, so I can give each plant what it needs. I’m also going to understand that a garden is like a relationship. It takes work. A garden needs a lot of love, and in return, it will provide an abundance of deliciousness.
Even though my harvest was small (like, embarrassingly small) I am happy that I finally experienced what it means to grow your own food. I have a new found appreciation for the store bought fruits and veggies that I used to take for granted over the years. I feel sad when I think about all the stuff I’ve thrown out after it sat in the fridge too long. I feel excited when I think of how much better everything tastes when it’s grown at home!
I loved going on this gardening journey with my son. He’s a great helper and he also thinks the veggies from our own garden taste better than the store bought stuff, too. I’m really grateful for what our ancestors passed on to us that gave the foundation for the ease of life today. I also believe it’s important to learn and teach these self-sufficiency skills to our kids (even if picking food up from the market is easier), because in doing so, we teach them to honor the meaning of life, starting with the smallest little seeds.
Just like a garden, life is fragile. When care is not taken, when knowledge is not sought out, life fades away, it doesn’t produce anything of value. It becomes meaningless, stagnant and dies. Living a full and meaningful life, means working hard, putting in 110%, planting seeds, and remembering to water them (but not too much). It means not being too hard on yourself if they don’t work out as you planned. They might come up as something even better. They might be just the seeds of change you needed to set you on the right path.
