The next day I decided it was time to start my garden. Every participant was sent home with a goodie bag filled with vegetable and herb seeds. Besides, the magnolia has been thinned out so sun can actually bathe that side of my yard and house so the timing is right. Perfect! I have seeds left over from last years attempt, which I am proud to say resulted in a few months of tomatoes, bushels of basil, three salads worth of lettuce and one single round cucumber.
So where to start? I decided to take it slow this year and start with the herbs. Container gardening for me is ideal right now at this juncture of my life.
Setting up my sunny room where I do my art and reflect on my relationships to now hold various vegetable cans, pots and bottles sprouting of green beauties was the best thing I've ever done in this house. Just sitting in there watching the sweet marjoram and dill climb through and lift dirt of their ant-sized leaves gives me hope. Life is a struggle isn't it? And at the same time, when that sun hits your face and the rains clean the air, its all so lovely. I don't know how much closer you can get to a lesson on life than caring for a plant.
I'm learning how much sun to give and when to water. Learning by trial and error. I've already killed my dill but the best part is you plant seeds again and they sprout... again. We all learn this lesson, Try, try and try again. For me, the lessons have come from head knocking into walls, rulers cracking over knuckles, and tears to fill an ocean. But gardening is proving to be a much more gentle and patient teacher. I'm learning consistency and discipline and developing a stick-to-it-ness that is steadily refilling my dwindling watering can of faith. Where I once believed routine was the enemy, I'm finding great freedom in having routines.
The other equally important lesson I'm learning, practicing I should really say. The other equally important lesson I'm practicing is taking care of things through and through. There are no band-aids for having healthy, vibrant garden. You want to have a bountiful harvest? Then put in the work. And that's still not to say the crop will be full this year, but you do the work, keep the routine every year. There will be times of plenty and times of scarce, yet you keep plowing.
Now it ain't all that easy to just turn around after so many years of hustling, of cutting corners to make things work. I'll admit, I've done a lot of that. I always considered this way of living as the way of the butterfly in the garden. However, I stand corrected. I grew up believing that that was how you had to get the best out of life. Sure, there's cutting out coupons to keep within your food budget. But I did it on everything and after time it limited me, cut out a lot of my options. The greatest lesson I've learned so far in life I'm having to relearn. That lesson would be... How to be a Butterfly.
She is attracted to bright reds, oranges, yellows in a garden. She wildly flits, flutters from one flower to the next looking like she's having a lovely grand time smelling and eating the lusciousness of the nectar and unintentionally pollinating plants. But someone pointed out if you get close enough and slow down her movements, you will see she is focused, concentrating on collecting her food. And the most interesting fact my friend noted is that butterflies make a one way trip every fall from Canada to Mexico without losing their way. Some kind of mechanism in their eyes gives them direction. Hmmmm....
Vision, focus and determination from catepillar to Monarch. I've learned that the flightiness onlookers gather from her unexpected directions is only what they see from a distance. The butterfly loves and cares for her garden. She finds her focus and works hard in her garden. She gets strength and nourishment from her garden. And finally, she does not take shortcuts to make her journey in life.
I've killed a few plants, I've grown a few but that's the beauty of gardening; learning, failing, growing, restarting, succeeding. We take it for granted but plants are just as fragile yet resilient as we are. Butterflies are an essential component to the garden. A garden is so relevant to living everyday life. Then you take a broader look and find that the way you live every day brings you closer to life and death.
Love abundantly, Trust honestly and Live well.
No comments:
Post a Comment