Hope is an underlying part of gardening. It starts with the planning. We hope for a successful garden by planning it. We hope for the joy it will bring us. We hope for the food and beauty it can provide.
Why take so much time to plan and nurture a garden? Because it brings us hope for the future. When we plan a garden, it is for the future spring and summer. The seeds we plant will grow to bring us joy in some way. We might want to eat what the plant provides, we might want to look at the flowers, we might want to share that hope by giving a small plant to a friend. There are many things to hope for, the hope of spring to come, the hope of the plants growing, hope of the harvest reward, hope to have the patience it takes to get to the harvest season!
The joy of growing a little seed and nurturing it to become a big plant is part of who we are as humans. We need food to survive, plain and simple. We get our food by growing it. We can choose to grow our own food or be dependant on someone else to grow our food. But either way, food brings us joy. When we are nourished we are thankful and have joy. When we grow our food, we get to plant the seed and care for it in a little bit of soil so that it will grow into a plant that can bring joy to us. There is life in those little seeds. And life, no matter what form is joyful. To grow food, is to grow life, the life energy in that food is converted to life energy in everyone who eats that plant. Sometimes the joy comes from just looking at the beautiful flowers.
Everyone should grow something. It can be in a garden, in a pot on the patio or on the porch or in the house, but grow something! It reconnects us to mother nature. It connects us to this beautiful blue & green ball that we live on. Hopefully it can help us learn compassion about our Earth home. We should nurture mother nature by growing something and mother nature can continue to nourish us. What do you think you will grow this year to nurture mother nature?
