I am practicing patience this week.  Today a sunny, early spring day (we are off to a slow start in the notheast!),  I headed straight to my garden.  See, I have big plans for my micro farm this year: new greenhouse, new raised beds, a real, productive system for growing my own food.

Pausing.  Understanding. Feeling like a kid waiting for her birthday presents.

I am the idea gal, my husband, the executioner.  I come up with the ideas. He pulls the trigger.

Over the 20 plus years that I have been obsessed tended to my garden, I have learned a lot about life from putting my hands in the dirt. What started out as a simple hobby has paid off, not only in a glorious abundance vegetables but in so many other ways I had never considered. Like these below:

It Is Okay To Make Mistakes. When my husband and I started our first garden, we were two newlyweds winging it. We started seeds indoors in January (a small jungle by April!), we grew vegetables that had no right being in a Connecticut garden, planted too early, ended too late.  It was all okay, it is how we learned to improve for the next year.

We All Need A Creative Outlet. I view my garden like a painter’s palette.  I get to play with color, with soft, rough, pointy, climbing, vining, crawling.  If I want to plant corn this year and giant sunflowers the next, it is simply the price of a packet of seeds.

It Is Good Exercise. I will have about 18 garden beds this year.  Now, I am not telling anyone to tear up their whole yard for the sake of vegetables, but even a few beds requires a good amount of digging, lifting, moving, raking.  It is hard work – in a good way. And if you are like my husband, you are lifting boards, sawing wood, wheelbarrowing dirt and working that tractor Hey, you too could have a new best friend!

Gardening Is Meditative. Spending an afternoon in the warm sunshine pulling weeds isn’t everyone’s favorite pastime, but in our world of cellphones, electronics, and overstimulation, any chance you have to give your brain a break and lower your stress hormones works for me.  And plants don’t talk back, argue or debate with you. Kind of nice.

We All Need To Be More Kind – To Ourselves. In order to grow outstanding organic vegetables, you need a few very important factors involved – sun, water and the best soil you can get your hands on.  Having great soil takes work – it needs compost, good bugs and worms, and tilling. Same goes for us.  We need to be constantly nourishing our bodies with good food, restful sleep, meaningful relationships and lots of play.

Interested in learning how to grow your very own organic vegetable garden?  Join me for my two session workshop, Garden To Plate, coming this May.  Sign up here to get on the early interest list!  Or if you would rather have an individualized consultation drop me an email.