Something you may or may not know about me is that I LOVE to write. I don't often get much time to do it, but I truly love to capture my thoughts, feelings, and wondering and put them down in some way. That being said, I think it may be time for me to revive the blog a bit. I will try to space out the heavy stuff with some lighter more random posts until I decide what I want from my blog. For now... here's what's been going through my head today.
A little over a week ago, I had a day off. I decided to orchestrate this day in a way that would allow me time to take care of the garden. After some thought, I decided to germinate my seeds before planting, as my roommate and owner of the house was out of town and I didn't want to randomly plant things without consulting her. Plus, I wasn't sure if we were clear of our last frost and many of my plants need a SOLID 65+ temp outside before they can be safely transplanted. I decided to make a bit of a nursery in my basement.
At Walmart and Aldi, I went a bit crazy with the seed buying. But, I figured it would be way better to overbuy and germinate, transplant and overproduce, having tons of produce to work with for only about $20, than undershoot and have to buy produce all summer. Overshoot I did. I bought over 16 different kinds of plants from watermelon to cantaloupe, jalapenos, cilantro, basil, variations of tomatoes, beets, carrots, okra, cucumbers, squashes, if it grows in the summer, chances are I have it. I also got some mescaline and broccoli we will grow later in the summer, got some lettuces(I don't even like lettuce or salad, but I figured maybe I would if I grew it?), We are golden.
I got these awesome cardboard containers from Aldi for super cheap, and an organic seed starter from Aldi as well(GO ALDI). I filled each cup with dirt, planted according to the direction, and mayyyy have added more seeds than recommended. Hey- I want them to grow! I can thin them out later. I put them in aluminum baking pans I have and put them over by the window sill. The waiting game began.
Daily, I'd go check and see how my little 'babies' were doing. Now, you may think that's crazy. But, truly... I feel like they are my little seedlings and I am responsible for them. I nearly dropped them the other day, and I was MORE scared than if I almost dropped an infant. No. I am not kidding. Crazy, I know.
You may be wondering where this hankering to garden even comes from. Well, part of it comes from living on water for 2.5 years, which means...well.. there's not even a remote possibility of gardening for yourselves, part of it comes from memories of going to my grandpa's garden as a child and helping him, loving to see the process, the rewards for all of the hard work. He was a bit of a master gardener, and spent his days working the land- all day every day from my young memories. They now live in an apartment and he still has a small 'container garden' on his balcony. It makes me smile. It's in my blood.
Last year I randomly decided to plant a couple of things late in the season and they went beautiful. It became an escape from the mundane and everyday life, so I just would go and work after coming home from work or CrossFit. Now, I can't exercise, but have this huge desire to garden. So, I figure this is a great way to trick my body into working hard;) It also turns out, I'm kinda good at this whole gardening thing. I have good instincts, and I love to do it. I did a huge project last semester on gardening in schools, so I used some of my research to launch my garden this year.
I am hoping that by the time the weather warms up enough for my plants to be transplanted, I have a game plan in place with my roommate and we can decide where everything will go and the best course of action for all of my little seedlings.
At first, they didn't budge. I was nervous. I knew it takes time for these things to grow. But on day 4, my lettuce plant sprouted. I about fell over I was SO excited. 2 days later on day 6, my beets sprouted. Slowly, but surely, they were all starting to sprout! By day 7, 5 sprouted, day 9, 8 sprouted, and by the end of day 10, 12, almost 13 had sprouted and some were growing strong.
I couldn't help but be completely captivated by the entire process. How.... how does this seed... this guarded, shielded, protected thing that seems dead and lifeless. Like it could NEVER be anything ever again, become something. How, once I bury it in dirt, tend to it, and water it, feed it, and shine light on it, does it suddenly spring life from its little self. Then it not only does this, but I can literally see growth throughout the day. I cannot help but see the parallels in my own life in this. With so much mess happening, so much hurt, so many dreams shattered and doors closed, I can't help but see the hope that is coming. The hope that could literally be a day away. I just have to take care of myself, feed myself(both literally and spiritually), and work on getting myself in the ideal conditions to grow and THRIVE. I've gotten so used to just surviving and being in a shell... that's not what we're called to.
God is so good and so cool to create the world this way. He creates new life from something dead every day in something as insignificant as a plant. Something that is living, but has no feelings, thoughts, can't act on it's own, but God designed it this way to grow and gain life from death. How much more does he want US to be able to LIVE and THRIVE and GROW? The bible tells us to consider the flowers of the field- God feeds them and 'clothes' them, why are we so worried about what we will eat, drink, wear. Stop worrying about tomorrow, it has enough worries of it's own.
I have so much to work on and learn from this, but isn't it INCREDIBLE that God has brought all of this to me from a SEED.. in my basement... amazing.
A little over a week ago, I had a day off. I decided to orchestrate this day in a way that would allow me time to take care of the garden. After some thought, I decided to germinate my seeds before planting, as my roommate and owner of the house was out of town and I didn't want to randomly plant things without consulting her. Plus, I wasn't sure if we were clear of our last frost and many of my plants need a SOLID 65+ temp outside before they can be safely transplanted. I decided to make a bit of a nursery in my basement.
At Walmart and Aldi, I went a bit crazy with the seed buying. But, I figured it would be way better to overbuy and germinate, transplant and overproduce, having tons of produce to work with for only about $20, than undershoot and have to buy produce all summer. Overshoot I did. I bought over 16 different kinds of plants from watermelon to cantaloupe, jalapenos, cilantro, basil, variations of tomatoes, beets, carrots, okra, cucumbers, squashes, if it grows in the summer, chances are I have it. I also got some mescaline and broccoli we will grow later in the summer, got some lettuces(I don't even like lettuce or salad, but I figured maybe I would if I grew it?), We are golden.
I got these awesome cardboard containers from Aldi for super cheap, and an organic seed starter from Aldi as well(GO ALDI). I filled each cup with dirt, planted according to the direction, and mayyyy have added more seeds than recommended. Hey- I want them to grow! I can thin them out later. I put them in aluminum baking pans I have and put them over by the window sill. The waiting game began.
Daily, I'd go check and see how my little 'babies' were doing. Now, you may think that's crazy. But, truly... I feel like they are my little seedlings and I am responsible for them. I nearly dropped them the other day, and I was MORE scared than if I almost dropped an infant. No. I am not kidding. Crazy, I know.
You may be wondering where this hankering to garden even comes from. Well, part of it comes from living on water for 2.5 years, which means...well.. there's not even a remote possibility of gardening for yourselves, part of it comes from memories of going to my grandpa's garden as a child and helping him, loving to see the process, the rewards for all of the hard work. He was a bit of a master gardener, and spent his days working the land- all day every day from my young memories. They now live in an apartment and he still has a small 'container garden' on his balcony. It makes me smile. It's in my blood.
Last year I randomly decided to plant a couple of things late in the season and they went beautiful. It became an escape from the mundane and everyday life, so I just would go and work after coming home from work or CrossFit. Now, I can't exercise, but have this huge desire to garden. So, I figure this is a great way to trick my body into working hard;) It also turns out, I'm kinda good at this whole gardening thing. I have good instincts, and I love to do it. I did a huge project last semester on gardening in schools, so I used some of my research to launch my garden this year.
I am hoping that by the time the weather warms up enough for my plants to be transplanted, I have a game plan in place with my roommate and we can decide where everything will go and the best course of action for all of my little seedlings.
At first, they didn't budge. I was nervous. I knew it takes time for these things to grow. But on day 4, my lettuce plant sprouted. I about fell over I was SO excited. 2 days later on day 6, my beets sprouted. Slowly, but surely, they were all starting to sprout! By day 7, 5 sprouted, day 9, 8 sprouted, and by the end of day 10, 12, almost 13 had sprouted and some were growing strong.
I couldn't help but be completely captivated by the entire process. How.... how does this seed... this guarded, shielded, protected thing that seems dead and lifeless. Like it could NEVER be anything ever again, become something. How, once I bury it in dirt, tend to it, and water it, feed it, and shine light on it, does it suddenly spring life from its little self. Then it not only does this, but I can literally see growth throughout the day. I cannot help but see the parallels in my own life in this. With so much mess happening, so much hurt, so many dreams shattered and doors closed, I can't help but see the hope that is coming. The hope that could literally be a day away. I just have to take care of myself, feed myself(both literally and spiritually), and work on getting myself in the ideal conditions to grow and THRIVE. I've gotten so used to just surviving and being in a shell... that's not what we're called to.
God is so good and so cool to create the world this way. He creates new life from something dead every day in something as insignificant as a plant. Something that is living, but has no feelings, thoughts, can't act on it's own, but God designed it this way to grow and gain life from death. How much more does he want US to be able to LIVE and THRIVE and GROW? The bible tells us to consider the flowers of the field- God feeds them and 'clothes' them, why are we so worried about what we will eat, drink, wear. Stop worrying about tomorrow, it has enough worries of it's own.
I have so much to work on and learn from this, but isn't it INCREDIBLE that God has brought all of this to me from a SEED.. in my basement... amazing.
