Our Garden

Pictured are two of our zucchini plants.  And, in the background, some garlic and chives...  But our garden has much more than just that.

I started gardening in 2010.  And I loved it.  I have tried to have a garden every year since.  And, if you're willing to be free with the term garden, I'll say I succeeded.  (Some years it wasn't tended particularly well...). 

Why am I grateful for our garden (and all of the gardens I've had)?:

1.  I love the harvest.  But that's just a given, I think.  Truthfully, though...  Having a garden has made me start to like new foods.  Prior to 2010, I wasn't a big fan of tomatoes.  But when they were my tomatoes...  Well, I wanted to eat them.  And now, I pretty much love tomatoes.  Same with zucchini.  This year I'm trying out carrots...  And in the future some time, maybe I'll be convinced to start liking green beans :)...

2.  I appreciate the work.  I'm not an especially outdoorsy kind of girl.  I don't really like getting my hands dirty.  My husband calls me a city girl.  And I can't argue with him.  I am.  I'm not super fond of finding worms in the garden (but I leave them, because I know they are good for it), because worms are gross.  I always wear gloves.  Sweating isn't my favorite thing.  But yet...  I don't mind it when I'm in the garden.  Now, I could do a much better job than I do at tending the garden.  I've done a better job in the past.  But that was when I lived in the house where the garden was.  Easier for me to tend.  Also, I wasn't a wife or a mommy back then.  I remember looking forward to afternoons and evenings after work when I'd plug in my headphones, crank up my music, and go to work with the hoe and the hose.  I was proud of what I was accomplishing.  And I was getting really good exercise to boot!  I still try to do a bit here and there, but it's definitely been a challenge in more recent years.  Nonetheless, I appreciate that it is something I have to work at.  I have to take care of the garden and put forth time and energy into it.  Otherwise, it will die.  I look forward to when we can use gardening as a way to teach our little girl about the value of work -- and what it can produce.

3.  I love the excitement of looking forward to what will be.  And watching the plants grow. 

4.  I love that it creates family time for us.  Many evenings, when my husband comes home from work, we all head over and water the garden and check on it (it's an 8 minute walk away).  I know these are memories we are making.  And I look forward to when our munchkin is old enough to do more than eat the dirt ;)...  Because I think these will be times she will remember fondly, one day.

5.  I love the spiritual lessons taught in gardening.  I remember the first year I gardened, I had so many insights into spiritual things from my gardening efforts.  Lessons that really stuck with me and impacted me.  I wrote about some of them here.  A garden is an exercise in patience and hope.  It is also, in my opinion, miraculous.  I remember that first year...  I planted tomatoes from seed.  When I first opened that packet of seeds, I seriously doubted a whole plant full of tomatoes would grow from that tiny little seed.  And so I planted more than one in each hole.  Which resulted in a lot of tomato plants (I gave over half of the seedlings away, because I think I ended up with 40-something).  And that has application too, to life.  Because out of small things proceedeth that which is great...

Anyway, I think I've droned on enough ;)...  But seriously.  I love our garden.  For so many reasons.  I hope to have one every year.  And hopefully, one day soon, it'll be in my own back yard :).

What are you grateful for today?