Garden pictures

As I post these pictures, I'm somewhat amused by myself.

What are these pictures of, exactly? A patch of dirt, some wire and bamboo cages, a snaking hose? Tiny plants that have yet to bear anything....a big black dog and a bouncy blonde girl in the corners of some pictures. It's not much, and yet I'm so proud of it.

I really feel that in some small way our garden makes a difference.

It's certainly making a difference in how I spend my time! Ryan spent a full hour preparing the ground further for the tomatoes to go into it. He dug deep, tilled in compost, shook out weeds, and even sifted all the dirt to get the rocks out (apparently West Seattle dirt is glacial till - man do we have a zillion rocks). I spent a couple of hours weeding around the blueberries (not pictured here), planting tomatoes, basil, garlic, strawberries, and herbs. We have herbs in pots in the back yard - the oregano, parsley, cilantro, and rosemary are all going crazy; the chives look pretty good; and today I planted mint and thyme. I still want to plant basil in a pot in addition to in the ground (I have a plant in my kitchen that is ready to transplant), and I'd like tarragon and some others as well. Anyway, just snaking the soaker hose through takes time, and of course weeding all around....

I stand back and survey my work, and I feel good. Tessa is learning how food is grown, and I am learning, too. It has been so long since I got my hands dirty like this. My body is stretching, and my mind is, too. I see, at long last, why so many people find gardening to be a meditative practice. My back aches from stooping over (today I found myself crawling under our Japanese maple, by the blueberries, to get a creeping morning glory out), but my mind feels clearer from the whole process.

I believe that I am positively impacting the earth, too. We're enriching our soil with compost and vermicompost from our own scraps; we're going to be able to eat as locally as it gets if this stuff ever really grows into food. I say "if" because even though that is certainly the goal, I still have a hard time imagining such success. We're reducing our carbon footprints by growing our own food, even though the percentage is so small. Every bit helps, I think.

Our family is spending time together in this way. We tie Shep up so that he can walk all over the yard but not get into the street (it's been over a year since his accident but we will never forget how awful it was); Tessa dances around and picks dandelions for my "Mama vase," Ryan and I work, and chat. It has to be good. It feels good.

The universe hasn't shifted because I'm trying to grow food, but something has changed for me. I certainly couldn't have imagined myself doing this five years ago, or even two years ago. I've never successfully gardened before, and I think (hope!) that my lack of success in the past had more to do with inattentiveness, lack of understanding, and low priorities than anything else. Now I'm attentive, willing to read and learn, and promising not to forget to water. (Today was the first time we really watered, as in working the soil I saw that things were drying out. We've had rain, but nothing substantial.)