Cultivating Persistence and Faith in the Garden

Gardening is all about letting go and letting the Powers That Be run the show. I am reminded of my preschool-age daughter, who is learning to play with other children. The challenge for her is letting go of being in control; when she plays with me or Daddy, she can tell us what to say and direct the show. Not so much with other kids. Gardening is exactly like this: we are co-creators of the garden, playing with the devas, the weather, the Goddess, the plants. Sometimes this can be frustrating, as when hail or squirrels or who-knows-what destroys the pumpkin seedlings. But then in another corner of the garden some of the tomatoes you grew from seed will be flourishing, partly because you doted on them (just as you did the pumpkins) and partly because of invisible forces supporting your gardening dreams.

Maybe that balance between frustration and joy is part of why we garden. Certainly these feelings mirror most of life, from learning to play with others to facing life's greatest stressors. Lately I've been facing a lot of invitations to cultivating deeper faith: I'm pregnant, we had to incur more debt to care for our house, we're in the process of buying a used car, and of course, my garden grows as it grows. Through all of these experiences I continually have to let go and trust, while simulataneously keeping to my path. I have to cultivate both faith and persistence. I have to keep watering and fertilizing and weeding (and paying credit card bills and visiting used car lots and taking my prenatal vitamins), while letting go and letting Nature or God do Her thing. Requires lots of deep breathing.

One reason I want to spread the word about the power of gardening to change the world and change ourselves is that I think the lessons of the garden, like persistence and faith, can be applied on a much larger scale in a profoundly positive way. Practically speaking, this can mean changing the way our economy is structured through local food, bartering, eating in season and other garden-centric practices. Emotionally and spiritually a garden-centric way of life might mean even greater shifts. What would happen, for instance, if we all honored the dirt in our back yards and in our neighbors' yards? What would the world be like if we celebrated the harvest not as a historically questionable holiday in winter but as a real-life go-pick-the-corn-as-a-community in July or August? How might our foreign policies be informed if everyone in the United States, Mexico, Iraq and Somalia had a garden plot that they tended and we understood as individuals and a culture what that meant to people on the other side of the planet?

The garden can be a deeply powerful tool for change in your life, your community, and the world. I have faith that this positive change will continue to grow as garden plots and garden-centric thinking spreads in our culture. I hope as you cultivate and weed, water and feed, that you will feel inspired to offer up prayers to a world of faith through gardening. And... I hope the squirrels stay away from your melons.

Little Farms Can Change the World: Leah Gauthier's Sharecropping Project

I read about artist Leah Gauthier's Sharecropper project in the September/October 2008 issue of Natural Home Magazine, and went to check out her site. What a fantastically cool idea!!

From her site:

"Sharecropper, is a micro farming installation, by Artist, Leah Gauthier happening in New York City, summer of 2009.

"I am stitching together a working micro farm, (total size yet to be determined) for one growing season, from parcels of donated land or growing spaces, located in assorted environments in each of the five borroughs around the city. Possible sites include, private residences, office buildings, schools, small business, non-profits, hospitals, galleries, museums, community gardens, government facilities, and vacant lots. Working under a traditional sharecropper agreement, rent will be paid with a portion of my harvest, and the balance shared with local soup kitchens."

This is EXACTLY the kind of project that can reshape the way we live on the planet.

Check out her site and blog at http://leahgauthier.com/sharecropper/ to be inspired!

Happiness is Living the Farm Life in the Suburbs

This moment comes awfully close to my dream life. It's Sunday morning, the chickens have been fed and let to range, then shooed back into the run to get them out of the seedlings doing so well in the garden. We had buckwheat gluten free berry pancakes with organic yogurt for breakfast. Our bathtub is being remodeled, so we're heating water on the stove to give my little girl a bath outside. My husband started a little fire in our portable fire pit. He's going to get some yard work done (thank you!) while I get in some writing. I have to finish my thesis, the beginning of a novel, by the end of the month.

It's been a crazy time: hubby needed a crown on his tooth, I need new glasses, we'll have a hospital birth to pay for by the fall, we had to replace all our plumbing (small houses can really be a blessing) and our bathtub (credit card promo checks only way to go with no equity right now), and hubby got in a fender bender - his fault - last night. On one income, all that is deeply stressful. It's easy to feel overwhelmed. And I can't even take a soothing bath right now to de-stress!

But I turn on the news and hear about swine flu, flooding, genocide...; I hear my neighbor yell at his kids, and they yell back; a dear friend is still reeling from her brother's suicide. Life is hard. Yet here I sit, smelling campfire, watching chickens and children mature, we're healthy, the garden is growing (we've had RAIN this spring!), and I'm writing to you, dear reader. The sights and smells make me feel like I'm a writing mama on the farm, though we live in working class suburbia. I feel so very deeply blessed. And despite the overwhelm, so very happy.

Blessings to you, dear reader.

Happy Beltane from the Danaan Suburban Homestead

It's actually overcast here in Denver metro, which makes me the Pacific NW girl rather happy. I've been loving the warm spring days interspersed with rain (rain!) and cool. Perfect. The garden is doing well, and in a few weeks our chicks will go outside. In my garden so far I have spinach, carrots, lettuces, peas, garlic, and chard. I also have a whole garden-worth of seedlings here in the office under florescent lights ready for the Mother's Day planting. We're also excited to get the chicks out around then as well - maybe earlier. One is ready (she has all her feathers), but the others are a week younger. And... the coop isn't finished yet! We built most of it out of free scrap wood from a friend, and purchased $150 worth of additional lumber and hardware. Can't buy a coop for that.

I also learned recently that my intuition was right: I'm gestating a baby boy! Our daughter will have a little brother this fall. We have his first name picked out and are working on the middle name. Right now for the middle name I like Colum, which means Dove (I think that might be his animal guide, as we were gifted with two dozen lovely mourning dove feathers in the back yard - but not harmed dove!), and Loren, which means Laurel, a powerful magical herb offering protection and Sight.

The economy has affected us in funny ways that teach me about faith. We got our property assessment today, and our property lost $60k in value last year. To me this is a sign we need to stay put, build our wealth in other ways like our suburban homestead and a healthy family, and ride the waves of unfolding. All is well.

My Beltane Blessings to you and yours! I'd love to hear updates from my readers on how you are celebrating this May Day by living your life to the fullest.