Food For My Soul

Lessons From Being With Herbs

What an absolute joy and privilege to be in the food garden after last nights lovely rain. The smell of clean air, soft soil under feet, and birds chirping, makes one feel alive.

Each year I'm amazed at how quickly the food garden responds to the first spring rains. Maybe it is just my imagination but all the crops just look a lot more happy and vigorous. And so does the weeds.

The rain brought life. Just pulling a baby carrot from the bed you can feel it, smell it, taste it. You can even hear it as somehow it has an added crunchiness between your teeth. Or was that soil?

The rain also brought death. There is this one bed which we were in too much of a hurry to level properly. The 32mm rain proved this to be a dreadful mistake as the newly germinated seedlings got flooded away.

Be that as it may, I'm thankful for the short break the rain affords us in the regular food gardening activities. It does mess up my regular Tuesday succession sowings as I cannot sow when my slightly heavy soil is this wet. But it is not a train smash. A few days won't matter that much.

The pleasure of harvesting will proceed as normal and the variety, after the monotony of winter, is coming on nicely. Each week bringing something new to add to the menu. This week there will be dill, salad burnet, baby carrots and baby spinach. This is why we food garden. This is why we put in the time and effort to prepare our beds. This is why we sow and patiently wait for our crops to germinate. This is why we lovingly make sure they have all they need till they mature. To harvest our own crispy fresh crops that just burst with flavour.

Not to forget the sheer delight of being able to be outdoors listening to the sound of the birds, feeling the crisp morning air on your face, smelling (and tasting) the rain drenched soil mingling with that of a freshly harvested carrot.

It is on mornings like this that I once again realize that my little food garden also provides food for my soul. It creates awareness that everything is connected to everything else. That what I sow, in my garden and my life, I reap. That my food garden is judged by the fruits it bear. And so will my life be judged. That, but for the grace of my awesome, loving, Heavenly Father, my food garden and my life, would be empty.

I was wondering then, what did you learn from your food garden this morning? And what are you prepared to do in the next seven days to apply that lesson?

My challenge then is to hit the "Comments" button below and publicly state your commitment.

Comments

[VM Fourie]

Wow you are lucky! We haven't had any spring rain in the Free State. We were away for a week visiting our children and in our absence the birds finished off all the apricots we were so looking forward to. We do however have much to be thankful for and we praise God for all His blessings.

[Rita Lombard]

Thank you for your news letter and all the heplfull tips. I share your view on the love of nature and Our loving Heavenly Father. Please keep on sending this uplifting news to me.

Regards

Rita Lombard

[Elvira Potgieter]

Thanks for a stunning newsletter - the only one I read. The first thing I do every morning before I leave for work is to visit, what I call now our kitchen garden. I cannot begin to express the immense joy I experience seeing the herbs and veggies grow, after spending DAYS preparing the ground and knowing that we will reaping the benefits for the hard work done. God has indeed blessed us with a great gift and my favourite hobby: GARDENING!