Rebellion Gardens

Today

is my husband’s birthday and we are celebrating tonight with a fancy dinner in the garden with some of our friends. By fancy I mean there will be a tablecloth and flowers on the table, but other than that, our kids will still be barefoot, and the chickens will still be running around, probably begging for food…

I have had many different visions of my life, but a recent one has been to invite people to our garden, to eat and laugh with us in a space that is sacred to us. In years past, I had visions to be a taxicab driver (I was 6), a farmer, a therapist, an entrepreneur, a business owner, a food-truck owner, a homemaker, a homesteader, and more recently I just want to be a creator. Maybe many of those things are still in my future. What I know is there is a lot of projects around here to be done every day and not a whole lot of distraction-free time to do them. I suppose I could get a job, but then who would have the energy to keep the garden going? I know plenty of people who do both, but I’m not really interested in that kind of output. Or I guess I am interested; I just don’t have the energy.

Ever since I started on my plant-based journey, many new ideas have flooded into my world and some that find me over and over again are minimalism/simple living/slow living/mindful living. I don’t think all of those are exactly the same thing, but they are sort of headed in the same direction. More recent in my sphere are the ideas around permaculture and sustainability. We are not even close to perfect. I still begrudgingly buy fruits and vegetables in plastic bags that I can thankfully recycle at our grocery store, but this plastic everywhere, it is really a scourge in our society.

Which is why with the conscience that I have now, I try my utmost to protect our sacred Mother Earth. I have to grow the garden and be a good steward of our property. Because, even when I buy organic from the grocer it is most likely coming from a mono-culture farm that has eradicated all life from the soil and all biodiversity in its fields. Fossil fuels are still being burned to gas the large farm machines and the machines that bring the harvest to my neighborhood…

I believe in a natural earth, of small communities supporting each other. I believe in slowing down and watching your kids grow despite the economic loss that may be incurred. I believe to some extent, many of us need to work with our hands, to see the fruits of our labor before our eyes…

I still have the first bowl I made when I learned to spin pottery last year and it is still so beautiful to me. When I first learned to throw the clay on the wheel, I was nervous and messed up a lot and it was the opposite of poetic to say the least. But as time went on and I got better, small moments of time were lost into the present moment and all there was, was clay and me, spinning, pinching, molding, and I forgot to think or more importantly to worry. I was in flow/the zone/the now. And the bowl is far from perfect, but it is mine and it came from me, and that feels really good and I like it a lot...

I found out today that there is a free seed library at my local library branch, and I was like a kid at Christmas! I know, seeds and related garden things may not get everyone going, but to me it was just a little more faith in humanity restored. It was happiness, delight, gratitude, love, and honor to be able to see this little slice of community extend into my garden.

I am so new at gardening, and really not very good, but I have a feeling I could get that way. I find myself drifting to thoughts of the garden when I am away from it and with a constant list of projects and improvements in my mind that I am constantly rattling off to my husband about. Right now, I am sitting in it to write. The weather has been a little cooler and is that magical time between summer and fall. There is such a mix of things in the garden and lots of little seedlings to follow. There are pole beans and green beans, basil and carrots, papaya and pumpkins, watermelon and tomatoes, kale and cilantro, onions and zucchini, and lots of hope that many make it to our plates this year (fingers crossed). It really is a blessed little piece of land.

In a little while I’ll go take out the chickpeas from the instant pot and start chopping the vegetables for the curry, and after that is set, I’ll leave so our sitter can put the kids down for a nap and then really quietly I’ll try to make cupcakes.

We’ll probably put on a movie for the kids so we can chat with our friends at dinner, but more than likely they’ll want to chat at the table with us, which will be better anyway. I have a way of overplanning and not allowing the Universe to take its course. If I’m meant to have deep adult conversations so be it, and if I’m meant to play cat café instead at the table with my children, that will be okay too.

My wish for this world is that we all get beautiful dinners at dusk in the garden with people we love. May we all get the joy of making things with our hands, getting our hands dirty now and then and finding deep meaning in our daily work.

Until next time…