Today I felt perhaps a low level bliss in dinner preparation. There was the thrill of strawberries, mesclun lettuce, parsley, and cilantro going into my chicken salad, and spearmint for the tea all coming from our own soil. It was only a few weeks ago that intermittent spurts of joy started as I dug my hands into the soil dropping tiny seeds with great hope. I abandoned my shoes to let the rich, healing dirt run between my toes as it did my fingers. The gardening project started three years ago, and now has sprung into five different plots along with a growing orchard of pear, apple, plum, peach, chestnut and cherry trees, grape vines, blueberry bushes and wild blackberries. There are vegetables along with flowers, shrubs, and herbs. It's colorful, beautiful, organic, largely edible, and back to nature which is definitely soulful. It's a project and partnership that both my husband and I plunge into each year with growing intensity.
In the beginning there was the satisfaction with shopping at organic groceries and buying from the local organic farmer. That was only feeding the fire igniting within us to grow food from our own soil. After all, we live on one hundred acres, handed down to us through my family. It had once been the soil that fed my grandparents with gardens and orchards, along with chickens, cattle, and pigs. Since our diet is bent more towards vegetarianism, although we are not quite there yet, there are no plans for cattle or pigs. Chickens for organic eggs, and possibly sheep or goats for wool and cheese have been in our discussions as of late as well as plans for a green house from recycled materials. Our desire is to live off the land or at least be knowledgeable and prepared enough to be able to live off the land organically as our forefathers once did.
It had to start simply with me, in the kindergarten stage as I filled clay pots with herbal varieties of parsley, rosemary, oregano, sage, garlic, chives, and lavender as a confidence builder. Recognizing and pulling weeds no longer intimidates me as it did in the beginning. Even weeds have their significance. Dandelions and red clover are highly nutritional. Garlic, considered by some a weed, grows among pansies, irises, tulips and roses. The rocks surrounding garden areas were gathered and carried by hand from creek beds, as a labor of love and a substitute for a gym membership.
The appreciation and love of nature knows no bounds as we place bridges from recycled cattle chutes over the creek beds and carve out trails into the wooded area surrounding our house. We gather wild spring greens and onions from the trail walk to add to lunch or dinner. There is still a hesitancy about mushrooms, as we are starting to learn which ones are edible. It's a threesome honeymoon between my husband, myself and the soil, as we connect with our souls.
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Comments: 19
Where do you get organic seeds?