We turn to the garden once more in the spring

by Richard S. Kordesh

We invited friends over recently to celebrate the coming growing season. 

We encouraged people to bring their children and planned to get the kids engaged in seed planting in our garden.

It was a fun time, with adults discussing vegetables, composting, berry bushes, and the ins and outs of forming a cooperative. 

Everybody stepped up to the subject matter differently.  Some shared their experience with a church-based community garden.  Others discussed the challenges of growing vegetables on a shady, urban lot. 

But, not everyone approached the topics intellectually.  

Xavier dove right in with two little spades, turning over dirt in what will eventually serve as a bed for pole beans.  With gusto, he transferred soil to his face, his hair, and a nearby pot.

Sebastian in the garden above
Xavier appears in the banner photo

His older brother, Sebastian, took up the seeding challenge forthrightly.  

Thanks to him, we’ve now got alternating rows of beets and radishes in the ground.  We’ll invite him back to see the progressions from seedlings to full-sized plants to the harvest.  So, for this spring, this bed is Sebastian’s piece of work.

Gardening gets us all closer to the living world under our feet.  

The more we touch, the more we see - the plants, the twigs, the bugs, the molds, and animal tracks. The more we’re aware of this teeming, wriggling, micro-world on which we stride, the more we grasp how much we are part of it.

Guest blogger Richard S. Kordesh is the author of Restoring Power to Parents and Places and has worked professionally in the community development field for 35 years. Visit Richard's website for more.