3 Things I Want to get out of Gardening

3 Things I Want to get out of Gardening 06/19/2009

I'm planning to use part of my backyard for a small garden.

I'm still in the planning stages, so it may or may not happen- but so far I have this idea that it will make me appreciate where my food comes from and maybe even teach me a thing or two about farming. I'd really like to get three specific things out of this garden.

1. I'd like some food.
Since I'm going to be planting a veggie garden rather than a flower garden, I'd really like to be able to eat some of the vegetables that grow in it. I need to eat more veggies anyhow, so this will be a good opportunity to get moving in that direction. Especially since I might actually feel more obligated to eat the things that I grew myself and worked over.

2. I'd like to learn about rhythm.
I don't mean musical rhythm, of course. What I mean is that for much of the world's history, people were primarily agrarian rather than industrial. The rhythm of creation came with the rain and the seasons. Their lives were tied to the harvest and the planting of new grain and I think that particular cycle of growing things helped shape a paradigm within them that's different that what I experience as an American consumer who is only governed by the alarm clock. I wonder if part of the disconnect I feel from the rest of history as a post-industrial human might be remedied by undertaking some of the traditions that are common to man, like growing my own food. I'd like to think that being able to understand how farming works might also help me understand the rhythms of life that humans have lived within since their Formation.

3. I'd like to get outside more.
I was reading Richard Dalhstrom's book 02 a few months ago and he hit on something grand that I'll never forget- He wrote that in order for us to really understand God, we need to be interacting with the things that God has made rather than just the things that man has made. As much as our cars, homes, streets, books, computers, iPhones, and clothing are great things that show off the creativity of man- Nature is even more of a show, displaying the wonder of God's creation. I don't get to spend much time in God's creation as a trainer, so I'm hoping that planting a garden will get me out in the backyard with the trees and the grass rather than sitting around with the XBOX on the weekends.

Comments

Dana link

06/19/2009 07:47

Planting a garden is always a good idea. Please try to keep in mind that the time of year and climate in which you plant various things is quite important. It's actually too late to plant anything here since some veggie crops are already being harvested. Good luck, though!

Mom

06/19/2009 10:24

Interesting thoughts. Actually, similar to some I had last week while trimming the Crepe Myrtle tree.

Jeff link

06/20/2009 13:13

I'm no gardener, but I'm absolutely with the stuff about the rhythmn of nature. Whenever I go camping, I notice that, on even a day-to-day basis, because of our roofs and electrical lights we impose a very unnatural rythmn on our days. There's something inherently good about beginning your day around sun up and winding it down around sun down.
Leaving fields fields fallow is also so... emblamatic of the ways we're meant to live our lives. The whole sabattical thing, it's kind of fascinating how it's sort of a fractal: On any time frame we look at, we're called to rest for about one 7th of the time.
On a moment-to-moment level, we're called to be still and remember that God is God. On a weekly level we're called to take a sabbath for a whole day, On a month-to-month basis God called the Israelis to take regularly scheduled holidays, there are special expectations for every seventh year and after the seventh grouping of these seven year intervals (i.e. every 50 years)

Joanna

06/20/2009 18:31

Not too late to plan a fall garden though! :)
Have fun!

Nathan Key

Husband, Father, Thinker.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Follow Me

Nathan Recommends