3 Things I Want to get out of Gardening

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.