Gardening, Weeds, and Life

One benefit of gardening: It reminds you of your connection to the natural world and your dependence on nature. Sure, I could walk into the grocery store and buy whatever I need, but growing my own food reminds me of the natural order of things - and has helped me empathize with farmers a lot more! Last week, West Sacramento was hit by a hail storm which left significant damage to our still-young plants. Check out this sad spinach :

And these hole-ridden green bean plants:

My hope is that, since the plants are still young, that they will eventually recover. But hail isn't the only problem we're encountering. Because we failed to mulch initially or put down plastic or anything to prevent weed growth, our naturally weed-prone plot is already overgrown with grass. If grass were edible, we'd be all set to feed ourselves, but sadly the weeds only compete with our plants for nutrients and sunlight. So every weekend we're out there pulling weeds.

Still, the fact that anything is growing at all is a huge encouragement compared with years past.
(Lettuce is above and baby carrots are below.)

After harvesting radishes and fresh butter lettuce for a big salad for Sunday night dinner, my dad made an interesting comment. "That was growing out there? How come all I see in the garden is weeds?" It made me think about perspective and life and how we see what we look for, what we focus on, either in a garden or in life. If we focus on the negative things, we may miss out on the beautiful, delicious elements that make it all worthwhile.