Here in my home among this little haven oak grove, I have tried to grow many things. I began planting a vegetable garden four years ago, after years of dreaming, planning and inspiration resulting from gazing at beautiful, lush, pristine gardens in Martha Stewart and Sunset magazines. I pictured myself harvesting beautiful baskets of perfect veggies....
Year one deer razed four garden boxes clean to the ground overnight. Year two, after putting up deer fencing and feeling quite secure, gophers, squirrels, and then finally horribly ugly tomato worms consumed most of the fruit.....
Year three, with the help of a shotgun-no worries, the deer are always safe here- I thought things were under control, until I found chipmunks had stolen most of my prized tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. I won’t mention how I dealt with them…..This year four, I have used every strategy gained to protect my fruits and veggies, only to find locusts have consumed all my lettuce, spinach, and ground squirrels have eaten through all mesh coverings and grabbed half my tomatoes! Instead of baskets of glorious veggies, I harvest just a few. But I tell you, my family enjoys every morsel from the garden. They know how hard I have worked out there.....
Some days, I am really angry, as I imagine I am tending and watering just to feed some nasty villain who will come snatch all my hard work away. But I will not give up! My next approach will be a greenhouse where I can shut and lock out all those predators! Last summer as I ventured out to garden in the early morning light, I found a huge rattler trapped in some mesh-a very hopeful visual for the here and now, and a foreshadowing of its ultimate future demise. Ha!
I’m sure you guessed early on my garden has come to represent so much more to me. And I’m sure I will one day have loads of fruits and veggies as I will persist and use all knowledge gained. I even have the “seemingly” ridiculous notion I will one day soon have enough harvest to share with friends and family, and even open a produce stand and nursery. Beyond the trouble and dissapointment, I can’t get enough of the way the damp earth smells, the excitement of those first true leaves springing up from seed, the appearance of the first fruits, and of contemplating life and the things I have sown and nurtured and those things I have been given charge over, as I plant, tend and water. Some have borne immediate fruit and victory, some things I’ve needed to start over or change, and some I’ve been watching for a very long time-waiting for the first true leaves to show. But in all I will not give up planting and nurturing, protecting, persisting and pressing on forward in hope for the future!
Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
