Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012

Here’s a great quote by Richardson Wright.  “Until a man has known the rhythm of spading, he knows not gardening.  It is the first essential.  All other acts that gardening entails cannot compare with this one simple process in profound necessity.  Profound because it is changeless and simple as all time-aged customs come to be….”

My maternal grandmother was an amazing gardener!   She worked her gardens till they produced breathtaking displays of peace and tranquility that inspired and invoked a deep sense of contentment.  Her gardens were featured in Sunset and also Better Homes and Gardens magazines. 

To my grandmother, gardening wasn’t work.  It was a passion.  A deep-rooted joy that filled her with a feeling of accomplishment.  Once her work was done, she was able to sit back and reap the benefits of her labors, gazing out over an expanse of incredible plants that overflowed with life.  Vitality.  Promise.  Fulfillment. 

Though this grandmother and I always lived on opposite coasts, her on the east, me on the west, her passion for gardening was passed onto me.  Ingrained so deeply within the fibers of my being that to not garden has always felt like a slow death.  There’s just something about working the land to its potential.  Creating beauty from something that didn’t originally exist. 

Whenever I’m swinging a pick ax, leveraging with a pry bar, tilling with a hoe, shoveling dirt or pruning overgrown plants, my spirit soars.  The feel of dirt on my hands or under my knees as I kneel is comforting.  And, just as my grandmother knew and Richardson Wright’s above-mentioned quote so eloquently stated, it all beings with the essential first step if spading.  Just as spading is the essential building block to a healthy garden, a strong life foundation relies upon the same simple processes of preparations manifesting a solid foundation upon which more can be built.