Spring has been sprunging for a while now, freeing the earth from the frost that has held it in restful dormancy. Lengthening days have erased all remnants of Winter’s grasp. Louder and louder still, rising in our hearts is the call that we can avoid no longer.

It’s time to roll windows down and crank up tunes as we accompany the mighty river downstream, embraced by banks of fresh foliage, and immerse ourselves in surrounding farm country. Time to once again toil under the open skies, steward the land and relish the effects of persevering labor and patience. It’s finally time to get our hands dirty.

Hello, Garden!

Those wonderful friends of ours have already left marks of their mindful planning and productivity for this new season. Freshly planted flowers cheerily grace pots and pathways. Baby broccoli is growing strong, snug in straw under homemade ‘broccoli hotels’. Dainty rows of tiny lettuce dot a garden bed while the tops of their onion neighbors stand at attention in long, proud lines. A cabbage patch minds its own business, new strawberry plants bask in the sun and, promising a future of mouthwatering recipes, the teeniest rhubarb I’ve ever seen has taken root.

We peruse through some sprouting somethings, wondering whether they are weeds or the zinnias and basil that have been sowed. Time will tell. So, for now we leave well enough alone and get to work.

No job is insignificant over here. It’s just like everything else. All parts connect and correlate; rhymes and rhythms follow the set design of our omnipotent Creator. Purposeful strategizing and proper tending are requirements if there is to be harmony and success. And it’s our dutiful privilege to be the faithful and upright stewards of it all.

Picking weeds. Spacing holes. Sowing seeds. Pounding posts.

And so much more!

Engaging our minds, exercising our bodies, harnessing our talents, helping one another, building endurance and encouraging merriment along the way… we are now leaving our own marks of labor in and around the garden. The already present produce is now accompanied by many new veggie friends. An area for future taters lies under the invigorating blanket of raked manure and compost. Chopped, trimmed and cleared away are random, unneeded things. Support cages are upright and ready. Armfuls of love envelop the cats, and no one can resist visiting the cow and indulging him with a favored treat.

Feeling the sun on our faces and cool dirt on our hands, we breathe in deeply and enjoy the chatters of nature; continuing this artful, learn-from-the-past, experiment-for-the-present process of gardening.

It can only leave us happy. Perhaps tired. Probably sore in muscles we forgot we have. But ultimately happy. We are gratefully overjoyed to be back!