It is at once a very brave, and a very simple thing- entrusting a seed into the earth.
It feels strangely removed from the stack of gardening books on my desk, each waxing intricate about companionate planting, crop rotations, double digging, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, annual last frost dates, and vermicomposting. It's as if all of that book learning doesn't belong near the soil at all.
When you strip away all of the techniques and tips- the best ways to stake a tomato, the
flowers guaranteed to detract slugs and aphids, the organic materials that will ensure your beans
flourish, the correct way to manually pollinate corn, and the pros and cons of chitting potato seed- when you set all of that aside and get down to the actual business of being outside...
Well, then it gets a whole lot simpler.
Turn the earth.
Dig a hole.
Place a seed.
Add water.
Trust.
A 3 year old could explain it. Hell, a three year old did explain it to me, adding the sage advice that "it helps if you pull the weeds."
And I wonder, now that I'm pretty well finished with the process of planting, why I have to complicate it. Why we all have to complicate it. Why can't any of us just trust?
It really is ridiculously simple. Nature does all the work.
I love the planning. Don't get me wrong. I love the research, and it's not going to stop any time soon. Not until I get a major personality change, and while I'm not sure how those are running right now I'm fairly certain it's more then I can afford.
But I think the part I love best is when the research all falls away, and I get to finally get my hands dirty (literally).
What I love best is the simplicity of it.
And I think the part that's hardest for me, is the bravery of it.
The trust.
And #240...it has to be Trust.
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# 226. Zoo's
#227. A child's wonder in the simplest things.
#228. Baths.
#229. Icecream.
#230. Weather finally catching up to the season.
#231. A baby's newfound appetite for books.
#232. Iced tea.
#233. Newly mown grass.
#234. Sunlight on golden curls.
#235. Milestones conquered.
#236. My every-other-yearly night out clubbing. To remind me that I dont actually enjoy clubbing.
#237. Kind strangers.
#238. This guys smile.
#239. Phone calls.
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