“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.” – Wendell Berry

Gardening is something I really love to do.  Although it is a hobby requiring labor, it is a lot less work now that we're several years into the "Back to Eden" Gardening method.  I look forward to planting things in the ground and watching the miracle of life bursting forth in germination from a 'dead' seed.

One of the things that is rewarding is the redemptive nature of it.  The garden, at one time, was in what formerly was a rice field and pasture land.  The soil was hard and compacted with no earthworms and not much organic matter.  Over years of amending the soil, it has changed.  It is teeming with earthworms, beneficial bacteria, and is healthy.  I often joke that I could never sell our 5 acres and move unless I could take the soil with us since we've worked so hard in building it!

Another rewarding aspect of gardening is the satisfaction of growing most of your own food.    We enjoy looking down at our plates at supper most nights and knowing that everything on our plates and cup was raised right here on the land.  It is fresh, good and delicious.  It is tempting, at times, to say, "We are eating like kings.  Look what we did."  But here's the other thing:

Gardening can be extremely humbling!  One year you might have a bumper crop and run out of room to store everything you grew.  You are tempted to think you've got it all figured out.  And then the next year, you do the exact same thing and experience crop failure.  This year the garden looked fantastic!  And then we got almost a foot of rain in a few days and it sickened half of our peppers, tomatoes and green beans.  A hurricane, an early freeze, a torrential downpour, a plague of stink bugs or worm, or a thunderstorm can ruin a perfectly good crop.

Gardening teaches persistence, a love for the land, and a healthy respect for the Creator.  What's in your garden?  What are you learning from your gardening experiences?