The Garden

We finally found time this weekend to plant the garden. Today Amy, Chris, and the girls came over to plant the vegetables. Enjoy the slide show! The garden is normally Emily's domain. She is defiantly the green thumb in this family, but with the baby, she couldn't do the rototilling. This is the first time I've rototilled since I was a kid helping with my grandmother's garden. Preparing the garden for planting each year can be a daunting task, but I understand why Emily enjoys it so much. After tilling my first agonizing row of arid dirt, I was dreading the task. However, I knew how much it meant to Emily, so I decided to keep a positive outlook and finish the job. I tried to "woman-handle" the machine and make it plow deep into the soil for the first few rows, but I quickly found out that I neither had the stamina or that patience for this method. So I decided the first lap around the garden would be to break up the outer crust. The second passage I was able to dig deeper into the soil breaking the dirt into more manageable clumps. I also learned not to try and overpower the tiller, let the machine do the work. I was just there to guide it's path. By the third pass tilling the soil was easy - almost meditative. I had an great sense of pride to see that I had turned a desert into fertile ground that would soon nourish our friends and families. Many times in life we are handed what seems like an overwhelming task, but if we change our attitude about the situation we can often find the best in difficult tasks. I learned a lot about life yesterday during my four hours tilling, and I loved every minute of it (even after all my aching body parts today). Will I be the one to roto-till the garden next year. No, this is Emily's domain, and I don't want to take away something she enjoys so much, but I did take away a very valuable life lesson. I've spent the last few years of my life preparing my own garden of life. The seeds have been planted and carefully watered. Now - is the time in my life when my garden will grow and flourish.