Having your own garden is truly one of Gaia's great gifts. I know, I know, the whole wild world is Gaia's garden, and I'm a HUGE fan of wild foods, and wild medicinal plants. They can't be topped really, and if i had my druthers, all my food would be wild. But alas, i live in the city, and i am too busy to wander the hillsides finding food and hunting....so i grow a little garden down the street at the community gardens.
I recieved a small plot in march, and began working it at the beginning of april. Many weeks i waited while little seedlings were growing and stretching their arms to the warm sun, that has transformed the frozen Rockies into a burgeoning bliss of wildflower profusion.
I'm really a novice gardener, almost all my medicine plants I wildcrafted in the past, or grew in pots on my patio in Arizona, but last year, my love taught me some things about having a garden, and now i feel somewhat more confident that i can grow a few things in the dirt. Even in Arizona we had an amazingly successful garden.
SInce I planted early in April, I went with cool season crops that would be hardy to frost, but it seems now i should be planting summer veggies, and i'm not ready yet.
Oh what a treat to eat the fresh spring greens straight from the dirt...mizuna, lettuces, kale, chard, radishes and soon, peas, beans, daikons, bok choy and carrots!
There's nothing like seeing seeds you put in the ground, grow, and then nourish yourself with the plant that you so lovingly nourished into life, with your love and attention, and of course, the great nourishment provided by Mama Earth, in her dirt, rains, and sunshine. It's a big gifting cycle, of love, attention, nourishment and labor...gardens are not without labor. I spent several hours just weeding away the grasses that are encroaching on my plants and threatening to outcompete. some see gardening as a constant war on the weeds, but the best part of weeding is, you can eat your weeds too! I pull up amaranth, lambsquaters, purslane and mallow all which come home to my table!
There's a volunteer catnip, hyssop, rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme , parsley, cilantro, onions, garlic, marshmallow, tulsi, globe basil, and hopefully wood betony and monarda. calendula too is popping up!
Oh and it does feel so good to sit yourself down in the dirt, and be outside in the sunshine and fresh air, and tending to your plants, nourishing the food that will nourish you in weeks and seasons to come.
Truly a gift.
mizuna, lettuce and kale