A friend of mine once analogized Jesus/God to Nature. Among the examples of comparison were the providing for our needs and the unending forgiveness.
Nature is very forgiving. There are rules when growing plants, and there are ways to do things to optimize the chance for success in our growing, but Nature will forgive us often if we try.
Our gardens are in quite a state of disrepair at the moment. A far cry from the hope and dream, and even a far cry from what they were a couple of years ago. We just haven't had the time or resources to match our goals. So...make smaller goals for now. Today was the first day this season that I was able to make it out to the herb garden to weed. It's not that it wasn't in desperate need of weeding oh...say..a month ago, but I decided to create new, smaller gardens, just for beauty's sake and start over that way.
A lot of the plants did not survive, and we had the disease problem at the end of last season that never got corrected, but there were a fair amount of plants still striving to thrive and I intended to save what part of them I could. So today I trekked out there, a little apprehensive, but I was pleasantly surprised. A lot of the plants looked healthy. Granted, we still have lost a lot, but a funny thing happened with the early spring weeds...
I love chickweed. It's one of my new favorite plants. I suspected that it was useful in this way last year, but now I'm convinced. Chickweed had completely overrun our garden, especially in the first row of Oregano and Mint. A month ago it looked horribly intertwined with the herbs that were assigned to their spots. Today, however, all the chickweed was dead, brown and dry, having run its life cycle and although the husks were still there, the remaining herbs were green and healthy. So basically it was just a matter of going through and picking out all the dead chickweed. But here's another great thing about chickweed: even when it is still alive, it's very friendly. It grows from a central root, in many different directions, and is easily uprooted when pulled on. So not only can you clear a big section with one tug, but while it's doing its growing and covering and intertwining, no other weeds can grow there. This is key. Our biggest weed problems are from crab grass and Johnson grass. These horrible critters spread and invade and are not at all easy to uproot. But where the chickweed grows, the grasses do not! Calloo Calay!!!
As I knelt in the garden, weeding away today, I was every grateful for the chickweed. If I had cleared it a month ago, I'd be out again now trying to pull out the horrid grasses, but I didn't have time a month ago. I've been trying very hard to do things in tune with the moon signs and cycles and planting new seeds and flowers and things. And I had to have faith that I'd be able to save some of our herbs in due time. I've reread the previous blog entry and realized it's from about a year ago, same time in the season, and very much written in the same tone...Gratitude. For the grace of Nature, for the forgiveness of Nature, for the peace and strength of faith.
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