In my past life I must have been a gardener. In the spring, it’s all I think about. I spend days going around my small yard and envisioning what flowers I can plant, looking for the plants didn’t make it through the harsh winter and trying to figure out why, deciding if I should try something new or stick to all of my favorites, always planting something for the rabbits to eat, and playing close attention to the sun and the shadows and shade to make the most of the space and to give the flowers the best chance at survival and blooming. Some flowers I buy in little bitty containers, some I buy in quarts and some even larger. Yet it doesn’t really matter the size of the container, as every single plant starts the same. They all start with a seed.
When we really think about it, doesn’t pretty much everything, start with a seed? I mean, trees start with a seed, so the wood we use to build houses, the decks we sit out on in the early morning or late afternoon, and fences we use for protection all can be said to start with a seed. The food we eat, like corn, wheat, fruits (grown on trees that start with a seed), vegetables, and all kids of herbs and plants all start with a seed. Cows and chickens and pigs all eat grain that starts with a seed. Wild animals all eat some kind of plants or vegetation that all, at some point, begins with a seed. And now that I think about it, many cosmetics you put on your face & body & in your hair all come from plants and all of those plants begin with a seed. And all of the oils that go into food and cosmetics are derived from vegetables or plants and they all begin with a seed. So basically, all of our basic needs, all start with a seed.
Maybe we should be more grateful for things as small as a seed. For they can turn into pretty great big things. Things that sustain and protect and shelter us. Thoreau got it right. We should all have great faith in a seed.
Buy a pack of seeds and go plant them this spring. And let the wonder, begin.
With love from Grand Haven,
Julie