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Cultivating the Spirit

March 26th, 2011

As I was looking through my photos of last summer this past week, I came upon this image. This is my hat on the fence around the vegetable garden that my mom and I share in her yard. I really love it because it perfectly visualizes what gardening is, at least to me.

Gardening isn’t just about cultivating food or flowers, it’s more about cultivating your spirit along with a deep sense of appreciation for soil, plants, and the earth.

What is gardening to you? Have you learned anything through your gardening?

12 Comments to “Cultivating the Spirit”
  1. KimH on March 26, 2011 at 8:44 am

    Its absolutely about cultivating Spirit to me as well..I learned to garden as a child and loved it.. and then again started doing one on my own when I was 23.. Its always been a source of quiet, of knowledge, of getting to the base of who I am and who I can be.. My spirit thrives when time is spent tending to Gods bounty.. for me, its totally a soulful experience.

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  2. Andrea on March 26, 2011 at 9:03 am

    My feelings are the same as yours and the above poster. I often say that gardening is my therapy.

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  3. Melissa on March 26, 2011 at 9:04 am

    I love that you and your mom share a garden. I wish I lived closer to mine b/c I know she would love it!

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    • Susy on March 26, 2011 at 12:33 pm

      It is nice, my mom doesn’t live super close (she’s an hour away), but I head over once a week during spring/summer/fall for gardening. One of the main reasons we share a garden is because she has lovely soil and full sun, two things I lack here at Chiot’s Run!

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  4. Nebraska Dave on March 26, 2011 at 9:38 am

    The garden is a place of rest, relaxation, meditation, exercise, connection with nature, and accomplishment. When my mood is up, I go to the garden. When my mood is down, I go to the garden. When I’m filled with joy, I go to the garden. When I’m filled with sadness, I go to the garden. When I need an answer for life’s problems, I go to the garden. When life issues overcame me and I gave up the garden for several decades, I didn’t realize how much I missed having a garden until I started having one again. I hope there’s never a time when I have to give it up again.

    Have a great day in the garden.

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  5. Amy on March 26, 2011 at 11:24 am

    I love that photo! It seems so serene!

    To me, gardening is peace, birdsong, and experimentation. My soul is itching to garden already, even though it’s still generally topping out in the chilly, drizzly low 50s here where I live (Western WA). I can’t wait to get my feet into warm, bare dirt!

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  6. Brittany P. on March 26, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    My garden is a place where I feel closer to God and I can never help thinking of the beauty and bounty he has given us when I am in my garden looking at every perfectly formed flower and every nourishing vegetabe or fruit that he put there just for us. God’s gifts to man are many and are all around us…just look in your garden.

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  7. Teri @ Love From the Farm on March 26, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    I love your sentiments and agree completely. I love listening to the birdsongs (as a previous poster mentioned) and smelling the earth when I’m in the garden. So often I feel/remember my Grandma Potts in the garden with me, and it soothes and enriches my spirit. Thanks for prompting us to think about this!

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  8. Marcia on March 26, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    To me, gardening is like communion with nature. It is a lesson in patience and humility. It reminds me of my place in this world. There is no hurrying this process, there is no fast track, no short cuts, no buy outs. Just the earth turning at exactly the speed it is made to, the seeds taking the time they need to germinate, to grow into plants, to flower, to produce,to ripen. It is you that needs to slow down to find your place in this natural flowing of life.

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  9. Barbara on March 26, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Gardening is a chance to get back in step with Mother Nature on her terms, the good as well as the bad. It’s also a chance to simply enjoy outdoor life with my kids, pets, and chickens. :D

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  10. MAYBELLINE on March 26, 2011 at 6:31 pm

    Patience. Self reliance. Team work. Independence. Dependence.

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  11. Jaye Whitney on March 26, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    Well, I thought I learned patience from my children, but I was wrong :) Of course, gardening is a peaceful patience!

    More importantly, I’ve learned to dream a little. I’ve never been a big dreamer, but with my garden, I go all out. Dream of the tiniest details to the bigger things; already I’m thinking of next year, things I’ll change or add.

    So through gardening, I’ve developed a new characteristic or personality enhancement if you will. It’s one of the best things I do for myself.

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About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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