As we plan our gardens and dream of abundance to come, our hungry imaginations are easily fed by age-old questions: What do I want to grow? If I want 40 quarts of tomato sauce, how many tomatoes do I need to plant? How do I prevent disease? And keep out the rabbits?
Perhaps there is another way to begin.
What if we focused our efforts and energy on not only the logistics of how to grow a garden, but also on the questions of why, with whom, and for whom?
Gardens grow us more than we grow them, so here are a smattering of questions we offer in our Gift of Seed gatherings to sow more fruitful futures for us all:
What will I plant this season for pollinators? As habitat? As food?
What will I plant this season for children? For my inner child? For our children’s children’s children?
What will I plant this season for winter nourishment for my friends and family? For people I don’t yet know? For people I may never know?
What will I plant this season for a friend who isn’t able to garden this season?
Knowing food is medicine and we all are medicine for a world so deeply in need, what will I plant this season for medicine?
What will I plant this season to explore and honor my cultural heritage?
What will I plant this season that will challenge me? Who can I lean on, knowing we don’t have to do hard things alone?
What will I plant this season to savor in August?
What will I plant this season and learn to save seeds of?
What will I plant this season for those grieving in my community?
What will I plant this season in remembrance of a loved one?
What will I plant this season to gift our local seed library?
What will I plant this season for yourself, unapologetically?
Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,
and the Many Possibilities of Fruition
