Friends, ten years this week Matthew and I (hi, Petra here!) signed our LLC papers, bringing Fruition to (legal) life. wooHooOOoooOoooo! We’d been actively planning Fruition for nearly one year and I had been dreaming for 7 years prior. It’s been more beautiful and challenging than ever would have dreamed.

As we tumble headlong into a new day, a new year and new decade of existence, we are grateful. Thrilled! Exhausted. Enlivened by so many relationships burgeoning, blossoming, fruiting, spreading seeds on the breeze! Broken-hearted that so many relationships have been singed, burdened and burned. Above all, we feel so surrounded by an immense and incredible community constantly showering us with thanks and praise as well as helping us do and be better. My mother loves to say, ‘it’s always nice to feel relevant!’ and Friends, thank you for helping us never doubt our relevance — our capacity to give and receive love —  in this world. 

Stepping back, Matthew and I were brilliant, committed and naive enough to bring Fruition to life — and Friends, enough naivety remains that we dare to hope that we can yet adapt and become as fruitful as the seeds we sow, our greatest teachers. 

We believe ‘hope’ is a verb and in this spirit, we’d love to share 10 reflections — 3 affirmations, 3 gratitudes, 3 intentions and 1 invitation — to send us off into the seasons unfolding, that we all might surround each other with the beauty and abundance that is life itself. For years sharing 1 affirmation, 1 gratitude and 1 intention has been how Matthew and I begin and end our days, a tradition learned from our dear Friend Emily Mae Taylor. So glad you’ve joined us! Here we go:

3 Affirmations

 ~ Takes A Village ~

…to raise and child and a seed company, never doubt! Though there are only two signatures on Fruition’s LLC papers, there are countless people to thank for our ability to even sign those papers and our continuing capacity to show up daily, rain or shine. In the fields, in our kitchen, in our community, in the world: we are indebted most joyfully to countless oceans of humxns. If you’re reading this, that includes YOU! We affirm, endlessly, that we are because you are, as adrienne maree brown so beautifully reminded us recently.

 ~  Gardens Grow Us More Than We Grow Them ~

Last spring, as we were sowing seeds of tomatoes, peanuts, zinnias and so many other seeds for the ninth time on this land — the ninth generation of these beautiful adaptive beings co-adapting with this land, with us, with us all — we realized that centering human generations on land is such silliness. When people ask if we have children, Matthew and I say, ‘yes! and great-great-great grandchildren! who grow us more than we grow them.’ Friends, as we move into our tenth year growing seeds on this land, we affirm this land, these seeds and all generations of all species yet to come are the center of Fruition Seeds and we are but a small part.

~  ‘The Best Way to Know About a Problem is to be Part of the Problem’ ~

 …is one of the most humbling quotes of Anand Giridharadas and Friends, here is a humbling facet of our lives: One decade ago we felt there was no better way to share our love of the world with the world we loved than with the growing and sharing of seeds we love. We now see we are brilliant anti-capitalist capitalists and our hearts break for the ways we benefit from and perpetuate systems of oppression. Daily. As Rowen White so humbly reminds us, seed companies didn’t exist 150 years ago and if we do our work well, in 150 years they won’t need to exist. We affirm that we can hold oppositional truths — we do great good as well as great harm — and even as we know we are enough and are doing enough, we embrace and delight as well as commit that we can always be better and do better. 

3 Gratitudes

 ~ YOU: Reciprocity & Loving Accountability in Community! ~

Friends, thank you for reminding us daily that all flourishing is mutual, as Robin Wall Kimmerer says. We are so grateful to give and receive so profoundly in this community, our Fruition Family, and for our extended networks of Friends and Family who support us all in little ways and large. When we drop balls (there aren’t enough seeds in this packet! you sent the wrong zoom link! this name is appropriative!), we are consistently in awe of the loving accountability our community surrounds us with and Friends, we’ll spend the rest of our lives finding ways to thank you.

 ~ Seeds: Our 400 Million-Year-Old Mentors & Kin~

We are so grateful for seeds — our 400 million-year-old elders, mentors and kin — who live daily the joy, courage and necessity of knowing where and when to germinate. Of opening up, of shaking off a seed coat that no longer serves. Of sending down roots, of sending up shoots, of bending in the breeze, of being in relationship with a thousand thousand beings, animate and (deceptively) inanimate all around. Of the beauty, the challenge, the dance of adapting. In the first decade of Fruition Seeds, we’ve grown in the wettest year on record (in our county) as well as the driest, the warmest as well as the coldest. As atmospheric and cultural climates change, we’re grateful for the seeds that continue to germinate even in seasons of despair: May we do the same.

 ~ The Fact of Compost ~

Compost — the rich earth crumbling in our hands — comes from the chaff, the spent vines, the forgotten, rotten parts of our gardens. And ourselves! Compost, like growth, like grief, like all shape-shifting beings, is the gift of transformation. What would we love to transform in ourselves? Our organizations? Our world? What can we let go of? How can we ‘turn’ the pile, both individually and collectively? We are so grateful for compost, as material and as metaphor, for helping us do the work of releasing shame and other sludge (!) that we may be more beneficial in the world.

3 Intentions

 ~ There’s Always More to Learn & Share ~

One of our ‘north star stories’ is the Chinese proverb sharing (approximately!), ‘give a person a fish, feed them for a day; teach them to fish, feed them for a lifetime.’ In this spirit, we love to share both seeds as well as insight and inspiration and Friends, we’re always learning — often the hard way! — and as we step into the next decade of Fruition Seeds, we intend to learn more and share more, both in person and online, cultivating community in ways that sparks connection, grows fruit as well as movements and centers seeds, stories, lush growth and deep care.

 ~ Celebrate Remembrance, Imagination & (agri)Culture ~

Gardens are an invitation to cultivate so much more than carrots, so much more than calories. We step into our next decade accompanied by questions, curiosity, a hunger for deeper connection, abundance and justice for all, committed to remembering and re-imagining a culture where all flourishing is mutual. And yes, this includes more songs! And more poems! What makes you come alive? We are endlessly in awe of the work of so many folx, especially the insight and capacity of A Growing Culture, Soul Fire Farm and the Finding Our Way podcast.

 ~ Iteration is Love (& Iterate We Shall)! ~

The comedic beauty of Fruition is that we are always ‘coming to fruition,’ always growing, always decomposing, always becoming. Growth is not linear and not always upward! And pruning, letting go and compost  is essential. In this constant adaptation and becoming, we are committed to finding yet deeper ways to bring to life the wisdom that All Flourishing is Mutual. Iteration is Love! And iterate we shall ~

An Invitation!

 ~ Let Us Celebrate You on Your Birthday! ~

Whether you love birthdays or wish they would go away, we’ve made a special gift to tuck in your inbox on your birthday, especially if you love silly songs and four-part harmonies! And if you don’t love such things, we love you anyhow & many happy returns of the day!

If you haven’t already shared your birth date with Fruition below, we’re entirely delighted you were born and thanks for letting us celebrate you!

Join the

Fruition Family!

Our weekly organic gardening emails share seasonal inspiration as well as insight; share your birth month & day to receive a four-part harmony birthday greeting from our gardens!

~When you join us, check your inbox for your welcome & access info! Stay tuned for our weekly organic gardening tips & inspiration, as well~

Thank you (yes YOU!) for being you and being why we do what we do!

As we grow into the next decade of Fruition, we’re honored to have you by our sides <3

Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,

& the whole Fruition crew