Ambling out to the kitchen in the summer mornings, I grab my cup of coffee and gaze out the back door’s window to our garden. As the aroma from my drink drifts up and I suppress a yawn, the birds are already flitting around. They jump in the hedges, moving their branches, and chirp at each other. I sip and look towards the raised beds to see if there are any dots of red among the green to tell me that a tomato is ripe.
It’s the small moments of appreciation that make gardening magical. It’s turning yourself outward towards nature, instead of focusing on the mundane worries of modern day life. Appreciating the little things is as easy as a glance out the window to check in on something that you are cultivating. In a world that doesn’t seem to care, taking time and attention to care for a garden makes having one that much more important.
My partner and I moved into the bottom floor of a row house in January and have been working to improve our postage stamp of a backyard and patio into a something we can be proud of. Some of the benefits of gardening are pretty obvious. Improved physical health with all the raking, weeding, and trimming. Improved mental health with the mood boost from sunlight exposure and the sense of wonder that comes from a seed sprouting.
The other benefits are less obvious. I’m new to Bethlehem but having a garden has given me a better sense of community. Even if it’s just my partner and I walking around and pointing out the other vegetable gardens we see and commenting on how their plants are doing. In the Pink Apartment, I did some weeding and maintaining but never any real gardening or planting. This time, we plan to stay and that makes the work seem worth it. Although, I think if we weren’t staying, now I know the benefits outweigh the potential temporary-ness.
We created an environment we wanted to be in. Surrounded by the fruits (sometimes literally!) of our labors, there is immense pride in sitting outside knowing how much work you put into something to make it beautiful. It beacons us to be outside over and over. When we nurture nature, we nurture ourselves.
My mom and my grandmothers have instilled in me a love of gardening and are experts in canning and preserving. Lee is amazing at pickling while I’m amazing at freezing things. And all those empty jars used over the winter months? They make perfect little greenhouses for sprouting seeds and keeping the squirrels from digging up their young growth. This is a trick I discovered late but will definitely be using next year.
Gardening our own produce means we were eating healthier. We had many, many meals with tomatoes and/or cucumbers. My body craves the fresh, juicy vegetables when the sun is hot overhead. Eating in tune with the seasons is inherently sustainable too. By having a garden, we cut down on trips to the grocery store and reduced the amount of packaging we’re bringing home. The plants and hedges provide homes for pollinators and their friends, boosting the eco system even in a suburban area. By composting, we eliminated produce from going to the landfill and will have rich soil for whatever we grow next year.
My cottagecore self is happy to be practicing homesteading roots, things that women have been practicing for centuries. It has expanded to other areas of my home too as I make pizza from scratch and go thrifting over buying something new. Gardening and creating homemade goods has eased me back into the low waste practices I started when I launched this blog. It’s another reminder to slow down.
As I bring in the hanging planter and cactus inside after a summer spent luxuriating in the summer sun, I feel more in tune with the change of seasons and have an appreciation for the rest and reflection period that winter provides. Even as this garden season comes to a close, we are already planning what we will do for our garden next year. And maybe that’s part of the magic—dreaming of what will come, imagining the sunshine as the cold wind swells around hibernating roots and chills you to your bones.
Happy Gardening-
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