Digging deeper

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little patch of freshly-tilled ground. The tiller thought it would be "okay" (albeit a tad misguided) to just turn the ground over and get to planting. Big rocks were removed, visible weeds taken to the compost pile, but that little patch of ground just looked so pretty there all mounded into neat rows. The little seedlings that were planted there a few days later did well for a little while, until the storm came. Rain filled the rows; inch after inch of torrential downpour pounded the fragile little plants and saturated the earth so much that the soil could hold no more ... yet it continued to rain. The puddles took days to dry; the soil cracked. Some of the little seedlings were uprooted by the stream that seemed to flow through the garden; still others were beaten so badly that they were nearly buried.

Storm after storm, the season continued on, and the little plants desperately tried to hold on and grow. One day, in the middle of a harsh thunderstorm, a powerful straight-line wind blew part of the fence onto the little garden and crushed most of the plants. Again, it took days for the puddles to dry enough for the gardener to remove the huge debris from the mud.

The gardener lost hope for a while, thinking that most of the little plants were far beyond help. There was no trace of life anywhere in the garden except for the new crop of weeds that had sprung up. Thinking it was just not worth bothering with, the gardener just watched the weeds grow, vowing to find a new patch of ground--one with more sun, less possibility of being crushed by large items around it, and closer to water sources. Yet one day, amid the weeds, little heads of lettuce emerged--then grew and eventually filled the gardener's plate with a beautiful salad! Two tiny little tomato plants sprung up from the battered ground, and one poor little okra plant hung on for dear life. Life emerged even though it seemed like there was no hope for it at all--and those little plants proved to be healthier, sturdier, and more resilient than any of the "babied" ones sitting happily on the gardener's porch in a safe little container full of treated soil.

If you've followed me this far, you've gotten a little view into my first experience with gardening. I have spent my entire life in cities, but a year and a half ago, we moved to a rural area surrounded by farm fields. I absolutely LOVE how peaceful our lives have become, but there is still just SOOO much more pulling us in every direction. I long to have the simple, quiet life my great-grandmother talked so fonly of during my childhood. If you've come here from my other blog, Camped Out on Mt. Never-Rest, you are no doubt wondering why I felt the need to start an entirely new blog. Well, my quest for simplicity goes far beyond survival; I want to THRIVE. I don't just want to live in simple minimalism, I want to live in abundance. Abundant health, abundant peace, abundant joy. I felt my other blog was just too focused on survival. I needed a new start.

I need a new patch of ground; but I'm not going to be ignoring the "old" garden that nourished my little die-hard plants, I'm going to use their survival skills to plan my new one boldly! I don't want to completely disregard the world we live in, I would much rather find simplicity IN it. The rest is choking out the fledgling plants; the hurriedness of life is choking out the life like weeds! Join me in my escape?