Garden folly

Published in the Idaho State Journal and Blackfoot Morning News week of August 22, 2010

Last year, I turned out a pretty good vegetable garden. I harvested carrots into a garbage bag in November that lasted until March. Every visitor to the house walked away with zucchini. A healthy row of beets, my first adventure with this sassy veggie that knows how to leave her mark, got tossed into salads, grilled, mixed into quinoa (scarlet colored quinoa—interesting), or just munched on right out of the ground. I played around with cold storage. I contemplated the misnomer of “canning.” And, since success is supposed to build on success, can you imagine what I have yielded from my garden this year?

Bubkes.

Like the plague of locusts of ’08, a combination of human error and Gaia’s folly has turned this summer’s garden into a frightening landscape. I planted the carrot seeds too deep and the bean seeds too soon. I planted onions by seed, period. Then, there was the reality of an abnormally cold spring and the brand-new addition of some insect that turned my surviving foliage into ghostly scraps of lace. There is still hope for my heirloom tomatoes and winter squash, but overall, this summer’s garden has been a humbling and puzzling experience.

It has also, as always, been an enlightening experience, since any time spent digging in the dirt is time my spirit and intuition likes to whisper in my ear. This season’s lessons, it seems, are about letting go, bouncing back, and turning mistakes into learning opportunities with a minimum of stress and drama.

Why is it so easy for me to shrug off the multitude of mistakes in my garden plot, but mistakes in other areas of my life can easily ruin a good day? I know, carrots don’t judge my missteps, squash doesn’t snicker at my miscalculations, but people don’t do those things either. Mistakes in the garden instantly propel me towards an optimistic future—“what will I do better next year?” But mistakes in other areas of my life can keep me stuck in the past, and create an uncomfortable present by triggering all sorts of irrational, extreme, and unnecessary belief patterns. Enough of that.

I’d like my attitude towards gardening, especially when things don’t work out, to spill over into other areas of life. A mistake is something to examine, learn from, laugh about, and guide me towards abundance and success. It can be fun to problem-solve, strategize, and imagine a future where everything works out the way it’s supposed to, while at the same time appreciating lessons as they come, embracing small miracles buried in the weeds, and not giving up on what is working well.

I still water my garden regularly, and cultivate around the hardy survivors to give them space to grow. It doesn’t matter that my row of rutabagas never saw the light of day, or that my patty-pan squash plants are still only a foot high. We participate in life, we plow forwards, we stay the course, because there is much about the process to enjoy and value. Every time I make a mistake it’s because I am doing something I am proud of and consider important. And when I trip over my own feet, I am provided with an instant opportunity to learn, improve, and grow towards the sun. I like knowing that, by adjusting my attitude and world-view, mistakes and setbacks readily yield their own bounty, in my garden and everywhere else. Onward!

Nancy Goodman is a licensed counselor with an emphasis on life and career coaching. For questions or to schedule a free consultation (in-person or over the telephone), please contact Nancy at 208-406-3234 or goodnanc@yahoo.com. http://vocatusidaho.blogspot.com.