Curse Broken?

Today, Satchee, Sara and I went to check on our garden! I thought it would be a simple process. Just go there and examine our little green babies to see if they survived the chilly weather. I didn’t exactly know how to gauge whether or not they had survived. I contemplated all the different ways they could possibly appear and the reasons for each appearence. Perhaps their leaves will fall off just like the rose petals falling off the rose in Beauty and the Beast. I always felt like that was the plant equivalent of crying. However, it is more tragic because, instead of losing water, these plants are losing their limbs. Or are their leaves their hands? It’s embarrasing to see that as a 21 year old college student, I have the plant knowledge of a 4^th grader. I’m so happy to say that I truly have been learning alot and I I’m beginning to feel confident in the garden! Just a week ago, I would have been afraid to even touch the dirt in the beds. Many of my friends make fun of me because of my penchant for killing things (not humans or animals). Whenever I was given a plant growing kit, which would be about 4 kits by now, none have ever grown. In the past, four years I have been at Lehigh I have crashed 3 laptops and broken 4 cellphones. So, by now, everyone says that whatever I touch dies! (in terms of plants and electronics) So, I was leary and worried that my curse would follow me into the garden. But, as I slowly absorb the gardening knowledge that Sara has been teaching us, I can’t help but feel a familiarity that makes me feel accomplished. I have faith that this experience will break my curse. I’m learning to be a nurturer and care-taker. There is a humble wholesomeness that you experience when you are working on a garden.

Sometimes, I feel as though I have no direct influence on other people’s lives. The desire to feel needed is as natural as the young sprouts and also just as delicate. We all want to be wanted. This garden appears to be fufilling a bit of that desire for myself. It taught me about the beauty in collaboration. It began with me trotting over to the compost pile, bucket in hand, and filling it up. I dug my hands into the pile and scooped handfuls into the bucket. I payed no mind to my surroundings.  When I was almost done, I heard Sara say: “Do you need any help?” It was then I realized that we are at a community garden. We are supposed to be working together. There is one common goal and it’s to nurture and be nurtured. Collaboration is something I have always found to be so challenging because I can be such a loner. But, the experience of working with Satchee to scoop compost made me feel like a kid again. Where as in my last two visits, I was hesitant to get down and dirty, today I willingly dug my fingers into the dirt pile while Satchee held onto the bucket. Breena Holland was there and allowed us to use her shovel. So, we of course used our imagination to feel like grave robbers or murderers digging a hole to hide evidence. It’s always when I’m surrounded by simplicity that my imagination is able to run wild!

My transformation into a child didn’t end there. When Satchee and I were scoping out another gardener’s plot of onions and radishes, 6 little kiddies ran over to offer help. I looked at Satchee, searching for whether or not we should allow them, but the desire to work with children proved too irresistable for both of us. I thought it was ironic, because I jokingly told Satchee that we should get some child labor to help us (as i gestured to the very same 6 kids who were frolicking in the playground.) It was wonderful. They had such great enthusiasm and excitement. I also couldn’t believe that I had knowledge to teach them. I brough them over to the garden bed that had vegetables. I told them which plant was which and I even gave them a small snippet of the onion stalk to prove to them it was onion. We showed them our planted seedlings and the names that were assigned to each one. I showed them the composter and how composting works. It was such an amazing experience to be able to teach them mother nature’s gifts. I never reflected on how important it would be to actually be able to identify edible plants, veggies growing in the ground and how to cultivate them. Industrialization and urbanization has taken me leaps and bounds away from the natural world. My onions come from the supermarket. It doesn’t come from the ground. But, this dependancy on technology is exactly what is causing us to feel so disconnected from nature. I finally see the importance in being able to identify plant species, especially ones that are edible and even more fascinating to me, plants that have medicinal properties. I want to learn more! This will help me to feel ever more like a gardener. Curse begone!