Garden Lesson #2

Weeding is much easier after it has rained and the soil is fully nourished.

Last year, during the first couple of months of gardening, there was a drought. The ground was hard and cracked, with much of our watering efforts quickly seeping into the dirt without a trace. After the first big rain, the weeds came. My mother and I foolishly chose to not go on a weeding frenzy at this point. Then it dried out again, but the weeds continued to grow. It soon became necessary to weed the whole garden, but the roots stubbornly clung to the dry, hard-packed soil. Our best weeding efforts were grim at best.

This year, there has not been a drought. Quite the opposite in fact. After one of the many streaks of daily thunderstorms we have had this summer, it was apparent that a weeding frenzy was in order. We trudged to the garden, donning our new rubber boots, dreading the task at hand, assuming of course that it would be much like last year. As we arrived at our plot, I absentmindedly grabbed one particularly large weed, expecting only a few of the top leaves to rip off. Then the whole plant, roots and all, slipped effortlessly out of the damp soil. "Wow." We set to our task, periodically exclaiming, "This is so much easier when the ground is wet!" In at least half the time as last year, our garden was looking weed-free and healthy again. And I learned that I secretly enjoyed the chore of weeding. Guess it's not so secret anymore.

Life can get a bit weedy at times, too. We form bad habits, take too much on in our busy schedules, let anger and frustration take over, neglect and/or forget the good things about life, [insert your own interpretation of what constitutes "weedy" in this analogy]. Yet, making the necessary changes, aka weeding, is not an easy task when we're tired, stressed out, lacking support, etc. We need to take advantage of those moments when we have received some kind of nourishment, whether that's encouragement from someone, a thought-provoking book, an event that jolts you out of the doldrums, or even just a temporary change of scenery that provides a different perspective. It's not enough to just have the moment of "Aha! Things need to change," when we first become aware of it, but we need to act on it when we are nourished. If we wait, we may dry up again and we may find ourselves uselessly pulling at leaves while the root of the problem stays firmly planted in the ground, waiting to grow back even stronger.