Gratitude in the Garden

A version of this column first ran in the Roane County (WV) Reporter and Times Record. Support local journalism! Subscribe to your local newspaper.

This is a time when we think about giving thanks for our blessings, a wholesome thing to do whether or not you see it in a religious light. When I worked at Westbrook years ago, two of their psychologists gave a talk in which they discussed the healing power of gratitude, especially for depression. I guess it amounts to focusing on what’s good in your life rather than what’s wrong…though this should never be to the exclusion of facing and dealing with problems, it’s good to maybe spend a little more time reflecting on the positive.

This column is specifically about giving thanks for all that’s gone right in relation to the garden. I’m talking about my garden—but many of these things may be true for you as well, along with others you may think of.

First of all, I’m grateful that I have a garden. It’s not only a source of healthy food but also a place where I spend many satisfying hours, doing agreeable work in a pleasant, natural setting. And my garden is big enough to grow a lot of food—my main garden has 24 beds. I also have another six in the space I call North, along with a 25 by 60 foot flat space I call Central, and a small orchard.

I’m also grateful that I garden in a place where irrigation is rarely necessary, and the growing season is long enough for almost anything I’d want to try. On the subject of irrigation, I’m additionally grateful that I have a handy setup with 900 gallons of gravity-fed water, ending in spigots in both the main garden and Central. Even during droughts, I’ve never run out.

My garden is on a ridge, which means floods are not a problem for me, and frosts are less of a problem than they are for people stuck in the bottom. Drought may hit a little harder but I think not much.

I’m grateful that while I garden, I get to listen to so many different kinds of birds—though I recognize few, an area of ignorance I may correct some day. I get to see a fat toad at least once a season, and have seen pretty little snakes—a green garden snake one year, which was quite friendly, and a tiny ring-neck snake. Black snakes would be welcome in my garden as well except it’s so close to my coop and they have nefarious intentions regarding my chicken coop.

The insects are too many to list and there, too, I don’t know very many but some are pretty and some pollinate my crops or eat the pest bugs. I’m grateful I have so little trouble with pest bugs.

I’m grateful there are so many interesting and tasty crops I can grow, which keeps gardening interesting year after year.

I appreciate having sources for both horse and goat manure, as well as a little from my own chickens—great sources of fertility. The leaves I’ve been gathering and chopping have now filled both my wire bins, to produce luscious leaf mold for next fall. Then there are the two compost bins by the main garden, and the heaps in other places, as well as several piles of rotting branches in the woods, all of which yield good compost.

I appreciate the beauty that surrounds me, the sun and the shade, the rain and the snow, and clouds. Walking past my neighbor Robin’s garden, I traverse his ridge with its tall grasses (he cuts them for mulch) and often they sport dewdrops gleaming in the morning sun. Sometimes after a rain I see clouds writhing up out of the hollows. This time of year there is that sweet smell of moldering leaves. In the spring there is the scent of honeysuckle and the glories of pink redbud and white dogwood, both plentiful here and growing right next to the garden. The orchard, which is next to the garden, also blooms with pretty pinkish or white flowers in spring.

Finally, I am grateful for the harvest: for beans and peanuts and winter squash and peas and lettuce and field corn and tall sunflowers and sweet potatoes in orange and purple, potatoes and onions and garlic, tomatoes (I always grow at least eight different kinds), bok choy, the raspberries which were so productive this year—even the mushrooms growing on logs in the shade, not in the garden. All this translates to a pantry with row upon row of colorful canned goods, rafters hanging with strings of onions and corn, and herbs—and in my case, just a small increment of frozen goods but some people have big freezers full of produce.

Yes, I’m grateful for my garden. Are you grateful for yours?

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