Danielle Peterson

One of the great and surprising personal benefits that came from the 2020 pandemic was a discovery of gardening.

Before Covid.. well, I didn’t quite have a black thumb, but despite a love for the idea of gardening, I had never had any real experience or success with it.

When Covid was in its earlier season, I worked for a company that thankfully was able to remain open, but we did cut down on staffing to limit interactions.

This meant I was taking a full week on and off in shifts. Which meant for the first time ever as an adult I had lots of time off work and outside.

On my weeks off, is when I discovered my new passion, and it felt like a piece of my soul that had laid dormant finally opened up and bloomed.

I have always loved being outside- even as a young girl- so in a way the time I spent in the garden felt like coming home. I felt my soul, like a sponge, soaking in the sunshine, and the warm smell of fresh soil coming alive again after a long winter.

At the time, we were using the garden space at my in-laws home to garden, as we lived in a small apartment and they had 2 acres near where I worked.

But before the work of gardening could even begin, first came the work of weeding and awakening.

The garden at my in-law’s home is a large and beautiful space with now generations of family filling it up and adding to it in their own ways.

There are large mature fruit trees from generations past, and newer trees still young and tender planted by my in-laws.

An old and weathered grape vine, that feels reminiscent of old Italian vineyards, wraps delicately but firmly around the support that has held it up for years and guided it in a row down one side of the path.

Next to it is a much newer row of berries and trellises standing tall and fresh with potential.

While my in-laws have enjoyed their garden over the years, my husband told me that before 2020 it had sat dormant for quite a few years.

Perhaps the business of children distracted my in-laws away from the plots and garden boxes. Or maybe it was the lack of helping hands as the children grew and left the nest. Perhaps it was a shifting of interests being pulled in different directions by the seasons of life. I don’t really know any of the reasons that they stopped.

I’m just grateful for that season in 2020 that they allowed my journey to begin.

But as I mentioned earlier the real start came first in preparing the garden.

As it had sat forgotten for several years, there was a lot to be done in getting it ready to use again.

As they tend to do, the weeds had greedily eaten up the garden beds and settled in. The fruit trees had grown unattended and were begging to be trimmed. And the garden beds, in their neat little rows, were in need of some TLC.

I don’t write this to make my in-laws feel bad. In fact I’m grateful that the garden needed some love and attention in the beginning. I feel like it made the transformation from start to harvest all the more rewarding in the end. And in truth, every garden every year has need of weeding, pruning, cleansing and renewing.

With free time on our hands, my husband and I spent more time together in the sunshine- him tilling soil and repairing worn boxes, and me clearing out the weeds and trimming back the fruit trees.

I studied a lot that year and learned about pruning and planting, watering and soil amending.

I loved getting my hands dirty and feeling the sun on my face during the day, instead of being stuck in my usual office.

It made me rethink my priorities a bit and restructure my life and my goals as I realized the impact that the added fresh air had on my body and soul.

As I weeded the garden, it weeded out parts of my life as well; directing my attention to a piece of my heart that I’d neglected here, and a thought that needed pruning there.

I don’t know how to explain it other than the idea that I felt like there was a part of me that was waking up for the first time in a long time. A part of me that I’d put aside in my youth and thought I may not see again.

As I cleared out the weeds in the garden, I started to clear out the weeds in my life as well.

I got rid of distractions that filled my time but left me empty.

I invested in my relationships, and the things that brought me joy, gave me opportunities to serve others and made me feel full and whole…

Now, as the weather starts to warm again and the last signs of winter ebb and flow into spring, I find myself once again looking to the garden and thinking of the weeds.

I am excited once again to dig in. To get my hands dirty and get to work. To clean out the debris in my life, and breathe fresh air and sunlight into the dark corners of my mind and heart.

Gardening is a form of therapy.

Even though now I am back to regular hours at work (thank goodness for that too!) I find myself pulled to the garden in my spare moments. I’ve had many a cold morning checking on early signs of life; lunches spent eating warm soup under an umbrella in light rain just to look over my progress, and my favorite- those calm, warm, late spring evenings as the birds chirp away their lullabies and the sun hangs it’s head low, drooping with sleep.

In these moments, as my hands work away, my mind ponders on the things of life; My family, my own life, my dreams and goals; My successes and failures and the progress I’ve attained along the way.

I’ve come to truly appreciate weeding the garden, as it means a weeding of my heart and soul as well.

As I weed the garden, and my life, I look forward with anticipation to the abundant harvests that can only come if I make room and clear out space for their progress and water the things that I want to see grow. I’ve learned that weeding is the start of all the great potential and abundant blessings in our lives.

And oh! -the harvests that sort of weeding brings!