[2021-05-20] Everything you need
Cicero is quoted as saying: "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."
While I'm not convinced that a garden and a library, alone, provide everything I need (for example, where would I be without music and love?), I do recognize the power of plants and books to bring me joy.
Many of the seeds I sowed on Planting day recently started poking their heads out of the soil: mesclun, peas, spinach, beets, beans, zucchini, cucumber, green onions, radishes. With the heat we've enjoyed over the past few days, everything seems to be growing by centimetres each day, including my tomato and pepper plants and my herbs. Seeing this progress gives me such pleasure. It's so much more exciting than flowers. While I've always enjoyed flowers—and, in fact, asked my son to purchase me a gorgeous hanging basket for Mother's Day—I've rediscovered that I adore vegetables, not just eating them but growing them as well. As I explained in Gardening, "Gardening has always felt like more than a hobby. It has felt like home."
When we moved to our current house, almost 30 years ago, I planted a tiny vegetable garden in my backyard. It was the first home I owned, and I wanted to recapture a bit of childhood wonder by growing something in the dirt—my dirt. It was, however, a short-lived venture, as my ambitions exceeded the available space. A few years later, my brother helped me to create a shrub border. It was beautiful to look at, but, once again, my plants outgrew the space after a few years. So that experiment ended too. Then came the deck, with its clean and practical lines. I loved being able to pad down to the deck in bare feet, as though it were just another room in the house. To liven up the space, I added flowers in tall planters. But I've since learned that, for me, flowers are like a cat: beautiful to look at but not especially giving. Vegetables are like a dog: delightful to watch develop and entirely giving.
Like gardening, I've recently rediscovered my love of books. They have been a welcome teacher when I needed to put my own circumstances into perspective. While I wasn't previously a fan of audiobooks (my mind would wander and I found that it was challenging to rewind to the point that I could remember having absorbed the content), I have since taken to them. They are a friend to walk with me, a passive distraction when I'm feeling under the weather, and a gentle narrator when I'm trying to get back to sleep. They have been a welcome member of my healing team.
At the approach of the long weekend, a traditional time for planting vegetables and flowers and perhaps lounging in a hammock with a book, I wish you much joy and relaxation—in your garden, your library, or wherever you may find everything you need.
