Growing a Family: What the garden has taught me about happy, healthy and whole.

As winter began to fade and my surroundings started to turn green again, I turned to my husband and said, "I think this year, I would like to grow a garden." He said, in his typically Wesley fashion, "As you wish". I cannot brag on him enough for how generously he takes care of me, but as sweet as "as you wish" sounds, he jumped into gardening knowing it wouldn't be a simple task.  See when I decide to grow a garden that really means Stephen has some work to do.We have been blending our rather large family for about 2 1/2 years now and with that comes compromise, struggle, and stress.  But, like all things in parenting, marriage, and gardening we work together and things always turn out just fine.


In order, to have a successful garden, you must first prepare the ground.  The spot we decided would be the best place to plant in, had never been worked up before.  We had to disk up the ground and turn it over, before we could get a tiller in there.  We tilled it 3-4 times before it felt like someplace in which we could plant crops.  All of us worked together long hours of the day, pulling out clumps of grass and rocks, in hopes that our young plants would be able to establish a good root system.  I didn't realize the metaphor that would unfold before me over the next few months, but that preparation was also happening in our home as well.  Steve and I had already, made compromises and rules that we felt would best benefit the children and the peacefulness for our family.   We were essentially laying down the ground work for our home and their future success.  

We built trellis's so that the plants would have support. ( See where I am going with this??)    

And eventually we began to see our little ones emerge and reach for the sun.  Aren't they beautiful?

We even found a few new friends, who seemed like nice "people", but they had to go home to their own families The garden really wasn't the best environment for them, although it did take some convincing.


We learned some valuable lessons as we traveled through this gardening experience.  Like, if you throw some seeds out and cover it with a little dirt, a plant will grow.  It's really not that hard to produce a baby.  




But, as gardeners (aka parents) it is our job to make sure they have a sunny environment to grow in.  It's our job to pull the weeds and spray for bugs (bad influences) keeping their space safe so they can grow strong.  





Sometimes, you have to train them up the trellis if you don't want your cucumbers or tomatoes to grow wild and interfere with the raising of other plants in the garden.  And sometimes children need reminding that they are influencing the others around them and need to continue being a good example even when it isn't the easiest route. 

This guy got a little wild and
had some "bad influences"
getting close, but we were able to
get him back in line and save

the fruit. :)   

 Here's to you and
yours on your journey to
happy, healthy and whole. 

Traci

Because when you put in the effort, knowing it will be exhausting, knowing there will be happy days and frustrating ones, you will end up with some very flavorful fruit that you'll be proud to share with the rest of your family, community, and the world.    

Asparagus beans were a favorite this year.  

My 8-year old thinks they look like snakes.