Seed Philosophy

 

amaranth flower

A delicious breakfast in the garden of freshly picked fruits was purely heavenly on this perfect fall morning. For those of you interested in getting some basil, pears or eggs, they are still available this week. Contact us to come by.

The other day I was in the garden collecting seeds from my plants. It’s a practice that I’m working on doing more regularly (and effectively). There’s a lot more to it than one would realize. In fact, the other day I opened a bag of sunflower seeds I’d collected. They had molded because I forgot to let them dry first – duh! Oh, well, I digress. There are more seeds to collect in the garden when I want them. If you look at the amaranth flower here you’ll see the little light colored spots. Each of those is a little black seed protected by an outer covering.  From each tiny seed a new plant will grow. There is such abundance in nature.

I found myself wandering back and forth between the plants, moving from picking produce to collecting seeds and back again. My mind is filled with two activities in the garden right now – harvesting the fruits ofmy labors (Oh, joy!) and planting seeds for the next season (exciting and creative!). I began musing about the way the garden symbolizes life. In Chinese medicine, the fall is a time for grieving, clearing, letting go. This process is best done both physically and emotionally. Physically, we can take this time to do a cleansing with broth (see a recipe in Salsa Summer post) or a watermelon fast. Emotionally letting go of what is in the past (whether it’s the bright days of summer or the  innocence of youth) allows the soil to be fertile for new experiences.

So, this combination of removing the old, dried up materials for composting and preparing the soil for planting (by adding last year’s compost and dry manure) is a beautiful reflection of the way life unfolds. It is good to do this regularly in life as well – by removing the old mental habits and planting the seeds of fresh thought. Come spring we will have sprouted a new attitude!

 

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