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All new, again

by fig + fauna farm on 08/25/12

In Florida, it's that time again; time for gardeners to pull out the seeds and begin planning a fall/winter garden. Many of you are now wrapping up a summer of tomatoes, peppers and juicy melons ~ my mouth waters at the thought of baskets filled with fresh harvests. I've had two months away from my garden and while my home has been cleaner and laundry is done, nothing quite fills our day as beautifully as a working garden. Last year, Dane had just turned two when we began our plot. She was starting to become interested in the wonderful world of dirt and plants. By interested I mean: I carefully planted seeds and she plucked them out behind me. She was also fond of tomatoes, only she loved the green ones and picked them more then I like to remember! She showed me the beauty of happy accidents...Green Tomato & Radish Salsa anyone?

Today, I'm quite sure that she has a greener thumb than I and undoubtedly she will love to see the garden in all of it's stages. Dane has been giving the most delicate of care to our seedlings in nearly every window of the house. Randomly throughout the day, I'll remind her to check on them and in the first mention of the word "seedlings", her eyes light up and she runs to them to see how they've grown.

This garden has become a reminder to me of how she's grown too.

The thing that I love about this process is how new it all feels each time; like buying your pencils and textbooks for a new school year. It's really the same materials, but what you will learn in the year ahead is what's so exciting. I learn from each garden, each season, each plant; how it will fare the weather and bugs and how I choose to tend it. Dane will learn so many things as well. Most of all we will be together in this thing, that is all new again.

Friends, do you know a poem or song about gardening that you can share with me?

Comments (11)

1. Niru said on 8/26/12 - 07:43PM

Such a sweet little story. It must be bliss to see your little one share your love for gardening, no.

2. Melissa said on 8/27/12 - 02:44AM

Such a great thing you are teaching your daughter! I'm trying to think of any good poems or songs about gardening.

3. sarah said on 8/27/12 - 02:09PM

since you are in Florida, I will suggest "The Idea of Order at Key West" by Wallace Stevens (one of the finest American poets, really - and very sensitive to nature and light) which is less about gardeners than it is about all people who are makers (of order, of beauty, of poems or songs or even of gardens) in this world - and the way that their private structures of meaning and order intersect with/overlap and move past the natural world. Check it out - it's a stunningly beautiful tribute to the creative act. I also recommend Andrew Marvell's "The Garden" (with the utterly fantastic line about "a green thought in a green shade"). =)

4. Elizabeth Sniegocki ~ A Natural Nester said on 8/28/12 - 02:52AM

Beautiful thoughts on nurturing and tending your garden, and your gal! Although not a poem, this quote from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, from Cross Creek, is one of my favorites, and certainly reads like poetry: "It seems to me that the earth may be borrowed, but not bought. It may be used, but not owned. It gives itself in response to love and tending, offers its sesonal flowering and fruiting. But we are tenants and not possessors, lovers, and not masters. Cross Creek belongs to the wind and the rain, to the sun and the seasons, to the cosmic secrecy of seed, and beyond all, to time..." Megan, I'd love to know what seeds you've got going now for fall!

5. Britt Rodriguez said on 8/29/12 - 03:54AM

I have to thank you, as a new follower, for such an extraordinary blog...Thank you for the constant inspiration in the refreshing soulfulness you always offer. Such substance! As an avid gardener myself, I've come to love both the following poem and the following quote: "Digging" by Seamus Heaney and “When I go into the garden with a spade and dig a bed I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.” -Emerson Both amazing sources of inspiration, in their illumination of impressions made in childhood by the teachings or our parents, the transformation we make into adulthood, and the beauty in the realization that such lessons are invaluable to truly understanding oneself and the world around us!

6. fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:48PM

Niru & Melissa ~ Thank you kindly

7. fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:49PM

Sarah ~ Thank you for taking the time to share this with me. Your suggestions sound delightful. I'll be sure to check them out!

8. fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:51PM

Liz ~ I love this. I've been working on a similar idea in my head that farming and gardening is such a marriage. You may have purchased the land or animal, but the relationship is always there to build. Thank you for this :)

9. fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:53PM

Britt ~ Thank you for reading and leaving such a kind comment! These quotes are inspiring and encouraging..thank you :)

10. Palm Beacher said on 9/4/12 - 11:54AM

Can not wait to see what you all do this fall and winter!

11. Mary Ann said on 9/23/12 - 05:25PM

Hi Meg: I found this website that has "gardening songs" with learning lyrics set to well-known children's tunes (Farmer in the Dell, Three Blind Mice, Muffin Man, etc.) that would be fun and easy to learn; I can just see little Dane in the garden singing them...Hope you and she like them! XO

Leave a comment

« A Summer Keepsake ~... | Main | Simply Wholesome ~... »

1.	Niru said on 8/26/12 - 07:43PM
	Such a sweet little story. It must be bliss to see your little one share your love for gardening, no.
2.	Melissa said on 8/27/12 - 02:44AM
	Such a great thing you are teaching your daughter! I'm trying to think of any good poems or songs about gardening.
3.	sarah said on 8/27/12 - 02:09PM
	since you are in Florida, I will suggest "The Idea of Order at Key West" by Wallace Stevens (one of the finest American poets, really - and very sensitive to nature and light) which is less about gardeners than it is about all people who are makers (of order, of beauty, of poems or songs or even of gardens) in this world - and the way that their private structures of meaning and order intersect with/overlap and move past the natural world. Check it out - it's a stunningly beautiful tribute to the creative act. I also recommend Andrew Marvell's "The Garden" (with the utterly fantastic line about "a green thought in a green shade"). =)
4.	Elizabeth Sniegocki ~ A Natural Nester said on 8/28/12 - 02:52AM
	Beautiful thoughts on nurturing and tending your garden, and your gal! Although not a poem, this quote from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, from Cross Creek, is one of my favorites, and certainly reads like poetry: "It seems to me that the earth may be borrowed, but not bought. It may be used, but not owned. It gives itself in response to love and tending, offers its sesonal flowering and fruiting. But we are tenants and not possessors, lovers, and not masters. Cross Creek belongs to the wind and the rain, to the sun and the seasons, to the cosmic secrecy of seed, and beyond all, to time..." Megan, I'd love to know what seeds you've got going now for fall!
5.	Britt Rodriguez said on 8/29/12 - 03:54AM
	I have to thank you, as a new follower, for such an extraordinary blog...Thank you for the constant inspiration in the refreshing soulfulness you always offer. Such substance! As an avid gardener myself, I've come to love both the following poem and the following quote: "Digging" by Seamus Heaney and “When I go into the garden with a spade and dig a bed I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.” -Emerson Both amazing sources of inspiration, in their illumination of impressions made in childhood by the teachings or our parents, the transformation we make into adulthood, and the beauty in the realization that such lessons are invaluable to truly understanding oneself and the world around us!
6.	fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:48PM
	Niru & Melissa ~ Thank you kindly
7.	fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:49PM
	Sarah ~ Thank you for taking the time to share this with me. Your suggestions sound delightful. I'll be sure to check them out!
8.	fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:51PM
	Liz ~ I love this. I've been working on a similar idea in my head that farming and gardening is such a marriage. You may have purchased the land or animal, but the relationship is always there to build. Thank you for this :)
9.	fig + fauna said on 8/31/12 - 02:53PM
	Britt ~ Thank you for reading and leaving such a kind comment! These quotes are inspiring and encouraging..thank you :)
10.	Palm Beacher said on 9/4/12 - 11:54AM
	Can not wait to see what you all do this fall and winter!
11.	Mary Ann said on 9/23/12 - 05:25PM
	Hi Meg: I found this website that has "gardening songs" with learning lyrics set to well-known children's tunes (Farmer in the Dell, Three Blind Mice, Muffin Man, etc.) that would be fun and easy to learn; I can just see little Dane in the garden singing them...Hope you and she like them! XO