Patience is a Virtue
Some people naturally have more patience than others. I think that most of us can always stand to learn a little more patience from time to time. There is much patience to be learned from gardening. As adults it is always good to stretch and grow in areas like patience. I also love the opportunities I have to teach the farm kids patience as they learn along side of us and grow stronger in their character each day.
Lesson One In Patience
We usually order our seeds early in the year. Waiting for the seeds to arrive in the mail exercises our patience greatly. How excited we get when that package finally arrives. In reality it comes after only a few days from when we order but it seems soooooo long. It is like opening up a present. All of those tiny little seeds hold so much hope and potential for our family.
Lesson Two In Patience
Now that I have all of those beautiful seeds I have to wait to plant them. Oh the agony! (Ok, maybe that’s a little dramatic) I just have to stare at those seed packets and think of all of the glorious yumminess that their potential holds. Some seeds we have to wait weeks to plant and some even months. As I wait, I marvel at how a tiny seed will produce a plant that will feed my family fresh food in season and also food store to feed them over the year.
Lesson Three In Patience
We like to start certain seeds indoors well ahead of planting time. Others we wait until it is warm enough to direct sow into the ground. Both methods require waiting for germination. Depending on the plant this can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The excitement I feel when I see those little sprouts popping up out of the dirt is immense. It is so fun to check their growth from day to day and see the great progress week to week.
Lesson Four In Patience
Now that my little plants are growing I have to wait for the harvest. In my opinion, as exciting as the whole process is, the harvest is the best part. I just love those days when I go to the garden and come back in with baskets full of fresh garden goodies. Some plants like green beans can be harvested after just fifty to sixty days. Other plants, take much longer like melons and corn, they can take eighty-five to over one hundred days to harvest.
At the end of the season when I look back and think of the wonderful meals that my family has shared together or look at my shelves lined with jars of canned goods I know it is all well worth every second we spent waiting between ordering seeds and harvesting crops.
Patience truly is a virtue and a great character trait. Gardening is an excellent teacher and builder of patience. From the first planting to harvest is a wonderful opportunity to slow down and just enjoy each phase along the way. As humans, a lot of times we find ourselves rushing through life looking forward to the next “exciting” event. We often forget to slow down and enjoy the ride. The garden shows us how beautiful and amazing life is when we patiently wait through each stage.
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When I’m feeling impatient I just need to include the kids – no matter how slow things are going for me, it seems like years for the kids, LOL! Watching them and having to explain that things take a while helps me slow down too.