Seasons are chapters in the garden of life.

Each one tells a story, its own unique story, which picks up each year at the same time.  We build up with excited anticipation as a new season approaches and moan with impatience at the dragging moments towards the end of it. I like seasons, the beginnings, the middle, and the ends of them.

Take, for instance, all the chatter going on right now about gardens.  Everywhere I look, I see your lovely photos of fresh perfect mounds of gorgeous soil.  I am drawn to your compost piles.

Your trellises wow me and so does your bamboo stakes.  Yes, I love your cute painted rocks with plant names on them.  Your tomato plant seedlings impress me.

Before you know it, those seedlings will blossom and bloom and lo and behold, will be ready to gloriously eat. Each plant that produces a leaf will be looked at with curiosity, a thoughtful wondering whether, “Will this work in pesto?”

You will finally get to pick that first perfect beautiful tomato.

It may be hard to remember this, but at some point the abundance may overwhelm you.  Friends, neighbors, and co-workers will run the other way as you walk in with (yet again) more squash.  You may even find yourself scratching your head, wondering what do with all those radishes.

If you are nodding your head, “yes, yes, yes” to these statements, I bet you are someone who loves to share, discuss, contemplate, meditate, educate, or just really dig all things gardening.

You’re not alone.

There is a (mostly) local facebook group called “Grow Yer Own! Plus how pets help!” that I was introduced to over the winter months by local Fayetteville gal, Marianne Beasley.  She created this facebook group two years ago for friends and folks who are trying to grow at least some of their foods.  They share pictures and talk about their gardens each season as they plan, plant, harvest, can, dehydrate, freeze, and eat.  (That’s my favorite part.)  Many in the group participate in a simple soup Sunday in-home event where some prepare a soup made from simple ingredients from the garden, inspired by the Twelve Months of Monastery Soups cookbook.

Join us.

Happy composting, gardening, tomatoeing, radishing, and facebook sharing.

Eat well, my friends. Eat well.

Lyndi