week 14: waking, stretching, growing

this week on the little dream farm

When the gardens look like this photo above it can feel like there’s not a whole lot going on.

It reminds me of a line from my favorite movie (the book is well-worth the read, too) called Peaceful Warrior. The character Soc says to the other character Dan, “There’s never nothing going on.”

That is the essence of the springtime garden.

Above ground, it looks like a dormant, dead, sleepy garden. But, just under the surface, peaking through the soil…stretching up through the earth is an entire world of new life and new growth waking up and making their way towards the sun.

I’ve found the life metaphors about spring and new beginnings to be accurate…that I can see in myself the ways in which I’m also stretching…growing…starting anew, and always and forever tilting my face towards that golden warm sun.

Before life on the farm I noticed the obvious hints of spring—flowers blooming on the trees, tulips all around, everything seeming to be coming alive long after it was already well on its way.

Here on the farm, life is in some ways slower, quieter, and more tuned in to the little things. I’ve really come to love not just the changing of the seasons, but the awareness of what’s happening all around us in the process.

Beginning this time of year, when you look closely, well, not only is there never nothing going on like Soc said, but it’s changing from day to day, too.

I remember this all so vividly from last year—our very first spring on the farm—and how it captivated my heart, losing all track of time walking around curiously noticing how each little tree and shrub and bush and plant forms its buds or sends its new growth up out of the ground after a long, cold, sleepy winter. I learned so many things I never seen before, like watching apple trees form their buds, then their flowers, and their leaves, then their little baby apples, and then a fruit for harvest. There’s countless examples like this.

This week, I thought I’d bring you with me in the form of the photos below, to the trees and into the soil for a closer peak at some of the signs of budding new life here on the farm.

For me, just a year ago I couldn’t have called out to identify one single thing to you. It always impressed me to no end to spend time around someone who could pick out a plant from just a small budding leaf in the ground. It’s amazing the ways you can learn and notice and get a sense for what you’re seeing after only seeing it or learning about it for even just one season.

I’m noticing the ways this year in which I’m able to identify what I’m seeing and notice the patterns and growth habits of certain plants. I fascinated with watching them grow, and equally fascinated by the way I’m constantly being grown and stretched, too, just simply by spending more time outside around plants.

So, will you take a walk with me? Let’s meander around the waking, stretching, growing farm to look up into the trees, bend over to the bushes, and kneel down to the ground to part the cool damp earth-smelling soil from the new, green, budding life just waiting to burst into full bloom.

Let’s pause for some time together to notice the growth all around us.

Hopefully, it’ll help us to reflect on all the growth within us.

So, shall we? It’s sunny and in the mid-50s (F)…a perfect day. Let’s go take a walk on the farm.

Here’s to the start of a brand new growing season, both for all the things that’ll grow here on the Little Dream Farm and all around you as well; and for the growing season that is certain to take place within every one of us, too.