Gardening is Good for the Soul!
Whatever I am in one of my "blah" periods — as I have been for the last few weeks — it is invariably because I'm spending too much time in my head. Or, some people might say, I'm "thinking too much."
Historically, my cure for whatever ails me has most often been to go out into nature and take pictures of things or just simply sit there and listen to the earth, rustle of leaves and the non-human living things all around me.
This time of the year — because everything is growing so fast and we live in a rather fecund environment — gardening often ends up being the cure.
In some ways, I have a love-hate relationship with gardening... from the perspective that I don't really want to have to work anymore and yet the working I do when gardening — particularly pulling weeds and trimming trees and such things — serve me well as a way to get grounded and getting dirt on my hands brings me closer to nature as well.
It's a great antidote for "too much technology time."
Our suburban property is perhaps more work than two people (who are working all the time at whatever it is we do to make a living) should be expected to deal with, but we're not really in a position to hire help, so we do it all ourselves. Or as much of it as we manage to have energy to do.
Today was basically a day of beating back the wilderness, which is something that happens a lot during April and May when everything here seems to grow about six inches a day!
Homesteading in suburbia is an interesting experience in so much as we're trying to do this within the confines of a neighborhood that has a Homeowners Association, so the "garden police" is eternally driving the roads to make sure that any grass on our frontage towards the street is the required three to four inches long and we don't have any bits of hedge or trees that are overhanging the street by more than the permitted amount.
Sometimes it sounds a little insane that we live in a world where we can be told so much about what we're supposed to do and what we're not supposed to do in spite of the fact that we live on a property that we actually own. Maybe there really is no such thing as "ownership", we're just borrowing these lands until we pass away.
Anyway, after a fairly lengthy afternoon of trimming dead branches off trees and cutting back anything that is overhanging the house (because our insurance company is starting to give us shit about our homeowners insurance), as well as pulling lots of thistles from the edge out towards the streets before they bloom... I feel good and tired!
In some ways, it's a bit of a reminder that we're not 29 years old anymore!
Even though I'm feeling pretty tired right now and getting ready to head off to bed, I do feel better for having worked in the garden all day: because my brain mostly goes quiet enough that the background chatter disappears completely. Of course it also helps that I leave my phone inside and the world will just have to deal with the fact that I'm not available!
I can't help but think the fact that we are eternally connected 24/7 contributes to a lot of the anxieties people feel because somehow we don't have true rest at any point.
The other day I was listening to a podcast by retired doctor who was pointing out that our brains aren't even designed to think as much as we are forced to think these days, and that is part of what else Society caused exactly by that because our constant on 24/7 screws with our cortisol levels compared to most people's natural cycles.
While you definitely shouldn't believe everything you hear on the Internet, that made a lot of sense to me.
And so, I'm very grateful that we do have this piece of property that I can go out and telabor. V o the weeds and do things that brings me closer to nature. Even if it is a lot of labor.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful Sunday!
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2026.05.31 01:09 PDT
1568/2833
This is so beautiful
!BBH