I have a confession to make: I’m in love with my little seedlings! There is something so fascinating about seeing them go from seeds that have been stored all winter long to these thriving, growing, healthy living things. What’s really amazing is the fact that I can see their struggle play out in slow motion. Consider the garden bean’s step-by-step arrival from it’s seed cocoon. How lovely it looks when just sprouting, bent in half, pulled down by the weight of the soil. How quaintly regal it appears when it stands with it’s first two leaves, the remnants of the seed shell adjoining it on either side. These seedlings represent the struggle to survive against the elements, to make food out of thin air, to hold their ground, to quietly be. Is there anything more amazing than an emerging plant?

I confess, a little bit of this is an element of pride. I feel I had a hand in this: I prepared the soil, I planted the seeds, I patiently waited and watered and let them bask in sunlight. I had my doubts and fears that I wasn’t going to see anything. False hope and impatience did plague me for a while. But suddenly there they were, out of no where, like a visitor sitting on your living room coach going, “Hello world. I just arrived.” But again, I have to remember that I’m simply a pawn of nature. Plant’s do this all the time, thank you very much, without any human attention. Of course that makes me stand in awe of their evolutionary prowess on top of everything else.

To summarize, gardening is the most rewarding pastime that I’ve pursued yet.