Growing Books and Gardens

Besides reading and writing books and stories, my other favorite thing to do is gardening. I see gardening and writing books as similar creative endeavors. I often think up story ideas when I’m outside close to nature digging in the dirt.

When I write a new book, I begin with a blank page on my computer. When I create a new garden, I begin with an empty plot of dirt. For me, the challenge of creating something interesting and beautiful out of nothing is incredibly exciting!

Writing involves stringing words together into a coherent story. With so many thousands of words to choose from, it’s no wonder there are so many great books on the market! Gardening is similar. There are so many plants to choose from and so many possible combinations in a garden. I love to go to plant nurseries and look at all the different plants before I decide which ones to buy.

A year ago, when we moved to our new home in Indiana, I was disappointed to find that one of the previous owners had surrounded the house with rocks. I understand the appeal of low maintenance landscaping, but I couldn’t believe that not one space was left open for a garden. Who doesn’t want flowers in their yard?

My short-term solution has been to garden in pots…not to be confused with pot gardening! For now, I have geraniums, zinnias and cone flowers growing in pots as well as some tomato and pepper plants. I plan to begin clearing the rocks from a couple of spots in our yard this fall so that I might plant a nice flower garden next spring.

I come from a long line of gardeners in my family. As a child, I used to plant flower seeds with my grandmother and with my mom. They would talk to me about first preparing the soil and then dropping the seeds just so far apart to allow for room for future growth. We would water the flower beds together and watch as they grew from tiny sprouts into stems with buds and then into beautiful flowers.

What a lesson it was in preparation and planning and patience and in the joy of anticipation! In our world of instant gratification, we are forgetting how rewarding it can be to plan for and think about and wait for things to happen.

Both of my grandmothers and my mom loved to be outdoors gardening and tending to their yards. They understood how good it was for the soul to be close to nature. From them both, I learned to love it too. Besides making the space around us more beautiful, gardening is a time for quiet reflection and stress reduction. It’s also been suggested that quieting the mind while gardening can enhance creativity by creating space for new ideas to emerge.

Speaking of nature, something I heard about recently is the concept of “earthing” or “grounding”. Have you heard of it? Earthing is walking barefoot on grass, sand or dirt…basically having direct contact with the earth without any synthetic materials (such as shoes) between us and Mother Earth.

The idea is that earthing reconnects your body to the Earth’s natural electric charge, which is believed to have antioxidant properties. People who believe in the benefits of earthing say it can potentially benefit our health by reducing inflammation, stress, pain, and can also improve sleep. I’ll bet gardening would qualify as earthing. I always feel better after I garden and dig and plant in the dirt. I guess I’ve been earthing for a long time!