Waaaay back in the ‘70s I saw a tee shirt with the slogan “Life is a garden. Dig it.” Its double entendre is still apropos. Dig it – love it, enjoy it. Ya dig? Dig it – get out that shovel and get to work on your garden. Make your life thrive.

This spring I joined a gardening group at work. I’m a novice gardener, learning from the experienced members of our group. I have been amazed by the beauty and power of our garden. Many lunch times I go and just hang out in the garden, enjoying the colours, the rustle of the corn stalks, the giddy butterflies and yellow finches, and the exuberant, unfettered growth. I’m fascinated that tiny seeds can gather up so much energy and life from just soil, water and light.

It’s a fecund plot, perpetually bursting with flowers, beans, tomatoes and new edible surprises nearly every week. I ate the season’s first radish – a round, rosy miracle – while standing right there in the garden. Of course I always knew that vegetables grew in the soil. But I had never actually pulled that night’s dinner from the dirt before!

An August harvest… also an august harvest.

Life is just like that. Join up. Learn from other people. Plan out your plot. Dig it. Care for it. Let things do what they need to do in their own time. Observe. Enjoy. Bask in the sunshine a bit. Work a bit. Harvest your crop. Share with friends and family. Repeat.

Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!