The Gifts from My Garden

Gifts from your garden? Let me explain: 

Have you taken a moment to really think of all the gifts, surprises, rewards, love, and magic that you have received from any or all of your gardens?

These gifts can include homegrown produce you planted, seeds you collected, gifted seeds, gifted plants, seeds dropped by a bird, that thing growing and you don't know how it got there, those insects that eat your pests, the worms, the ladybugs, the hummingbirds, the dragonflies, the lizards, the birds. the bird's songs, the pollinators, the nests, the rain, the sunshine, the clouds, the wind, the silent growth, the visitors expected and unexpected, the entire universe in a section you call a garden. These are the gifts given to us freely.

These magnificent gifts can expand and change. Can you imagine the ancestors' footsteps before yours, their blood, sweat, and tears are held within this dirt.  They've touched many things before us, ponder about so many things out of survival, ate so many things without the concept of our generation's convenience fast food, they've held knowledge of what's good and what's bad for you, they've talked to the spirits many times, and sat with themselves and others just fine, and they dreamt, and they've had beautiful dreams. Dreams that we shouldn't lose sight of.

I've poured a lot of energy and love into different lands. Each one was different, and each had their own challenges. But I choose to care for my attitude when it involved the land. This relationship was one of my most important relationships to cultivate and nourish. I've grown up witnessing our tarnished connection to a precious source of love and friendship. Since a child, nature has cared for me in ways no parent could. Even now, as both parents have separated and are far away from me, the land has continued to beckon me to pour more into her and remember deeper what this life is all about. Our gifts for each other. 

I often ask myself: Who has and why would they dismantle our relationship, our kin, our neighbors, our responsibility to our mother in nature?? 

What a devasting loss, our first true love at first sight, the abundance in her, the answers to our problems, our sacred time spent- demolished. Our ancestors knew. Our ancestors tried to warn us, our ancestors continue to speak to us, and our ancestors will find us through this heavenly portal. 

As I sit here on my delicate man and child made laptop computer, sourced from many hands, both starving children and men, women waiting for what they bring home to tend to a meal, just for me to digitally reach you-maybe. Congo, Sudan, Palestine, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Panama, the Amazon, these extracted lands mourn deeply the loss of life, the loss of nature, the destruction of real humanity and ecosystems, the abundance drowned out to serve a man-made legacy. How cruel did these humans become? No need to answer. We know this. Look at those ongoing wars, the brutality upon children, our most vulnerable in the world are targets to keep this man-made legacy going. How dare they trick us to treat us with one hand. And the other to silence us. 

Shall we remember our Gifts? 

In her garden, you will find her, you will remember her grace, her abundance, her faith, her love, her lessons, her jokes, and her brilliance. Home is in her, forever felt and forever held. Beauty is her name, but some have erased her wildness with perfection and ugliness. Please don't forget the power in the flower.

We must cocreate again with our ancestors and each other, their dreams, their wishes for our successful future, are ours too. The dream to be in harmony with the land, beings, and our families again. We must remember. We have to change and separate what they've feed us to believe. Bury what hasn't served us. We must extend ourselves to others who share the same dream. We must continue to talk about these gifts. The gifts that mother nature did not charge us for, there's no payment plan, there's no prison for stealing her fruits or accidentally losing a harvest, you won't lose your home, you won't get publicly shamed for eating too much or sharing with animals or others. 

You can enjoy her harvest, your belly is full, your mornings are rich, her blessings will fill you up, your children grow well and strong, everyone in your family is well nourished, your neighbors learn to create delicious and enjoyable meals, there's creativity, there's joy, there's gratitude, and there's teamwork. There's no loneliness at the table, the grapes fall upon your face, the papaya feeds you and the birds, the insects feed, the ground recycles the leftovers. and the flowers bloom once again. 

These are the gifts. Big and small, invisible, seen, temporarily, or lasting, abundant, once in a lifetime, easy to reproduce, may need attention and time, but all have been witnessed, and they will continue to come more freely once we each decide these are the most important gifts we will receive, and the ones we can share. 

So, let us treat these tricks to a sweeter treat, where we respect the bleed, we all eat, and we remain free.