Water. Food. Movement. Rest. Relationship.
These, to me, are the core needs of a plant that taught me about our core needs too.
There are plenty of smart people that have created theories about human needs, but this is simple and thorough enough for me to understand and use.
When I first tried starting seeds myself, there were many years of trial-and-error…
I felt like an idiot and a genius at athe same time. Every time I figured something out, it felt miraculous - then there was a new issue waiting to unfold.
I put seeds in dirt and watered diligently…almost nothing came up.
Seeds need light! Ok, I strapped lights above my trays and tried again.
I got some germination! But I had leggy seedlings that wouldn’t thrive.
Ohhh, the position of the light matters – the seeds sense how far away it is! Amazing.
So I moved my lights closer, I left my lights on day and night, thinking that would make things faster or better somehow. It didn’t.
The day and night cycles are important to theplant’s understanding of time. Amazing.
Then I learned humidity affects things…and warmth…and wind!
They’re needed at some times and a death sentence at others –and I had to learn.
All of these elements I drove myself crazy trying to learn to manage for these little seedlings boiled down to water, food, movement, and rest... The relationship part was harder for me to figure out, but as I learned more about soil health it was obvious that no organism operates alone.
The simplest elements for our survival are all SO necessary that our bodies
know how to adapt when we fall short of our needs - but that doesn’t last
forever. Our bodies break down over time when they are not tended to, slowly but
surely depleting the nourishment we’ve stored. Tiny baby plants (cotyledons if
you’re into cool words) have a shorter feedback loop because they don’t have
resources stored up for managing survival.
This season, while we faithfully tend to our plants we are also tending ourselves.
Are you dreaming about starting your garden? Considering starting seeds?
Join our FREE Spring Garden Talk on April 1st at 4pm!
e-mail hello@vitalgroundfarm.com for more info
or
watch for the announcements we'll be posting here