Why do we plant a garden? If it’s for the vegetables and flowers, wouldn’t it be easier to go to the Farmer’s Market each weekend where you can find the freshest vegetables and flowers - and not even get your hands dirty? Obviously, growing a garden is about more than the produce it provides. Some people would go so far as to call gardening a spiritual endeavor. It can teach us about nature, beauty, patience and the seasons of our lives. It’s where we can go to slow down our lives and find a quiet place within us. It can also be a place to share common experiences, life’s stories, and the fruits of our labors.

Gardening can be seen as a metaphor for life. It reminds us, that “There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.” Ecclesiastes 3:2. Nature does not concern itself with our busy schedules. We can’t rush a vegetable to ripeness any more than we can keep a blossoming flower from withering away when its season is over. A garden teaches us to nurture, but also to let go of things that we can’t control.

When my father suffered a stroke this past spring, I came home and planted a vegetable garden - something I haven’t done in the 20 years I’ve lived here. I saw a sign for a community garden and rented the very last plot, although the last thing I needed was more chores to do. But it was comforting to dig in the dirt, plant something and watch it grow. It gave me a sense of accomplishment to pull weeds and time to contemplate. To me, a garden is a hopeful endeavor. No matter how successful our gardening adventure was last year, each spring gives us another chance to do it right and have a garden like never before.

There are flowers in my family that have been passed from one relative to another; one generation to another, dug up from one house and moved to the next. They connect us to people even after they are gone and give us a sense of history. My family had dozens of dahlia and gladiola bulbs that required digging up in the fall, planting indoors in the spring, planting outside, and staking so they didn’t fall over. Personally, I could never seem to keep anything from one year to the next unless it came up on it own accord. But maybe this year I’ll keep a few of dad’s dahlia bulbs in my basement and see how it goes.

Teresa Nowak has been attending St. Joans for nearly 10 years and also belongs to a Small Christian Community. Professionally, she works as a technical trainer and consultant for a large business software company. She has done some technical writing and web design, but this is her first experience as a web reporter & photographer. When she's not writing about the St. Joan's garden, she can often be found tending the perennial gardens around her own home in NE Mpls, rollerblading, golfing, or traveling somewhere off the beaten path. Teresa can be reached at tnowak@isd.net.

This garden journal is dedicated to my father, a devoted gardener and dahlia lover. 1918-2004.

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