Seeds: A Gardener’s Origin Story

Growing starts with seeds, obviously. And I think of a seed like a single thought. Both start from a tiny speck and can blossom into an incredible, productive, life-giving entity.

When I think of the promise inside a single seed, amaranth comes to mind. This is a plant with massive global significance, as it was a staple in Mesoamerica and for the Aztecs. The seeds can be popped like popcorn, cooked into a porridge, ground into flour, and have high levels of essential minerals, fiber, and protein. The young leaves taste like spinach or Swiss chard and are also highly nutritious. I haven't grown it solely for food but for cut flower bouquets, drying for crafts, and dye.

A single amaranth seed is TINY at 1.3 millimeters in diameter. Yet it can grow (depending on the variety) to 9 feet tall with extremely heavy flowering seed heads and stalks like a small tree. This crop is so easy to grow from seed, adaptable to climates all over the world, and has gained the reputation as a 'plant that could feed the world.' It is the definition of the amazing abundance that can come from a single seed.

One of my favorite varieties- Opopeo

The promise of a thought is similar. A single, tiny, seemingly insignificant thought can keep someone playing small their entire lifespan. OR it can change a pattern, the daily self-talk, therefore reality, and blossom into a life lived to the fullest through intention, integrity, and to the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: SELF-ACTUALIZATION. This is powerful shit, my friends!!!

Self-actualization is the ability to reach your full potential as a human and embody everything you are capable of. I believe this fits in perfectly with the Holistic theory as they go hand in hand. Imagine the potential each one of us would have if we were to change one small, limiting thought pattern into a positive one, capable of causing a ripple effect in everyone that surrounds us. This is healing. ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

This brings me to a gardener’s origin story.

When I was 21 I worked in a restaurant that specialized in Tuscan cuisine (fresh, local produce, wild game, handmade pasta). One night before service we went over specials and someone brought down an heirloom tomato salad for us to try. This was over 20 years ago, when heirloom produce was just coming on the scene where I lived. Heirloom produce is from older seed saved through generations for their exceptional flavor and other qualities like regional adaptation (ability to thrive in that location).

I didn’t care for raw tomatoes at the time since I had mostly just tasted the grocery store versions- pale, flavorless, and mealy.

I took one bite of these golden, green-striped, and deep blood-red tomatoes and my mind was blown!!! I had to know who grew these.

So I found the vendor, went to the Soulard Farmers Market the following Saturday to meet her, and asked if I could work on her farm. The farmer- an older, stout, somewhat grumpy woman was not impressed. She looked me up and down, thought for a minute, then reluctantly agreed to give me verbal directions to her organic farm across state lines and down the road from the giant Monsanto plant.

That summer I worked my restaurant job and on Arlene’s farm, a beautiful piece of land owned by her late grandfather. The land was fertile and she had transitioned it to organic years prior. The soil was absolute butter and I would transplant baby seedlings in it barefoot, harvest, plant, prune, strip flowers, and pick her many rows of juicy, fragrant, colorful, incredible tomatoes whose seed mostly came from Italy.

It was long hours, incredibly hot and humid, very physically demanding, and at the end of that summer I would walk away from that job forever changed.

Plants and growing food continued to have a pull on me since and I’ve always managed to grow some food on a large or small scale since then. I now grow a 10,000 sq ft organic garden filled with produce, herbs, and cut flowers that feed our family year-round. It has become incredibly important to me to provide a clean, wholesome food source for us and working in the soil gives me gifts I can’t quantify.

It eases anxiety, makes me grounded, invokes gratitude for the beauty and wildlife around me, and sparks my horticultural curiosity while growing nearly everything from seed.

Amaranth & several types of basil seedlings

It is also a shit-ton of work and can leave me frustrated- cursing at irrigation when it’s 109 out and a line blows, or taking it out on the squash bugs irrationally. I keep coming back, however, because it’s amazing.

Someone said to me recently; ‘You sure do a lot of work out there just to be healthy’. Guilty🙋‍♀️. Because our health is all we have, and I happen to like plants and getting my hands dirty so it works out well.

I place a lot of importance on where our food comes from. With the degradation of soils worldwide and with it a lack of nutrients- I feel this is one way in which I can give my family what their bodies need now to set the stage for a healthy future. There are lots of challenges in the modern world, but also so many opportunities for beauty and thriving. I believe growing plants is a small but heroic act with the potential to change the planet for our children.