Like a seed

For the past two weeks I've been doing a 'sub-rotation' in the Chadwick garden propagation area. In layman's terms that means I've intensively studying the system of plant sexual and asexual propagation as operated in the original Chadwick up-garden. Complete with aging greenhouses built by the apprentices of yesteryear, hand operated ventilation systems, ropes and pulleys, ancient thermometers, hand made flat boxes, and homestyle watering, the prop area, and indeed the garden itself; has won my heart. Indeed, I've quite fallen. I suppose I am yet just another devotee.

The prop area is tucked into the far corner of the thickly planted orchard-garden that is bewitched with plants, wildlife, and the possibility of magic around every curved branch and border path. The footprint of the garden is smaller than most parking lots and I still get lost trying to get from one side to the next. Hundreds of varieties of apples hinder my attempted straight lines, both in planting up beds and while meandering from one task to the next. My very nature is challenged by the layout. Perhaps that's why I've been won over. My heart likes the seemingly insurmountable challenge the garden presents. Just the slope alone would scare off most gardeners- and indeed, I'm just getting used to running up and down the hills with a full wheelbarrow. 

The best metaphor for my present state was eloquently plodded out by our resident Irish seed saver this evening- he described a seed. He said that seeds are at the middle place in a long line of ancestry, how many hundreds and thousands of plants and people lined it's history on it's way to becoming what it is now, and at the same time, it's holds the potential for an equally complex and beautiful future of co-evolution with ecosystems and humans. That's what the up-garden, and indeed my life at present feel like. A seed; perfectly balanced in between all of the experiences it took to get me to where I stand now- looking out to the future of a mass of experiences and growth yet to come. It's an exciting time to be a live.