When I got married, there were two textures I wanted nothing to do with: sand and dirt.
One of those has not changed, but that may be another story for another time.
I was perfectly content with a window herb pot. Minimal dirt. Beautiful herbs. I could not understand the necessity of hard-working people like my grandmother to kneel in mud and come up caked in dirt.
Then I started a Master's in Nutrition and my perspective shifted. Hear me, if you prefer a window herb pot, you grow those beautiful herbs and enjoy them! For me, however, it was at this point that I noticed a parallel between my resistance to getting my hands dirty and the need I had to work on myself from the roots up.
Prepping the soil. Manure (gross), Peet moss, tilling the ground, spacing out the plants. This is the work before the work, but nothing will prosper without it.
Planting. You have to create space. Without enough space, your plants will be choked out by other plants attempting to thrive equally.
Watering. Continual attention. Forget about the principle of watering for too long, and you have to start from square one.
Weeding. Get rid of those things that take nutrients from the more important plants (pun intended). And don't just grab the tops because those buggers will hang on and grow back. Yank those suckers out from the root!
Harvest. Nutrient-rich, satisfying, plentiful, enough to share, and sense of accomplishment. A feeling only rivaled by having enough dinner for lunch tomorrow.
So many parallels. All of these things in our daily lives, cultivating both health & balance. So, ladies and gents, I give you Cultivate, with hands caked in mud, so satisfied that I have more than enough to share.
I hope you find it worth cultivating in your life.
Let's do this,
Calah