It has been a great week so far. This week I had a little well up of emotion. I went out on the deck and gazed at my pepper plant. For the first time it really sunk in that I have little peppers hanging from the plant’s delicate branches. I leaned in closer and stared at them for longer than a normal person would do, when I felt a well up of emotion inside me.
Many of you may be thinking how could looking at a pepper plant possibly make you emotional, unless you know ‘it’s that time’ again? You see, I have never really grown anything successfully like that before. I have had very few plants survive the amount of care I’ve given them.
One such plant being a small Christmas tree from 2 years ago that we planted in a pot to live on our deck after Christmas. It’s my baby Spruce as I like to call it. I have a very special place in my heart for Blue Spruce trees. So much so that when we were discussing names for my daughter before we knew the sex, we could not think of a boy’s name to save our lives. We had already used our favorite boy’s name on my son 3 years earlier.
My husband and I were totally that couple that had a girl’s name and a boy’s name picked out very early, possibly even before we said I do. Anyhow, we couldn’t think of a boy’s name so I suggested Spruce based on my special love for those trees and the fact that it was going to be a winter baby. My husband thought that was H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S! Of course like any woman would do I defended myself with the typical response “Well it’s not like you are not coming up with anything!” To which he said if that is the direction we are going we could name him x, y or z, which I will not reveal here because all though it produced a laughing fit it is not very appropriate 😉
This pepper plant is the very first plant I have ever grown on my own that has produced any source of food, without counting the help of parents as a kid or assisting at Patricia and Aaron’s vineyard. I’m a late bloomer when it comes to growing plants, and although I did not start it from seed or anything like that, I am still very proud of myself.
I never thought growing your own food could be so rewarding. You feel attached to it almost, and I am sure eating something you grew yourself will induce another set of emotions altogether. I know I need to settle down because it is not like I ran a marathon or anything, although in my mind I kind of feel like I did! If growing a pepper feels this good I can only imagine…lol!
I found unexpected happiness in one small simple thing, keeping a plant alive long enough to produce flowers then peppers. For me it is a sign of hope. This girl who has never been a huge fan of dirt or getting dirty with a wild dream of one day owning a Christmas tree farm with many, many blue spruce trees, and a pumpkin patch because… oh my gosh who doesn’t love pumpkins?!?
I am growing my very first pepper. One small step for mankind! Maybe there is hope? Maybe I could nurture a field of trees, pumpkins, and in the dream of course there are beautiful flowers and herbs too. Feeling humble I’m brought back to
‘Think big, start small’…
The dream continues…
What about you? Have you ever found unexpected joy in nurturing a plant? Have you taken a small baby step that made you feel closer to your dream?
