I cannot say I always thought gardening was “therapy”. As a child I lived on a tree farm. In 1969 my father decided to change his career as a carpenter to an organic tree farmer. His family of a wife and 4 children joined him; it was a family tree farm. Organic growing methods were considered unconventional at that time. Dad believed most of the horticultural chemicals used on this earth were harmful for our environment; plants, animals, and humans alike. So my siblings and I were the herbicides and pesticides. We pulled out weeds with our gloved hands and picked bag worms off the evergreens.
Despite those hard years getting the tree nursery established, I later appreciated the conservative values I learned as a child grower, as well as the beauty of the outdoors and plant life. Today, I love flowers and growing plants organically. The rich rewards of the pink eye candy and fragrance of a peony bush outweighs the toil of tending to it. Gardening, and writing about it are my therapies from this complicated society we live in. I choose the simple life of gardening rather than to solve the world’s troubles. To me tending to plants as a farmer or gardener speaks James 1:2-5. “Consider it pure joy, my brother, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance…maturity.”
Woman Warrior 