Have you ever wished you were good – or even really great – at a certain skill? Then, as you attempt to acquire the skill -- strong in resolve and certain of success – you discover that despite your best efforts, your technique is merely mediocre?
I am 30 years old, and I keep repeating this experience, in relation to…. gardening. Honestly, I grew up with a strong agricultural background, so I have little excuse. And, I find it frustrating, at best. My grandparents, and generations before them, made their living (some of them very successfully) by raising crops and feeding livestock on their land, and I can’t even grow a cucumber in the proper shape. I have had some limited success, but practically speaking, I know very little of what my grandparents knew about growing. I do, however, have an ongoing love affair with horticulture that I’ve concluded must be innate. The contentedness that comes with sinking my hands into the soil, that protective feeling I develop over a bed of vulnerable blooming plants, the satisfaction of scrubbing dirt from under my fingernails after a productive weeding session … all are sensations that can’t be reproduced, and, I wonder, may only occur to those with an instinctive connection to the land.
Because I grew up in a family with a rich farming heritage, and subsequently married into one, I am familiar with several rural sayings that are supposed to give us guidance, such as why corn needs to be “knee-high by the Fourth of July” (in order to harvest before the frost); how March, if it “comes in like a lion, will go out like a lamb” (and vice versa); and that “when the new leaves are the size of a mouse’s ear, the suckers will be running” (OK, that last one might mean different things to different people, depending on perspective!). I also appreciate how farmers can seemingly predict when it’s going to rain or storm, when a winter will be especially cold, or when the last frost has yet to arrive. It seems like magic, but it’s developed through observations and a level of experience with which many of us are somewhat out of touch. While I am very grateful for my current position in life, sometimes I wish I weren’t quite so far removed from the necessity of knowing that information.
Luckily, in my pursuit of such knowledge, not only do I have the world wide web at my disposal (one absolutely key advantage), but I also have advice and stories from my dad, which I plan to share on my blog. I’ve also noticed that I may have some flickering remnant of my grandmother’s green thumb (with select flowers only so far). I’ve done a little experimenting in the last couple of years, and I plan to take steps to learn more in the next year or so, documenting my experiences and observations along the way.
I am not planning to write a “how-to guide” to gardening, nor am I making any claims of expertise on anything I discuss. In fact, this blog will be quite the opposite –it’s meant to be an exploration of what I don’t know, a discovery of what I want to know, and, primarily, the general application of what I love most -- learning. God did not find it appropriate to give me the natural aptitude, resources, and – most of all – the patience – to be a farmer or even a successful gardener, but He did decide to give me curiosity to learn, which I get to exercise frequently in my hobbies, and fortunately, in my real-life (paying) job.
While I don’t plan to exclusively write about gardening, I believe it is through cultivating my vegetables, flowers, and herbs that I can more appropriately appreciate my circumstances and reflect upon stories of the past. The name of this blog represents two parts of a plant – the new growth and the established core. Each of us is like a small branch – little offshoots from a larger organism, each reaching out to make our own pathway into the sunlight. However, we wouldn’t exist without a deeply entrenched foundation. Remembering my roots, horticulturally speaking, may even provide me a fresh perspective on more than just plant life.
Lastly, I am writing this blog partly for myself, but I am also writing this blog to connect with others. In general, I am a rather private person, who feels somewhat uncomfortable with the over-sharing that social media encourages. However, I am a writer at heart, if not in talent– a writer who is finally admitting she needs to get out and practice her craft outside of her little cubbyhole in the world as much as she needs books and reading and wordplay. And I need constant reminders that readers need to find material interesting and relevant – therefore, a blog seems the most sensible next step right now.
Feel free to drop in on me now and then to see what I’m up to, or make suggestions about similar topics you’d like to read about. My hope is that, just as these tulips broke through the weeds to bloom in my rough and messy flower garden, this blog will push me forward as a writer into new (and enjoyable) territory. 
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