What My Kitchen Garden Taught Me About Patience and Gratitude
Previous PostI may have grown up in an agricultural family, but I was not always a gardener. In fact, I grew into one.
Like most of you, my life has become increasingly fast-paced. Technology is everywhere, even in places where I don't really need it. We move quickly, work quickly and expect almost everything to happen instantly. And yet, look around any high-rise building and you will find balconies, windowsills and corners filled with plants. Why do we keep bringing them home?
I think it is because, somewhere within us, there is an innate connection with nature. We keep seeking a little bit of it in our increasingly urban lives.
And there are lessons that only a garden can teach you.
For me, two lessons have stayed with me more than any others: patience and gratitude.
You cannot start your seeds too soon, no matter how badly you want that first harvest. You cannot transplant a seedling outdoors before it is ready. A weak tomato seedling, for instance, may simply not survive a cold night. You cannot forget to prune either. Leave basil alone for too long and it will quickly turn its attention towards flowering rather than giving you the abundant leaves you were hoping for.
The garden constantly reminds you that there is a right time for everything.
And sometimes, despite doing everything right, you lose a plant.
I remember the relatively short winter of 2023–24 at the farm. Our cauliflowers started bolting earlier than expected, and there was little we could do except accept it. But while we lost some of what we had hoped for, the broccoli fields somehow made it through that short spell of winter. We were genuinely grateful for that.
That, perhaps, is the other lesson a garden teaches you: not everything will go according to plan, but there will always be something to be thankful for.
Maybe there is a part of your own life that feels a little like a garden right now. Something that needs more time. Something that didn't survive. Or something small that is quietly thriving.
Pay attention to it.
Be patient with what is still growing, and grateful for what already has.
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