Sowing the Seeds of Love

That's what I've been doing since late January. There are seedlings everywhere at the mo, in my greenhouse
in my conservatory
and already planted out in the veggie garden, growing like no body's business.
Whenever I do a spot of sowing that song by Tears for Fears always pops into my head; Sowing the Seeds of Love. And they are so right, that really is what we are doing.

Just think about it. What's a more loving act than feeding the ones you love? Life is precious and can only be sustained with food. Giving our loved ones good, healthy food keeps them healthy and happy too. I think that is one of the big reasons that growing your own food has made such a comeback. With all the rubbish in the supermarkets that is passed off as food, we feel the strong urge to grow our own to make sure that we keep our friends and families healthy and ourselves as well.
This feeding of our loved ones goes back a looooooooooooooooong way. There was a time when (wo)mankind were hunters and gatherers. Unfortunately the stress in our society has always been placed on the hunters so lets break the mold and focus on the gatherers. That's you and me, girlfriend!
While the menfolk were off hunting bears or boars or something of that ilk, the women went gathering nuts and berries and veggies and anything else edible that they could lay their hot little hands on. Women had to put food on the table and as the men were not always successful in the hunt (sorry, no mammoth steak today) us women had to make sure that there was enough food to feed all the hungry mouths.
This gathering malarkey went on for quite a while ( a million or so years or thereabouts) and must have been rather time consuming as you had to do everything on the hoof. A lot of thinking and planning was involved as well; you had to remember which shrub carried ripe berries at which time, remember at what time of year you could gather nuts and where, know when it's time to score some edible greens etc. It had to be done all on foot while keeping an eye on the kids as well; hey don't pull the tail of that sable tooth tiger, just leave that big kitty alone! Multi-tasking was the name of the game then too for us women..
The women who were best at this sort of thing had the best chance to survive and pass on their gathering and multi-tasking skills to the next generation (selection is the name of that game). Nowadays we women still possess those skills and that's why we are, for instance, so very good at shopping. We know where to find the best bargains, at which time of year (sale!) and we love bringing home all the goodies by the bagful. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it. ;-)
As I said, all that food gathering was very time consuming and one day a clever woman (it had to be a woman, right?) had this brilliant idea: why don't we grow our own food instead of wandering around hoping to find something to eat? That's how the first gardener was born and as she was a woman she thought not only of her stomach but of her soul/spirit too and she grew all the lovely food and beautiful flowers for the family.
And the women also figured out a way how to prepare all that delicious food once it was harvested and how to preserve it so that there was food in wintertime too.
And we're still doing it today, our methods may have changed a bit but the principle has stayed the same; growing food, preparing it and feeding our loved ones and ourselves with it. Is there anything more satisfying then having & sharing with our loved ones a scrumptious meal prepared with love and homegrown from the seeds of love?
Hot love with Dolly and nasturtiums

Keep on sowing and growing and cooking!

Sowing the seeds of love
The seeds of love
Sowing the seeds
An end to need
And the politics of greed
With loveTears for Fears

copyright 2008 Y.E.W. Heuzen

First of all in gardening, comes the preparation of the soil. Give the plants the food they need and plenty of water, and the blessed sunlight will do the rest. Helena Rutherford Ely, A Woman's Hardy Garden, 1903