All I Needed to Know About Life I learned in the Garden

George is a retired teacher. NO, that’s not quite true. He’s still teaching. He spends his Saturday mornings teaching composting classes at the community garden center. He delights in getting his hands dirty, but enjoys even more watching the children get their hands dirty feeding the earth worms, turning the piles of compost and tending the plants in the multigenerational community garden.

He sits and talks with the kids about how math and science are a part of gardening. Then he shares a little gardening history, gives them little hands-on quizzes and talks about the difference between healthy home grown food and the junk found in their backpacks. Sometimes they will even prepare a salad, or share some of the fresh strawberries. He started this garden with the hope that the kids would come if it looked like fun. It succeeded beyond all expectations and now many of the kids bring their families along. Others have started their own family garden in the backyard at home. One family even lined the sidewalk with chile peppers and rainbow chard.

George, the kids and some volunteers made some interesting observations about the garden as an outdoor classroom. Part of this article came from their comments.

Why the Garden is Better Than TV
■ The scenes change faster than the images on the TV cartoons. Just watch a hummingbird.
■ There is real life terror, from flesh & blood monsters. I’m talking about fire ants, mosquitoes, hornets, spiders and snakes.
■ The music is fast paced and even more cacophonous than your favorite music channel, particularly when the cicadas and grackles are performing.
■ You can’t smell the TV screen like you can fresh moist earth, tomato vines or roses.
■ There are no reruns in the garden. Each season is different and unique, and each day comes with its own surprises, just waiting for you to discover.

Lessons Learned and Lasting Values Cultivated
In a society that seems to be preoccupied with values and virtues, perhaps we should turn to the garden for a few lessons. These are a few of the lessons we can learn from the people-plant connection, lessons for all ages.

Patience A thirty second sound bite doesn’t teach us how to wait for results, but growing roses and tomatoes does.

Planning ahead Part of gardening is preparation for the future. We have to formulate expectations and then work toward them. Knowing that we can actually influence the future is empowering, for both children and adults.

Responsibility The plants in the garden depend on us for water, care and sustenance. We soon learn the consequences of failure to meet our responsibilities, but we also experience the joy that comes from fulfilling these obligations.

Cooperation We learn not only to cooperate with others, but also with the forces of nature, the climate and even the plants themselves.

Handling disappointment We experience both success and disappointment in the garden. Sometimes we know loss through no fault of our own. Life doesn’t always happen the way we wish it would. We all must learn to accept and grow from loss. We also have to learn how to graciously accept the gift of success.

Faith It takes a lot of faith to plant a seed and expect to smell a flower or taste the salad sometime in the future. This act of gardening also requires confidence in ourselves and trust in the future.

Confidence We learn in the garden that we can be a part of the growth process, in both ourselves and the living things that we are cultivating. We learn that we can succeed. Confidence is the seed that produces such beautiful flowers as pride and self-worth.

Empowerment In the garden we are empowered by making decisions, experiencing success and being in a partnership with the Creator.

We may think we are cultivating a few flowers, herbs or vegetables, but the real harvest is ourselves. We all have a lot to learn, and teach, in the garden. If you want to discover these lessons for yourself, take a child by the hand and work with him or her in the garden. It will all come to you, each virtue in its own season.

Adapted from Garden Projects for the Classroom and Special Learning Programs,
by Hank Bruce & Tomi Jill Folk, published by Petals & Pages Press, 2004, petals_pages@msn.com