Deeper Roots

Have you ever been thinking about something and your mind just goes from one thought to the next?  The thoughts are all tied together.  But the first has nothing to do with the last. That happened to me a couple of days ago.  And suddenly that light bulb over my head lit up and I thought, "I'm going to have to write a blog post about this!"

Now, as I said, that was a couple of days ago, so I have no idea what I was thinking about at the time.  But I do remember the part about the roots. And watering the garden.  Maybe that's where it started.

Our garden is about to take over.  Once again, I planted the tomatoes way too close.  And as usual, during the very hot and dry weather this summer, we only watered them two or three times.  The pepper plants in the containers got watered more often. But the tomatoes were left to their own devices, to survive or die as they might.  And they survived.  Every single stinkin' last one of them.

Do you know why they survived? Not because we watered them, but because we didn't.  The tomato plants had to sink deeper roots to draw moisture from deep in the soil.  The deep roots received not only moisture and nutrients from the soil, they also received stability.  The plants grew slower during the dry spells.  But they grew stronger with the nourishment they received and the stability provided by the deep roots.

What has this got to do with anything?  Well, I'm not sure now what it had to do with what I was thinking of a couple of days ago.  But this concept can be applied to many aspects of our lives.  The similarity between the tomato plant story and the support provided by our families is pretty obvious.  And I'm sure you can find ways to apply it to other areas of your life.

I see similarities in our knitting/spinning/quilting/love of arts and crafts communities, too.  I'll tell you a little about my situation and how it applies to me.  I work from home and don't get out much.  For the most part that's fine.  But when I started knitting again, I missed the companionship of other knitters.  When I wanted to learn a new method of casting on, I didn't have a friend close by that I could ask to show me. I was in a 'knitting' drought.  I had to look elsewhere for what I wanted.  That 'elsewhere' was the internet.  Then I discovered a great river of knitting.  I sank my roots deep into that moist soil and began to grow. And get stronger.  And more confident.  The nourishment I received from putting down those deep roots to get what I needed where it was (rather than waiting for it to come to me) gave me stability.

I now see the knitting/spinning/quilting/love of arts and crafts communities growing and spreading.  People like me, who once made our way to the internet to find what we couldn't find in our home towns, are now meeting in person to share their love of their crafts.  Because of the deep roots, nourishment, and stability, we are now finding one another and adding to our numbers.

And my tomatoes are, too.  Adding to their numbers, I mean.  There are quite a few ripe tomatoes that need to be picked and canned. I better get busy!