planting seeds

The spring flower bulbs and garlic are going into the ground this week. Each year we plant a few more of both during the four weeks of Michaelmas. Admittedly, we are still finding our way into celebrating this “festival of the future.” But planting bulbs in the fall was an easy one. This year, in addition to the collection of crocuses, tulips, daffodils and hyacinth that we already have, we are adding Dutch Irises, Salome Daffodils, Mickey Mouse Tulips (a favorite of Lu’s) and Chionodoxa.

It seems almost every year, we miss a garlic bulb during harvest and it ends up resting in the earth for another season. To our surprise it pops up amidst the future home of tomatoes or squash. It is proof that we can never be certain when the fruits of our labor will fully ripen.  Sometimes they emerge at the most unexpected times.

As we tuck each of the flower bulbs into the cold earth, we know, with no uncertainty, that their colorful blooms will signal the return of the sun. As the natural world dies around us, we plant these seeds of hope. Knowing they are awaiting their moment of resurrection under the frozen earth, instills in us the courage to fill the darkening days with our human, light-filled endeavors.