On Gardening and Being Grounded

I had gotten home early from work, and the weather was too nice not to be outside! In that earliest part of spring in Montana, the main thing that needed to be done was preparing the garden plot for planting. The weeds were already 6 inches high, but the soil was moist underneath yet warm in the afternoon sun. I spent a pleasurable hour getting the weeds pulled from half of the rows, and was happy to have been productive while enjoying the sunshine.

Typically thought of as a chore, there are many benefits to weeding a garden. I was outside enjoying it so much, that I started to think of all the reasons that weeding is rewarding. Yes, it can be dirty, and perhaps in other states weeding puts the gardener in contact with a lot of insects! Sometimes it seems like there are things more worthwhile to be doing.

Approached with a thankful, optimistic attitude, here are some of the reasons that weeding is so beneficial:

Some say that your bare skin {like feet or hands} having direct contact with the earth provides “grounding” to your body–or a positive, healthy electrical current. Manmade electricity is not the most healthy type (though often quite necessary in our world), but the earth’s electrical current counteracts the manmade electrical currents around us, and boosts our health and our body’s electrical balance.

Touching soil with bare skin puts us in contact with many good minerals and microorganisms that are believed to build our immunity. Some scientists believe that children today have lessened immunity that goes along with their lessened contact with soil and dirt and other earthy, natural things. Playing in the dirt from a young age, and keeping contact with it as we grow older–such as through farming or gardening or landscaping–are important ways to support your body’s inner biology.

Weeding soil as preparation for growing a garden participates in one of the most basic of human needs: food from the earth. The growth of food is what sustains us. Participating in this cycle is one of the most fundamental and elemental things we can possibly do. Not at all a mundane chore, gardening should be seen as one of the richest and noblest pursuits. Even if we don’t grow all of our own food, which most of us don’t, having a hand in the crop cycle teaches us, reminding us of what is needful to life itself.

Building on the last point, touching the earth so closely can also remind us of all of the other people in the world that rely on the same surface for their resources and sustenance. Going about our daily lives and jobs, it’s easy to focus on what is right in front of us, and the people around us {if that!}. But when I was digging up the roots of dandelions that afternoon, it was so much easier to be thinking of God, the giver of all our gifts, as well as other people, whom he also sustains by His grace and the goodness that comes out of the earth.

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It’s good to have contact with soil now and then–or a lot, if possible. Not only can you accomplish productive work and prepare for the harvest of garden vegetables, but fingering the soil is healthy for us. Biologically, it gives us a healthy electrical balance and a boosted immunity. Philosophically, it reminds of us of the basic things that will always be important and present with us: the need for God’s provision; our need to eat; and our commonality with all of the other people on earth.

P.S. Don’t spray weeds with toxic chemicals. Just pull them or hoe them or mow them. And preferably with your bare hands, not gloves. My little trick to pull thistles without gloves {provided they aren’t enormous} is to reach just under the surface of the soil, where there aren’t any prickles on the stem, and pull straight up so the taproot doesn’t break. This works for stubborn dandelions, too.