You Reap What You Sow!
By Susan Secakuku

The wonderful thing about organic gardening is you really never know what you are going to get.  Believe me, it took me some time to feel this way.  As we grow, we develop within ourselves and from those around us, great expectations of the things we involve ourselves in.  I know this is meant well, but in the case of organic gardening or farming, this philosophy doesn’t apply too well. You learn that there are too many aspects that you cannot control. So what do you do?  Let go, pray, have faith, continue on and don’t expect this year to be anything like the last.

Our children help themselves
to tomatoes everyday after school

I used to encounter the spring, over eagerly and very excited about the coming of the new season.  Not only anticipating, but expecting my potential harvest.  Come September, my reality was dealt many times over, with many things, like failed plants, because of late rains, or because of new kinds of pests, and/or plain ole’ neglect because you found yourself too busy with other things. By now, in September you find out that you reap what you sow. You realize the reality of your season, whatever that may be.

Susan and Selwyn's first
cabbage ever!

This year, our Hopi Spring lasted a long time. It didn’t get warm up like we generally expect it to, by April or May. Our Spring winds were also prolonged which killed early plants, that had to then be replanted again.  It was also a drier winter and spring, making it difficult to prepare to plant. This also led all the bugs and animals to seek out our plants because their normal native menu wasn’t available. So I started my garden very late this year. I remember putting tomato plants in the ground in late June. LATE JUNE!! I hoped that our last frost would come late so we could reap tomatoes. As the season went on, we found that hungry rabbits and squirrels mowed down our beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, and brussels sprouts after allowing us to see them come up beautifully. We lost half of our tomato plants to something that I still have not figured out what.  Our plants took a time to get strong.

But, every morning we would pray and give thanks for what we had. We dutifully hunted for squash bugs every morning and every night for about 1 month straight. We patched the hole in the fence where the critters were getting it. We would visit our garden daily to encourage the plants to keep on, keeping on! And slowly most plants came back and thrived!

Our daily harvest today!

So, today, you can imagine our happiness at the abundance of the food that we are harvesting. Every night we bring home green zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, small buckets of Hopi mawingwa (heirloom purple string bean) and Kentucky Wonder green beans, several handfuls of jalenpenos, Barker hot green chili, Hungarian wax peppers, and serranos chili’s, handfuls of pickling cucumbers, mini cajun bell peppers and red onions when we need it. And yes, our tomatoes are finally ripening, but we have plenty of green tomatoes too. We also harvest 2 dozen eggs every day from our hens.

Today, I am grateful that I no longer create expectations, but just work daily and see daily what I reap. I am grateful that this is a family affair and that we work, harvest and eat together. I am grateful for the abundance of good food that we grow for ourselves and share with others. I am grateful for the element of prayer that is so important in keeping the faith. Lastly, I am grateful that my love of gardening reminds me everyday, that I am not really in charge!