Transplant Day

The snow banks are receding and there are robins in the trees! Spring is on its way…although we’re all still bracing ourselves for at least one more good snowfall 🙂 … insert sarcastic “hurray.” I know, I know…I’m usually the one whose super excited about snow and don’t get me wrong I LOVE snow…but my internal clock says it’s time for spring! 🙂

My actual calendar tells me it’s spring too (yes, I’m one of “those” people who still have a family calendar hanging in my kitchen #oldschool), but I can’t say I fully believe it’s truly here because none of my neighbors have started shoveling the snow from their lawns onto their driveways to make it melt faster! LOL No. I did not make that up. Yes. This is an annual event. I like to call it, “A Showcase of People with Too Much Time on Their Hands,” or, “Snow-b-Gone!” Whatever it is…in my world, it is this event that is the ACTUAL marker of Spring’s arrival.

In my home, the anticipation of warmer weather and sunny days comes in a different form…planting seeds! This past summer, I conducted an experiment. I Collected, cleaned, and dried seeds from several of the plants I grew as well as some of the veggies I ate, with the hopes of growing mature plants and harvesting more yummy veggies from them. And guess what!?!? It worked!!!! I was almost giddy when I saw the first signs of life poking up through the soil a few weeks ago and it’s been so fun to watch these little seedlings grown! Now, I’ll admit I did start these seeds weeks and weeks (insert a month!) before I should have, meaning the plants are going to be WAY too big, WAY too soon…the last frost here isn’t until the middle of May! Ugh…But now that they’re growing…I can’t bring myself to get rid of them…I feel bad…(plants have feelings too right?!) LOL

So! Today is transplant day! Disclaimer: no organs were involved in this event, plants only…although I could talk for hours about organ donation and transplantation.

Back to the plants. My little seedlings are ready for bigger pots, to grow deeper into the soil and stretch higher toward the sun. It almost feels like magic to watch a plant grow, especially one you’ve been watching since it was a seed.

As I was transplanting my tomatoes and peppers, I couldn’t help but see the parallels in my own life. I can get quite comfortable in situations where I feel confident, where I feel I’ve mastered a set of skills or have found my stride so to speak. It isn’t until I start to feel some resistance or some push-back to my thoughts/ideas that I realize I’ve hit a wall, there’s something (or someone…sometimes this someone is in fact me) in the way of my growth. Then, even with the exciting realization that there could be something new to do, or a new place to be, or new people to meet or new endeavours to take on, there still seems to be some natural resistance to change. Something telling me to just stay were I’m comfortable, stick with the familiar…know what I mean??

Have you witnessed the reaction a plant has just after you transplant it? You’d think oh boy, it’s going to be so happy (feelings…yes…they have feelings!). Not the case. Part of the transplanting process is to “loosen” the roots when removing the plant from its temporary home, as they often become tightly bound, sometimes even growing right into the pot they came from. This is hard on the plant. But with tenderness and intention, containers are removed, roots are loosened, and a bed of fresh soil prepared to give the plant its best chance of growing deeper and reaching higher. Even still, many plants will slump and droop for a day or two until they adapt to their new digs (see what I did there?!?). 

Oh boy. I resist this process in my life! It is hard to have your roots loosened, it’s terrifying to move to a bigger pot, especially when you know you’re not quite big enough for it yet. AND learning to adapt to new surroundings, new realities really does take time. But here’s the thing! Just like my plants will do in just a few more weeks…growth beyond what was possible in the smaller pots will be evident! My guess is I’ll have to transplant them into even BIGGER pots before it’s time to tuck their roots into my outdoor garden space.

I’m reminded to imagine what even a small change can make. By loosening up my roots I get a chance to re-evaluate where my purpose and where my strength comes from and perhaps sink deeper into a new knowing of who I am. With intention I can surround myself with fresh and enriched environments, giving myself what I need to grow. Here’s the part of the process I tend to forget – be tender with myself. Expect it to take some time when you step out, to adapt and even longer to thrive.

So…it’s off to the sink to see if I can remove the dirt from under my fingernails. Oh, I should really change my socks…seems like I got a bit carried away with the dirt and some of it ended up on the kitchen floor…you can fill in the rest 🙂 

Hoping new signs of life are popping up around you and the anticipation of new life is evident around every corner (figurative and otherwise!).