Late last summer in Kip’s and my community garden plot a mystery plant sprouted from our compost pile, and curious to find out what it might be, we decided to let grow.
And grow it did! Within a few weeks it had spread out to cover almost the whole garden, and since most of the other plants had begun to die down by then we just let it have its way. Judging by the leaves we thought it might be a pumpkin, a suspicion that seemed to be confirmed when small round fruits began to form.
As it turned out, though, they weren’t pumpkins. They were some kind of squash we were unfamiliar with, the name of which I discovered quite by accident while visiting a botanical gardens recently: Sweet Dumpling Squash.
Now that fall has come and the garden has died down, we’re feasting on the squash we didn’t intend to grow and finding it to be quite delicious, similar in taste to an acorn squash but sweeter.
The unexpected bounty which we had nothing to do with cultivating got me thinking about so many things in my life that come freely, gifts I haven’t earned but without which my life would be difficult if not impossible, like beloved friends who land in my path by sheer grace, like the air I’m breathing right now that I had nothing to do with generating, like all the ingenuity and artistry of generations past that weave their way through so many activities in a single day.
If you take time to think about it, it’s quite astonishing how many things bless our lives not because we earned them, but because someone or something expressed the potential they held within, whether a squash seed bursting forth into a thriving vine and putting food on our table or an inventor who well over a century ago made it possible for me to flip a switch on my livingroom wall and have instant light.
It’s easy to fall into the notion that life is about struggle and that it’s up to each of us as individuals to toil our way into bounty, but the renegade squash plant reminds me that abundance is at the very heart of creation and oftentimes our task is simply to make way for the blessings that want to sprout in our lives.
This Thanksgiving I am pondering the parable of the squash plant that grew so abundantly and unexpectedly in our garden simply because a small seed somehow landed in the rich nutrients of our composting kitchen scraps.
My prayer is that my eyes will always be open to such miracles of blessing, and that my heart will offer the rich soil of gratitude in which the Universe’s abundance can thrive.
Thank you for this beautiful story.
Judy, thanks for reading and responding. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Your story brought a smile to my face because the same thing happened to me this year! I have several raised beds for vegetables and this year, 2 plants sprouted in the last bed – volunteers. I thought they were watermelons because I had grown watermelons there 2 years ago. The leaves were large and varigated, and flowers enormous! I accepted these plants as gifts from God and let them grow. However, when the fruit matured, they were not the shape of watermelons! They were butternut squash! The seeds must have come from my home-made compost. Like yours, however, the squash took over the garden. I am cooking some of my last fruits for Thanksgiving. I was able to give 21 away to a local food pantry, give several to friends, and make enough curried squash soup to keep my family fed this winter.
I really like your perspective on this. These are my feelings that I wasn’t able to express as eloquently as you did. Thank you for sharing your gifts with us.
Rebecca, I love it! It’s fun, isn’t it, discovering what a volunteer plant turns out to be? We’ve just begun to eat the squash we harvested, though like you we’ve been giving some of it away. The great thing about winter squash is how long it will keep. I’m sure we’ll still be enjoying it weeks from now.
May you have a great Thanksgiving!
Patricia
Dear Patricia:
Loved your piece (as usual). I kind of disagree in one area though, that being “you had nothing to do with it”! In actual fact you took a very proactive approach, that being to NOT INTERFERE with the Universe’s plans. By deciding to let it grow rather than removing that pesky plant from your garden, the Universe rewarded your restraint by providing another example of what is possible if we stop trying to engineer our entire existence.
I have already forwarded it to several friends who were pleased to receive it. This is a wonderful message to remind us all how great this planet can be if we let it. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving & enjoy the squash.
Ed
Ed, I so appreciate your perspective, that not interfering is a way of being involved in the unfolding. I hadn’t really thought of it that way.
Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!
Patricia
Your delicious squash adventure reminded me of a time several years ago when I had a brief, surprising encounter with a new friend. It took nearly two years after our conversation which I accepted as good information to gradually come alive within me. I saw it as a blessisng and it gradually gave me the delightful experience to begin to express my deepest thoughts in poetry in my own way. It is “a blessing that wants to sprout in my life.” I can’t always share it like squash but it is good nutrition for myself.
Sue, what a wonderful perspective, that people and experiences can sow the seeds of possibility in us that may take time to sprout. Your comment made me think of a very potent dream I had decades ago. I knew it was an important one, but it was years before the dream’s meaning began to reveal itself to me, bringing the fruits of insight into my life.
Thanks so much for your observation!
Patricia