While weeding a long bed of cabbage the other day at a farm down the road, I thought of how sore my back was going to be, how sunburnt my face was, and how much I wanted to go and grab a popsicle from the freezer. I had thought that I had made so much progress, but when I looked up, I still had almost three fourths of the row to go.

With that sight, I went to the freezer and I grabbed myself a popsicle.

On my way back out to the cabbage, a painted quote caught my attention. It read, “To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.”

I had found my purpose again in weeding the cabbage. Not only was I helping give the cabbage room to grow and to be plenty, but I was giving my time to a purpose that was much bigger than my own. It was for the purpose of providing to the community that seeks the fresh and clean vegetables. It was for the purpose of continuing the history of gardening and farming.

To plant a garden of any size, shape or variety is to believe and hope that it will grow and it will prosper. The thought, the planning, the seeding, and the waiting that goes into a garden is incredible.

It is incredible not only because the work is tedious and time-consuming, but because it is based off of knowledge, experience, and the hope that those will come together to produce a bountiful harvest. The hope must be held onto throughout the wet and dry days, the sneaky nature of weeds and pests, and the patience for the seeds to grow.

And that is only the first part of seeing hope in a garden. The second part is in the community that surrounds the garden.

Through being a part of the gardening club at school and now helping out with the farm down the road, I have been immersed into communities of friendship, wisdom, and encouragement.

We join together to support the harvest and to support each other. The exchanges of laughter and knowledge prove that communities are created wherever there are open hearts and minds.

Expanding beyond my own experiences, the communities behind gardens and farms continue to bring together a diverse range of people that can come for all different reasons but, in the end, join together for the common purpose of growing and of sharing.

I believe that gardens and farms offer so much to their immediate communities with their hard work and their deep faith, and they also give back to communities that are much larger than their own.

The hope of the future is seen in the eyes and the hearts of the gardeners that plant it.