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The gardener
The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. – Alfred Austin
The life of this Mississippi girl became closely connected to gardening during the days which my mind was too young to remember. As a little girl, gardening was simply part of life. It wasn’t a choice, a chore, a burden, or even really an add-on to life. It was already a part of life.
In the Melby house, Saturday mornings were spent outdoors. We didn’t have cable TV until I was well into high school and the TV we did have was probably smaller than the screen I’m currently typing on (MacBook Air – small).
So, we went outside.
Where it all started
My dad is a Landscape Architect and professor at Mississippi State University by trade and a lover of all things plants. Throughout our childhood, he was constantly researching and writing books about sustainability, irrigation, and yes, gardening. Growing up in a house of research meant all four of us were, of course, participants. My sister and I became experts in installing irrigation systems and learning how to not puncture the tubing in the process (learned the hard way). Our household tested the boundaries of a sustainable household – “What would it be like to live without heat and air-conditioning in Mississippi?” Believe it or not, your body does adjust… And we helped my dad grow the biggest home food garden I’ve ever seen. We weighed every single piece of produce that came from the garden, contributing to a remarkable study on how to grow a garden to feed a family of four (more about access to this information later!).
And my mother – the ultimate Southern Belle. She has always had a way with plants, as most true southern ladies do. The way she could shape a hanging basket where vines were cascading and colors were exploding was like something out of Southern Living Magazine.
As I said, gardening was simply a part of life in the Melby household.
The Flower Business
Around 8 years old, my sister and I (with the strong encouragement of our dad) started a cut flower business. The flower of choice was the hardiest of them all – Zinnias. We grew rows and rows of zinnias in the summer, cut them, put them in the red and white enamel buckets and in the back of my dad’s lime green ’78 Dodge. This truck had holes in the floorboard and grass growing in the back. We sold flowers to all the local restaurants and businesses, the bookstore and hair salons, and even sold to the local florist, The Flower Company. These zinnias sold for “10 for $1” and let me tell you, we made bank! We made way more money than an 8-year-old knew what to do with.
Once she hit high school, my sister got too cool to do this, but I continued all the way through early high school with my cousin Mattie who lived across the street. That was our summer Saturday morning thing.
From the garden to the stage
The flower business began to fade away as a different entrepreneurial role took center stage, as did I. I picked up the mandolin at age 11 and joined a bluegrass band with my sister and two other guys. The music took off and we toured the southeast every weekend throughout high school. The day of my senior prom, we competed in a nation-wide competition and won. To make a very long story short, we took that as a sign to move to Nashville. I attended Belmont University where I received a degree in Music Business. After graduation, I discovered a heart for education.
Back to the garden
These days, my life oscillates between creativity, education, and nature. I am most at peace where I can cultivate the land and get my hands dirty. Part of the need to have gardening in my life is of course nostalgic and primordial for me, but the other part is the joy and fulfillment I get from time in the garden. When I spend a morning planting, harvesting, or even weeding, I feel like I just touched base with the purest form of all things good. When I come home from a challenging day and simply take a walk through my garden or sit on the edge of the deck close to the plants, I am given perspective on how distant the rest of the day might have been from God’s creation.
the benefits
So much of the work we do is convoluted, never-ending, intangible, and selfish. But a garden feels like a place apart from it all. A garden is a healing place. It is both a thing and an action. It’s full of failure and success and resets every few months. It teaches patience, dedication, and appreciation – something our fast-pace world sometimes forgets about. It reminds us what is real and what is not real.
All of these feelings – this is why I’m pushing gardening on each of you. I think the world would be a different place if everyone had a garden. For practical reasons, but mostly for reasons of the heart.
let's hang out
If you can’t have a garden right now because of circumstance, time, or land, that’s okay. You can follow along with me and pretend you are in my garden. But please do yourself a favor and set your sights on your very own oasis.
You deserve it.
Again, I repeat…
The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul. – Alfred Austin
I'll see you in the garden.
Sincerely,
Caroline
The Southern Belle Pepper