Parable of the Sower

The Parable of the Sower

 ¹ That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. ² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.



The contrast between our two gardens at this point in the summer brought this common parable of Jesus to mind. Each garden has a very different soil history. The garden at RAMERC has a rich history of very fruitful harvests. However, the last few years have been disrupted with construction on the pipes to the house. The soil had become very sandy and gravel-filled. We were able to make some early season soil amendments that involved layering manure and composted leaves on top of the sandy soil. This helped quite a bit. When we planted there, the soil amendments had been in place for a couple of months and new soil was starting to be generated. Very exciting! Our plants did very well here. . . at first. They are still alive and mostly healthy, but their growth is stunted. The effect of a few inches of good soil lasted about 3 weeks, now the plants are fighting for nutrients in the sandy soil beneath. We have hope for this year's crop, but our efforts may be focused on building soil for future years.

I hope these tomatoes have been putting
their energy into building some stealthy
roots!



Little Pole Beans



That corn is only shin-high by the 4th of July!
Andrew planted some more corn tonight,
hoping for a few more stalks!

Watering some pretty happy
greens and cilantro!

Our Curtis Park garden plot has been intentionally tended for many generations. We inherited a very nutrient-rich plot of land here! We did some soil amending here at the beginning of the season, however, we aren't able to take much credit for the quality of soil. As new gardeners, we are thankful to be working in such a plant-friendly environment!

Corn as high as Andrew's knees!



An artist in our garden made us a sign!





A shot at some of our tomatoes.

Beets beginning to show themselves!

Many things here: spinach, arugula, butter lettuce,
weeds, and an invasive tree.

No sign of squash, but these melon
seem happy!

Peppers and herbs doing well.

Little onions!



Our plot amongst many others!

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: ¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. ²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown."    Matthew 13

The good news about soil is that it can be amended. The quality of soil can be improved in many ways. We hope to be increasing the nutrient content of the soil at the RAMERC garden this summer. The Director at RAMERC has a tradition of raking all of the leaves that fall on the property into a pile and just letting that pile sit. After years of letting the leaves pile up, they have begun decomposing on the bottom and are continuously creating the best compost we have ever seen! We have also been taking our food waste over to this garden and are composting there as well. We hope both of these things will help to improve the soil in future years!

Some ideas to build garden soil: add soil amendments that improve its physical properties, such as water retention, permeability, water infiltration, drainage, aeration and structure. The goal is to provide a better environment for roots. Some great amendments are composted soil, mulch (wood mulch is our favorite!), shredded paper, old manure (the new stuff is to hot!), and planting a good amount of nitrogen-fixing plants (beans!).

Some ideas to build spiritual soil: receive God's nourishing message, soak up good teaching, ask hard questions, allow God's truths to infiltrate the rest of your life, seek strong relationships that maximize the growth God begins in you, uproot anything that isn't in alignment with God's teaching, love those who are hardest to love, forgive those who hurt or offend, submit to the Creator and sustainer of life.