by: Lisa Detweiler, YouthZone Operations Manager

This Summer volunteers and staff planted a vegetable garden at our office in Glenwood Springs.  One day in April, 20 volunteers helped dig up the soil and plant the first seeds.  How exciting when the first radish poked its leaves up through the dirt!  We watched and watered and sent photos to the volunteers.

As the next several weeks passed, things happened.  Other important projects needed attention.  Weeds grew.  The rows of vegetables weren’t perfectly straight or perfectly spaced.  It got hot, and the lettuce and radishes went to seed before they grew big enough to eat.

So, was it all over, because the vegetables didn’t ripen exactly when and how I wanted them to?  Or because my attention was drawn to other important things?  Or because it wasn’t perfect? Was it a waste of time
and energy?  Nope.  We planted some more seeds “too late” in the season.  We hoed and pulled weeds.  And today as I weeded the garden with another group of volunteers, I realized that against the odds, “too late” in the season, there are a few servings of fresh lettuce ready to pick.

No one is perfect.  But we all do our best, try new ideas and deal with the realities of daily life.  And when you aren’t expecting it and have given up, look for the seeds you planted in the soil you prepared to sprout into something new and different and positive.

Pictured: