Truffles and Tomatoes: Sowing the Seeds of Spring by Omkari Williams
Spring is on the way and after a winter with even more alone time and isolation than normal, thank you Covid, the Earth is starting its process of bringing renewed life to the world. If you look closely you can see the beginning of what will be the new green of leaves, and the air is already feeling softer than even a couple of weeks ago.
I love what each season has to offer. Though autumn is my favorite, spring has a lot to be said for it. When I let myself sink into the natural energy of spring I find that, I, too, am coming back to life in different ways. I’m feeling more like seeing people, doing things, and sowing the seeds of what will come to be harvested later.
Life is often so busy that we can miss the opportunity to think about what we want the next few months to look like. When I lived in the back of beyond on 50 acres in upstate NY, this time of year was about planning the garden. What did we want to grow? What vision of our garden were we interested in bringing to life?
What I’ve learned is that way of thinking doesn’t only have to apply to an actual garden. It can guide the planning of our lives, as well. What is it that we want to bring forth in this season of renewal and newness?
Especially in this time of Covid, when so many things aren’t available to us, it feels even more important to be intentional about what we are planting. The nature of this being a global pandemic reminds us of how truly interconnected we all are. What happens in Italy, France, South Africa, or the UK will impact us here in the U.S. But even when we aren’t dealing with a pandemic, we are connected to others both close to home and far away.
Bringing that perspective about what to sow will affect the choices that we make. We won’t only think about our specific corner of the world, our individual life, we’ll think about the impact on our family, our community, and the larger community of humankind and the planet.
What seeds do you want to sow? What has worked for you in the last year and what hasn’t?
What are the things that you’ve noticed, maybe for the first time, that do and don’t work for the larger community? What would you change? How might that look, both personally and beyond?
What is the vision that you hold for these next months as we climb out of the darkness of winter and into the light and warmth of spring and summer? What learning, physical materials, support would you need to do to make that vision real? Also, what role does patience play in your plan? There are things we sow that won’t be ready for harvest for quite some time. Truffles take years before they are ready to be dug up and eaten, tomatoes grow and ripen quickly. What are the “truffles” that you are ready to plant, nurture, and be patient about? What are the “tomatoes”?
As you think about the season to come be sure to have both the slow maturing and the quick ripening seeds in your life garden. There is a satisfaction from the long game that makes the quick one even sweeter, and vice versa.
It’s your garden, your life. What will you fill it with?
Omkari Williams is a speaker, writer, podcast host, and certified creativity and life coach. Her passion is teaching people to use their stories as a tool in changing social policy. Omkari says, “Our stories are bridges between us and others and can be immensely powerful in creating societal change. Yet the stories of so many have been neglected. When we learn how to leverage the power of our collective stories we can create meaningful change and help bring justice to the world.”
On her podcast, Stepping Into Truth: Conversations on Race, Gender, and Social Justice, she interviews people doing activist work in areas from Abortion Rights to Zero Plastic Waste.
Her writing has been featured online by Elephant Journal, My Empowered World, Women For One, and Tattooed Buddha and in print by Savannah Magazine and Paprika Southern.
Connect with her at her website, on Instagram, and on Twitter.
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