What Weeds Taught Me About Wellness

I decided my growing homestead skills call for a garden expansion. Instead of breaking new ground, I’ve been busy working on refreshing some old garden beds. Once rich producers, these beds failed to grow anything a couple years in a row, despite extra care and fertilizing. This summer, not wanting to waste energy on doomed ground, the beds have sat entirely untouched.

Until now.

With my sights set on an abundant harvest next year, my goal is to restore these beds to their former glory!

To find the root of the problem, I did some digging, literally. I discovered that the soil was hard, dry, uber-compacted, and devoid of anything living. Taking up the challenge, I’ve spent hours adding compost, cover crops, and mulch. Only time will tell if these efforts prove fruitful, but in the midst of the work I found a valuable lesson.

Bare soil is quickly covered with ‘weeds’ to protect and preserve the ground

Like any bare ground, the garden had developed an abundance of weeds. But not just any weeds, a variety of them, each known for soil-benefiting properties: Yellow Sweet Clover, White Sweet Clover, Red Clover (all nitrogen fixers); Prairie Fleabane, Canada Goldenrod, Wild Carrot (deep rooted, they aerate and prevent erosion); Hairy Aster and Common Milkweed (attract and support pollinators). 

Hopefully, with my efforts providing extra tools, this process of soil-restoration will be fast tracked (and more conducive to vegetable growing!) Meanwhile, it struck me how amazing it is that the soil was adapting and healing all on its own. The pesky “weeds” were actually acting as nature’s emergency services, coming in to restore ecological balance and preserve the ground below.

Following nature’s principles, I planted a more manageable cover crop and mulched heavily to protect and build the soil. The ‘weeds’ in the walk way were left intentionally as food the pollinators this fall.

That’s when it clicked: our bodies often work the same way. Pain, tension, fatigue? They’re not a betrayal, but a call for help, sometimes even a patch-job to keep us going until deeper healing can happen. The body isn’t working against us, often it’s actually doing everything it can to heal and survive. Our job is simply to provide the right tools! 

So whether it’s rebuilding soil or wellness, healing doesn’t always look pretty at first. It might look like weeds. But given the right support- good food, movement, rest, maybe even a massage 😉- you'll be well on your journey!