The Garden That Grew Alongside My Health
Sometimes the Most Beautiful Things Start as a Weed Patch
If you've spent any time around me, you know I love my garden.
Not because it saves money (I'm still waiting to harvest my first $500 tomato of this season!) I love my garden because it reminds me of everything I believe about health, healing, and God's design.
Every morning, I wander through Sweet Pea Hollow, I harvest greens for our smoothies, admire the flowers, watch monarch butterflies drift through the garden, and marvel at the incredible diversity of life happening all around me.
It's one of my favorite parts of the day.
But it didn't start this way.
In fact, it started with weeds.
Lots and lots of weeds.
A Lump, Two Magazines, and a New Beginning
In April 2018, on my birthday weekend, my husband and I were camping at the beach in our little trailer.
At the time, I had recently discovered a lump in my breast. It had been there a couple of months, and I knew I needed to make a decision about it. It was heavy on my heart that weekend. I had been an avid student of natural healing for over 10 years at that point, and specifically, cancer treatment. I felt peace in my heart about digging into that research, and I was willing to give myself 6 months before seeking conventional intervention. You can read more about that on the My Story page.
I was a little scared, but I was determined, and I knew what was possible.
And I was ready to do everything I could to support my health.
While camping, we needed to get a couple of things from the grocery store, and as I wandered through, I picked up two magazines about whole-food, plant-based eating, and overall healthy lifestyle changes. I was already a very healthy eater, but I knew I needed to seriously up my game. I spent hours on the beach that weekend reading every page and felt something stirring inside me.
Hope.
Determination.
God’s leading.
By the time we packed up to head home, I knew I wanted to radically improve the way I cared for my body.
Somewhere during that weekend, another idea began to take shape.
On the drive home, I told my husband that I wanted to transform our weed-filled side yard garden into raised garden beds where we could grow more of our own food.
He didn't hesitate. Being the wonderful and supportive husband he is, he said, “Let’s do it!”
By that evening, the weeds were gone, and the following weekend, we built our first raised bed. The next weekend, we built two more. I bought the book Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and followed his soil recipe. You will notice the grid I made with string in the photo below. His method lets you plant much more in a small space, effectively. We installed irrigation lines, and then the fun began! We made a trip to our local nursery, and I picked all kinds of greens, kales, and collards, plus some tomatoes, cucumbers, and anything else I thought we could grow and would like to eat. And of course, pretty flowers, because the garden has always been about aesthetics as well as function for me. I loooove pretty flowers!
Looking back, I realize we weren't just building a garden.
We were building a new way of life.
The beginning of many Home Depot adventures!
The Garden and My Health Journey
Many people look at our garden today and see the finished product.
They see overflowing raised beds, baskets full of vegetables, flowers buzzing with pollinators, and monarch butterflies drifting through the yard. What they don't see are the years behind it. The weekends spent hauling lumber, building raised beds, moving wheelbarrows full of soil, learning through trial and error, and occasionally watching a plant fail despite our best efforts.
Gardens have a way of teaching patience.
Healthy things rarely happen overnight. A tiny seed becomes a towering sunflower. One raised bed slowly becomes many. Year after year, small efforts accumulate into something beautiful.
My health journey was a little different.
When I discovered a breast lump in 2018, I didn't slowly ease my way into healthier habits. I made a decision that weekend to completely change the way I was eating and living. I became 100% whole food plant-based, eliminated processed foods and added sugars, began juicing, and started paying attention to the daily lifestyle habits that support health.
The decision happened quickly, but the benefits continued to unfold over time.
More energy. Better digestion. Greater strength. A deeper appreciation for the incredible way God designed our bodies to respond when we consistently give them what they need.
Not everyone chooses such a dramatic path, and that's perfectly okay. Some people prefer smaller steps and gradual changes. Others jump in with both feet.
Either way, lasting health is built much like a garden—through consistent nourishment, day after day, season after season.
What Healthy Soil Taught Me About the Microbiome
One of the things I find most fascinating is how much healthy soil resembles a healthy microbiome.
As many of you know, the microbiome is one of my favorite health topics. The trillions of bacteria living within us influence everything from digestion and immunity to inflammation, metabolism, and even mood.
The more I've learned about the microbiome, the more I've come to appreciate the soil in my garden beds. I intentionally feed them each season, practice no-dig gardening, and don’t use anything artificial or any pesticides.
When gardeners want healthy plants, they don't focus solely on the leaves or flowers.
They focus on the soil.
Healthy soil is alive.
Billions of microorganisms are working together beneath the surface in ways we can't see. The richer and more diverse the ecosystem becomes, the healthier the plants growing above it.
Our bodies work much the same way.
Healthy foundations create healthy outcomes.
Whether we're nourishing the soil in our gardens or the microbiome in our gut, life flourishes when we support the ecosystem God designed.
Every time I dig my hands into rich compost or watch earthworms disappear into the soil, I'm reminded that some of the most important things in life happen beneath the surface.
What Started as Food Became Something More
One of the greatest pleasures has been watching the garden become a haven for Monarchs and other pollinators.
At first, I simply wanted to grow food.
Today, the garden provides many of the greens we eat each day. During much of the year, I harvest roughly a pound of greens daily for smoothies and salads.
But somewhere along the way, the garden became about much more than food.
It became therapy, worship, and wonder.
It became a place where I could slow down enough to notice things.
The first monarch caterpillar.
A bee covered in pollen.
The fragrance of sweet peas.
The intricate veins of a kale leaf.
The way sunlight filters through the flowers on a summer evening.
The garden has taught me to pay attention.
And in paying attention, I have found joy.
A Living Reminder of God's Goodness
One of my favorite verses is Genesis 1:29:
"Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'"
I see that verse differently now than I did years ago.
When I walk through the garden, I'm reminded that God didn't create a world of scarcity.
Everything works together in ways that are both beautiful and incredibly complex.
The more time I spend in the garden, the more convinced I become that creation itself points us toward health.
Not perfection.
Not fear.
Not obsession.
Simply a return to the wisdom woven into the natural world.
Beautiful Things Can Grow From Difficult Seasons
If you had told me years ago that a frightening health scare would eventually lead to fifteen raised garden beds, baskets overflowing with vegetables, monarch butterflies, and some of the most peaceful moments of my life, I would have smiled, because that is often how God works.
Difficult seasons become turning points.
Challenges become opportunities.
Tiny seeds become flourishing gardens.
Today, Sweet Pea Hollow is one of my favorite places on earth, and it reminds me that beautiful things can grow from difficult seasons.
Whether you're working on your health, rebuilding your life, healing from loss, strengthening your faith, or simply trying to create healthier habits, don't underestimate the power of small beginnings.
Plant the first seed.
Take the first walk.
Drink the first smoothie.
Make the next healthy choice.
Then trust God and ask him for guidance, strength, and wisdom.
You might be surprised by what blooms.
More Than a Garden
Today, that little weed-filled side yard has become a thriving garden filled with vegetables, herbs, flowers, pollinators, and more kale than two people could ever reasonably eat.
My own health journey has grown right alongside it.
More than eight years after making that decision to change the way I was eating and living, I still wake up grateful for the path God led me down. Not because everything has been perfect, but because I’ve experienced firsthand the incredible difference that nourishing food, healthy habits, time in nature, and faith can make.
The garden continues to remind me of something I never want to forget: healthy things grow when they are consistently cared for.
Whether we’re talking about soil, the microbiome, our physical health, or our spiritual lives, God designed growth to happen one day at a time.
