The Seed Vol. Seven: The Garden Is Your Mother

A weekly invitation to transform from the inside out.

Happy Seed Day!

Here’s an idea (The Seed), a way to go deeper (The Soil), and a journal prompt (The Root) to explore..

I. THE SEED

The earth doesn’t just tolerate you—it loves you back.

This is not poetry. It’s observable.

When you plant a seed and tend the soil, something happens. The earth responds. It gives you food, medicine, and beauty. Not because you forced it—because you entered into a relationship with it.

Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, calls this “the ultimate reciprocity—loving and being loved in return.”

She writes that when she realized the land actively loves us, it changed everything. The garden’s abundance isn’t an accident. It’s generosity. It’s what good mothers do.

The Indigenous peoples of North America understood this through the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash planted together. Each gives its gift. The corn stands tall. The beans climb and fix nitrogen into the soil. The squash spreads wide, protecting moisture and keeping weeds away.

Alone, each is just a plant. Together, they become something greater than any could be on their own.

And the gardener? They call her the Fourth Sister. Because the garden needs us too.

II. THE SOIL

It doesn’t have to be a garden. It can be:

• A single potted plant on your windowsill
• A friendship you’ve been neglecting
• A corner of your home that needs care
• Your own body

Give it attention. Water it. Weed it. Show up for it.

Then watch what returns to you.

Reciprocity is not a transaction. It’s a relationship. And like all relationships, it begins with showing up.

III. THE ROOT

Where in my life am I giving without receiving?

Where am I receiving without giving?

What would true reciprocity look like in my relationships—with people, with work, with the earth itself?