Tending the Garden
August 27, 2025
Closing the Garden
September 10, 2025
Harvest time is when your hopes meet results. You germinated, planted, and tended; now it is time to gather the results of your efforts. There is a lot to be done in this stage of the process. Do the work of harvesting. Take note of your yield. Celebrate the wins. Preserve and share your results. Harvest is energy made visible: flowers open, fruit ripens, projects reach completion. Not everything you plant will bloom. As we move through liminal times outcomes are never guaranteed. Pause to appreciate the results of your labor.
Do the Work
Harvest season is a lot of work in a concentrated period of time. You have waited for roots to grow and buds to form. You have put time in the process of tending. Now everything seems to ripen all at once. At first you have a scattering of tomatoes, just enough for a salad, then one afternoon every single tomato turns red. Just as you get sauce going the zucchini takes over the garden threatening to squash you. Business success can happen in the same way. After years of slowly building visibility, suddenly you have a full calendar and the phone is still ringing. This is when your experience, or the advice of an expert, is helpful as you figure out how to manage the abundance.
Take Notes and Save Seeds
Another yield during this time is knowledge and seeds for future growth. Take notes of what went well and what didn’t work to mull over at a later time. The tomatoes at the south side of the garden were the ones with the biggest yield. The peas seemed fine until that dry spell. Your new clients share how they heard about you. Outsiders may say, “you are so lucky, you are an overnight success.” That’s not true; take note of what worked and how your process influenced the outcome. Save seeds from the best to use in the next cycle. Pay attention to what supplies you have needed during the harvest so that next time you aren’t running out to buy mason jars in the middle of the night. Gather your knowledge, and seeds for future use.
Celebrate the Wins
Stop and savor the outcome of your work. Eat a tomato right off the vine. Marvel at how dirt, water, and sun have created this delicious bit of Vitamin C. You are harvesting this project while others are being tended. It is easy to rush from one goal to the next without taking time to notice success. Linger a bit after the work is done to appreciate the results. That pot of tomato sauce bubbling on the stove: stop to enjoy the color, savor the smell, taste the spices, and acknowledge the work that went into its creation. You did that. Feel proud of your work. Stop at the end of the day to notice what you have accomplished. Congratulate yourself and all those that helped you.
Preserve or Share
A healthy garden often produces more than you can use. Preserve or share your abundance. Hand out tomatoes to friends and neighbors or freeze sauce. Consider who might need your excess. In business, find colleagues who need referrals rather than create waiting lists for customers. Or hire someone, creating a new job in this economy. It is easier in the short run to toss the extra tomatoes in the compost heap but that does not add to your long-term well-being or enrich your community. Preserving or sharing your abundance builds resources. It extends your growth outward, strengthening your life and the community around you.
After tending comes harvest, when promise and anticipation meet results. You have been through germination, planting, and tending to get to this season. This is a season of intense labor to bring in the results. Take notes to learn from your efforts. Pause to celebrate and appreciate your results. Take time to rest as you go, asking for help along the way. Preserve and share the excess to enrich yourself and your community. Harvest isn’t the end. It is the bridge into the next season.
Peace,
Laura
As you nurture the new ideas in your life it can be helpful to have support, accountability and coaching. Laura works one-on-one with people who are seeking to build resilience and to thrive. You can schedule a free zoom conversation to chat with Laura about coaching.
