Covid Face MaskI always knew that being in my garden was the absolute safest place to be. It didn’t take COVID to convince me of that.  In February 2020 I was planning a big garden and long musical summer of gigs and much fun. Then came the lockdown, the scary news that people, some of whom I knew, were getting sick and dying from COVID. My last gig was March 21 2020. It was at a winery called DaVines here in Bloomington Indiana. I had a great time, especially making the audience feel loved. I was booked at that same venue for another gig about a month later, that never happened! Soon after that gig, my city was shut down and  the immediate future for me, as a musician was totally uncertain. I had been performing and teaching for more than 45 years (started at 8 yrs old) without any extended breaks. Yet, inside I felt fine and only nervous about what eventual effects COVID would have.

The Music Had Only Just Begun

Life throws you lots of instruments, what you make of them depends on how you use them. I always use as many of mine as I possibly can. So my musical instruments were grounded for a while. Although I play them a lot at home, it’s totally different when you are performing and making people feel happy,  special and needed. That has always been my biggest mission regardless to what instrument I played. Since COVOD 19, my instruments for inspiration have been mostly garden based. Shovels, forks, tillers, twine, T-posts, compost, machetes and so much more, have been a tried and true way for me to to find new friends, if even online.

Don’t Let COVID 19 Get To You!

I am a home-body. But there are times since March 2020 that I really wished that I could venture out, while, at the same time, feel safe. I didn’t feel safe going out, that’s why I turned down all of the gig offers. The only place I felt safe was at the garden. That’s where I would hold my summer concert, in the garden. My tomato plants and me would have concerts for each other. I found my audience faithfully awaiting me each and every day!  Needless to say, my plants were continually sung to, just like I always did. In 2020 and through 2021  I was really hoping that they were listening more intently than any other year.

The Indoor Micro Dwarf Tomato Garden.

Bonasi Micro Dwarf Tomato

Bonasi Micro Dwarf Tomato

For those who do not know, I grow tomatoes all year round. In the summer I grow outside and in the winter I grow more than two hundred micro dwarf tomato plants in my basement. These miniature tomatoes totally saved me during COVID’S harsh winter of 2020 and again now in 2021. For one, it takes my mind off of things when I am stressed about how the disease was hurting families and how best to protect mine. I am stressed about all the hurting, poorer countries that can’t get the quality of health care as we do in the USA. Secondarily, growing in the winter gives me lots of great tomatoes for eating and saving seeds during the slower  months. I say that to say this. I you love tomatoes and have never grown Micro dwarfs, consider doing so. I have written articles about how to most easily do that.

How Nature Can Heal Your Soul

There’s something about being out in nature that can totally eradicate all of the muck that’s been piling up inside. I have no doubt that I am the way I am because of how much time I spend in, or I think about nature. I have to be outside! I have to see birds, grass, weeds, bees, butterflies, worms, ants, wasps and everything that nature has to offer. I need to smell God’s full garden! Just spending time there lightens up my world and it can do the same for you. COVOD can been a friend to many of us, in that it has, in many cases, confined us. Confinement can sometimes allow us to think more, to appreciate more!  Whenever I feel a little cluster-phobic I always go outside into the garden. It has worked 100%  in the past and it’s still working now.

There was so much hope in my garden this summer. Even when the rains washed away my tomatoes and I had to battle back to get a decent harvest, there was still limitless hope. How I wished I could have invited more friends to see God’s wonder! If you are feeling a bit down for whatever reason, get outside, visit your garden, take a stroll in a park, just walk along the street, but get outside. Allow YOUR nature to inspire you! Be thankful for all of God’s glory and this wonderful place that He has created for us. Fetch your nature, it can change your life!

~Curtis~