Lesson from a Rose

Heirloom tea rose from my garden.

This morning I picked the tea rose pictured above from one of my rose bushes in my yard. While this may seem trite and mundane thing to do, certainly not something to blog about, it taught me a wonderful lesson about what homesteading is all about. It taught me that homesteading is not only about something that we do for ourselves for today, but that it also is about being a bridge to the past and the future. It is our belief that life will go on long after we are gone.

The rose is from a start from a bush that my great-grandmother planted around 100 years ago. Last summer, I brought a start from that bush to my homestead in suburbs and this summer it has several blooms which give off a wonderful aroma around my yard. Along with that fragrance came a wonderful lesson.

No doubt when my great-grandmother planted the rose, she wasn't thinking about others that might enjoy it. She probably planted it for just as a pretty thing to help brighten up the farm. To her it was probably a small and insignificant thing to do. Yet, today, I am enjoying the fruits of her labor as I look at and smell that rose. And every time I do, I think of her and smile a smile of gratitude for what she did. Later on today, her great-great-great grandchildren will also be enjoying something that came from what she did. The lesson this rose teaches is that something that one does that may seem so insignificant and small at the time, but can bring so much joy and happiness to countless number of people for generations to come.

While you are working on your gardens, fruit trees, or doing other things around your homestead., take satisfaction in that not only are you doing it for yourself, or a “just in case” thing, but instead you might be doing something that will bring joy to, or providing food for, others in the long and distant future. You will be bridging the past with the future because you are taking the time to homestead. To learn the ways of the past and bring it into the present world. It may not seem like much today, but who knows what impact it will have on others. For that, we are indeed a very blessed and privileged people.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog. :-)