Cultivating the Soul: Gardening as Catechesis, by Matthew J. Ramage

It has been a good stretch in the Ramage garden lately—or at least a busy one. Between harvesting greens, picking the season’s first strawberries, watering young tomato plants, and doing battle with proliferating weeds, my family and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors with our hands in the dirt. This season has so far been laborious but rewarding, and it has renewed my conviction that gardening is far more than just a hobby or a frugal strategy to cut the grocery bill. It is those things, to be sure.

But, more importantly, it is a spiritual discipline, a school of virtue. In a world often disconnected from the rhythms of creation, gardening offers a living catechesis written in soil, sweat, and sacrifice. Today, with most educational establishments on break for the summer, I want to reflect on how direct contact with the good earth—the “first book” written by God—teaches us lessons that cannot be learned in school. …

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