There is something special about going into the yard and working in the garden. I love pruning and seeing an immediate impact. I love planting daffodil bulbs and have them surprise you when they break into blossom months later. I love orchids because they look beautiful when you buy them and, in California, don't need a lot of care to come back with amazing flowers over and over again.
Working in the garden must bring back my Swedish farming roots. Swedes are people of the earth and enjoy making the earth produce a harvest. In a world of technology and never-ending change, maybe the biggest satisfaction comes in getting closure. Planting in a garden let's you get closure when the blossoms bloom. You also get to pull a weed, and it dies. You don't need to document it; you just pull it! Gardening lets you experience the direct benefit of your efforts. So much of life today does not give you the satisfaction of completing anything!
In California, where people are up in arms over illegal immigration, people are being asked to break their dependence on hiring illegal immigration. A good start is giving up your gardener and doing the jobs that "Americans won't do." Then you get to experience that such work is actually more satisfying that we thought. I'm a psychologist, a speaker, an author, a father, a husband, a Christian...and a happy gardener who isn't paid in any other way than in the satisfaction of doing a good job!
