When the Ground Feels Unsteady, Go Put Your Hands in It

A note from Melisa at Marshall Garden Company Some seasons of life are just hard. There's no prettier way to say it.

Our community is in one of those seasons right now.

What happened at that fast food restaurant... those two young lives lost right here in Marshall, others hurt and the young folks who were so hopeless that they could do something like that....... well, it's left a weight on many of us that words can't fully hold it. I've felt it. I know many of you have too. And I've been thinking about what we do with that kind of grief...The kind that doesn't have a clean or clear answer.

I keep coming back to the same thing: Go outside. Put your hands in the dirt. Beat the ground up with a shovel. Then sit in awe of the beauty in nature.

It sounds too simple, I know. But there's actual science behind why it works. Soil contains a natural bacteria called Mycobacterium vaccae that when you come into contact with it, triggers the release of serotonin in your brain. It's the same chemical that antidepressants work to increase. (So, your momma and grandma weren't just being folksy and old-school when she told you to go play in the yard. They were medicating you in one of the most natural ways possible).

Beyond the biology, there's something about tending a living thing that reminds you the world is still has something that it's calling you to do. Seeds still sprout. Roots still reach for water. And even after a tough season, plants comes back and grow.

This weekend, I talked with several people who started gardening because life got heavy. Not because they had a green thumb. Because they needed something to care for in those times where life was hitting them hard. Something that would respond. Something that could grow.

You don't need a big yard. You don't need experience. You don't even need to know what you're doing.

You just need to start somewhere and let the act of it carry you for a while.

Plant a pepper in a pot on your porch. Bring a fern inside. Put a caladium in a corner that needs some color. Dig a little bed along your fence and put something in it... anything. Then go check on it tomorrow. And the day after that. And while you're checking on those plants, stop and take moments to check in with God and check on yourself.

There's a rhythm to caring for plants that quietly becomes a rhythm for caring for yourself. I know this because years ago when Todd and I were going through a really painful period after failed IVF, it helped us. It helped us focus on life in a way that pulled us through.

When you garden, you start to notice things. The way new leaves unfurl. The way the morning light falls different in July than it did in March. The way dirt and grass smells after rain. These really small things pull you back into your body, back into the present moment, back into the world.

I spent the better part of my career raising millions of dollars for some of the greatest causes and organizations in our country and helping launch programs designed to help people in for moments exactly like this one... when a community needs something to hold onto. That work shaped me in ways that are so big and it's a big part of why coming back home to Marshall matters so much to me. This town gave me every shot I've ever had to be successful and build a beautiful life. Every win I've ever celebrated has roots here. Coming back and playing a bigger role in the place that raised me isn't just a business decision. It's personal.... really, really personal.

The Marshall Garden Company is one small way of showing up for folks when they need a little lift. It will be a place that makes people feel good when they walk in. We don't open until January, and we cannot wait to be a place where this community comes to grow something. Literally and otherwise.

But I don't want folks to wait until January to start growing because folks need the magic of what gardens, plants and nature can give you right now.

So, go find a pot. Fill it with something living. Step outside and put your bare feet in the grass if you can. Take a walk around the neighborhood and see how many blooms you notice. Let the ground hold you for a few minutes.

It won't fix everything. But it will remind you that you're still here. And that growing through things... even when it feels impossible and social media makes you feel hopeless is always worth the work. And God's got you!

Keep going. Keep growing.

- MJ