Build the Darn Bed

This weekend Greg and I picked up the power tools and built our first raised garden bed. 

I didn't know exactly where it was going to go. I'd been thinking about the location of the garden for a while, but I hadn't landed on the spot that made the most sense. 

And it's not like we can easily move them once they're built - so the permanency of the location felt like a lot of pressure.

I wanted it to be near Chicken Village so the girls could free range while I was gardening, but there were so many options is was hard to choose. 

So we decided to build the first garden bed anyway. 

The first side took forever. We were figuring it out as we went. But once we finished that first side, we had a pattern. The other three went so much faster because we knew what we were doing. 

We had to go back to the store twice. We decided halfway through to sit the whole thing on a row of bricks to preserve the wood longer. We made adjustments. We problem-solved. 

And not once did we tell ourselves we were failing even through the uncertainty. We just kept going and made the figuring out part of the fun. 

Once the panels were finished, we walked around the property holding one side until we found a place that worked. 

The decision came after the doing. Not before. 

That's how it works with most things. Not just gardens. 

We think we need to have it all figured out before we start. We wait for clarity. We wait for certainty. We wait until we feel brave. 

But brave doesn't show up before you do the thing. Brave shows up while you're doing it. 

Every single thing I've built in my life required me to start before I felt ready. RocketGirl Solutions. The VA Connection community. VA School. This farm. This garden bed.

I didn't wait until I felt like it. I decided I was going to do it, and then I did it with the doubt, the fear and eventually the fun. 

That's what courage actually looks like. Not the absence of fear. Just the refusal to let fear make your decisions. It's really that simple. 

If you've been waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect plan, the perfect amount of certainty, no matter what you're doing - you're just spinning your wheels. 

Maybe you just need to build the darn bed.