When you don’t know what to do…

Take a seed and find it a home. It can be planted directly in the soil but also anything that will hold dirt – an old boot, a cracked coffee mug, a jar, or an empty can from the trash.

Push aside the dirt with your finger. See? You are making a connection. You and the dirt. Your microbes and the microbes in the soil meet and mingle. You have made a home for the seed. Place it into the hole and give it your good wishes. Pray or breathe or sing or feel the vibrations in your heart. Even if – no, especially if it feels silly. Cover the seed like you’re tucking it into bed.

Water the seed. Rainwater, puddle water, bottled water – any water will do. Use what you can spare. Envision the seed softening and swelling with the moisture it absorbs. That’s what your cells do when you drink water. Everyone needs water. Wish it well on its journey. Pray that it gets what it needs.

Watch the growth of the seed – even the parts you can’t see. Imagine them instead. Feel the roots cracking out and questing into the soil, seeking nourishment. See the tiny green shoot reach up and furling forth for the collection of light. The little plant learns much as it grows. The microbes in the soil whisper tales to the tiny roots. The sound and wind and motion of the upper world tell the baby plant what must know to survive.

Maybe you planted something like mint or lemon balm – resilient, prolific, eager to grow. Once it starts to grow it doesn’t turn back. It just might try to take over in a delicious abundance. Maybe you planted something that needs babying and care. It will require your attention and focus to fill its needs. Such dedication can be very rewarding.

Grow something. It doesn’t have to be food, or useful. It could be a dandelion seed or an apple seed, an herb or a veggie. The point is in the growing. The purpose is to share in the experience of life continuing and you observing it, reveling in it, celebrating it. Grow something in the depths of despair. Grow something in the gutter. Grow something in the broken cinderblocks and on rotting windowsills. Grow something when you think that nothing will ever grow again.

• #GardensForGaza
• Help Youssef rebuild his family’s farm & greenhouse