Transplanting: The beauty and strain of change

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April 23, 2024

With Spring fully underway, the seeds that some of us planted several weeks ago are now ready to be transplanted into their summer soil homes.

Just as with starting seeds, I found the process of tending and transplanting baby plants held many parallels to everyday life.

Let's start by reflecting on the tending of the seedlings in preparation for transplanting them.

In full disclosure, this process was painfully educational for me. About midway through caring for my seedlings, I noticed they began to display signs of distress.

While I was faithfully and plentifully watering them, they began to look dehydrated and I was at a total loss as to know why. (All of you experienced gardeners likely know where my error was.) Unfortunately, I didn't realize it until it was too late. It turns out that, while I was watering my baby plants from the top, they needed to be watered from beneath - by placing them in trays of water so that their root structures could be fully hydrated.

It was a novice mistake, but this gardening lesson made me think about my own life habits. I thought my plants were well watered because their soil moistened easily. Yet this moisture was only surface deep because at their roots my plants were drying out and dying.

It made me wonder if I ever do things to keep up a superficial facade which gives the appearance that I am thriving but in reality, my watering is only surface deep and my roots are drying out. Am I putting in the hard work to be truly strong and healthy at my "root" level? Or, are my convictions only skin deep in that I say I believe in things and would stand for them but when life gets hard (when the sun comes out and the temperatures rise), I lack the root nourishment and subsequent strength to walk consistently with my values.

Yet another life lesson from tending seedlings is to stop and ponder our actions when we do not get the results we desire. When my plants started to die, I should have stopped to consider, sought counsel, and made a change. But I continued doing what was familiar - what was easy and comfortable. The way I was watering gave me the false sense that I was taking care of my plants. It checked the box and eased my mind, but it was not entirely what the plants needed. I am not a parent, so I want to be cautious about saying anything related to child-rearing, but perhaps it is easy to "top water" children (so that they look healthy in our social circles) while their roots are really drying up. It takes time, energy, and intentionality to know how to properly nourish young roots so that they can be prepared and strong enough to be transplanted into the next stage of life.

Now for the transplanting! Transitions are hard. However, seedlings that have been properly cared for make the change just fine. And as many of us have experienced, even if they pout (wilt) for a short time they soon revive and flourish as their roots reach deeper and spread further. Is there a change in your life that you are apprehensive about? I get it. Change is hard. We get comfortable with where we are. But our tiny planter-cells will never allow us to live the life we were created to live. We will never reach our full potential unless we go through being transplanted (often multiple times throughout our lives). Most of us know what happens to baby plants when they stay in the tiny starter cells - they become root-bound and eventually die. Almost all analogies are imperfect, but perhaps some of us have experienced a type of "death" because we have not risked stepping into a new role, moving to a new area, or saying "yes" to a new opportunity.

Tending Transplants — Photo credit - Joseph Tidwell, Polyface apprentice 2024

In closing, I hope you were blessed in some way by reading the confessions and reflections of a novice gardener. My hope is that you gleaned either practical advice or personal insights that you can apply to your current life.

- Melissa

Why Choose Fermented Foods?

My grandparents on my father’s side used to make sauerkraut in wooden barrels in the basement. My mother’s side made cheese and salami. I could smell these concoctions throughout the entire house. Fermenting is part of your national heritage, no matter your family’s country of origin. Alongside nourishing grass-fed/grass-finished pastured meats like Polyface raises, every person should include real fermented foods into their diet. This method of food preservation goes back farther than most realize, reconnecting us with ancient traditions, long before the refrigerator-freezer was invented. Every culture consumed something fermented every day. Here are the reasons why I like fermented foods. Fermentation preserves food without using high pressure, high heat, or chemicals, so it both conserves and increases them. The nutritional value of fermented foods lies mostly in the pro-biotic bacteria that are present, and byproducts of their digestion. The bacteria’s digestive “waste” is a collection of vitamins, enzymes, and co-factors needed for every system of the body. These include: Vitamins B1, B6, B12, C, and K2 Superoxide dismutase (SOD, an antioxidant) GTF chromium (assists sugar metabolism) Glutathione (a potent detoxifier) Phospholipids (cell membrane building blocks) Digestive enzymes Beta 1,2 glucans (present in shiitake mushrooms; modulates immune system) Fermentation neutralizes or eliminates these: Phytic acid (present in seeds, nuts, beans, legumes) Enzyme inhibitors (also present in seeds, nuts, beans, legumes) Nitrites Prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) Oxalic acid (binds minerals) Nitrosamines (known carcinogen) Glucosides Probiotics and enzymes in whey neutralize phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors, allowing your digestion to access the nutrients in the food. Enzymes are proteins. Proteins are delicate molecules with very complex structure and shape. The structure of the enzyme gives it its function. Without structure and form, the enzyme will not do its job of catalyzing biochemical reactions. Without enzymes, biochemical reactions would cease. Enzymes are denatured (unraveled or broken down) by high pressure, high heat, acidic conditions, toxic chemicals, and electrical disturbances. Once denatured, they lose their form and shape, therefore they lose their function. Unlike canning and commercial processing, fermenting occurs at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, encouraging beneficial bacteria to thrive. Temperatures above 117 degrees Fahrenheit denature enzymes and kill probiotic bacteria. If you wonder what 117 degrees feels like, it’s the temperature at which you cannot touch an object with your bare hands and hold it for a few seconds. If it’s hot, but you can still touch and hold it in your hand and not pull away, it’s under 117 degrees. This innate protection mechanism (i.e., reflex) prevents your own protein (i.e., skin on your finger) from being denatured. It’s also a good indicator of when your food is hot enough to kill probiotics and denature enzymes. For best results, fermented foods must be eaten raw, never hot or cooked. Fermented foods are safe and protective against pathogens. USDA scientist Roger McFeeters, who oversees a fermentation laboratory, says, “The lactobacilli can number a billion per gram of tissue at the height of fermentation. The bad bacteria can't compete." According to McFeeters, lacto-fermentation has caused no known food-borne illness. "As far as we know, it's been going on for thousands of years. It's perfectly safe.” The sauerkraut that my grandparents made had a layer of raw pork chops embedded in the salted cabbage. When the sauerkraut was done, you could safely eat the pork chops raw! They were pre-digested by the bacteria, and “cooked" by the organic acids in the kraut. Probiotics prevented pathogens from establishing. None of us ever got food poisoning. My grandmother lived to be 100. Fermented foods have anti-carcinogenic properties. They normalize blood pressure and heart rate, help to break down fat in the liver, and maintain healthy systemic pH. And they are quite tasty. In the supermarket, look for fermented foods in the refrigerated section, not on the shelf with canned foods. Shelf-stable canned foods were subjected to high temperatures. The probiotics and enzymes have been denatured. Look for “live cultures” or “live probiotics” on the label. Eat something lacto-fermented every day, like your ancestors did. Just a tablespoon or two of sauerkraut or an ounce or two of cheese is enough to have the desired effect. Choose a salad dressing made with raw apple cider vinegar, or a tablespoon of a fermented condiment such as ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise. Try a fermented beverage, like kombucha, beet kvass, or ginger ale. (Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon has some great recipes for all of these.) The original condiments were digestive aids. They’re easy to make. Try it. May you be deeply nourished! Susan

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Transplanting: The beauty and strain of change

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