One day, while in the laundry room (where I mix up the fermented feed), I moved a dechlorinating bucket of water and something caught my eye. It looked strange, so I took a closer look…and was awed.
It was a wheat berry, and it was unsurprising to find one in the area where feed was because that’s also where I soak grain for the geese. This tiny kernel, though, was squashed flat. I’m not sure if the 40-pound bucket was responsible, or it had been stuck on the bottom of my shoe (and subject to considerably more than 40 pounds of force – I hope it was the former).
I picked it up to examine it more closely and noticed that it had, valiantly, sprouted. It also had roots, like tiny legs. It must have been on the floor for a while, too, because there was a bit of mold growing on it.
A small, forgotten seed that had, against the odds, germinated on the unforgiving concrete: suboptimal conditions, and chances are that, unnoticed, it probably would have dried up. But that miniscule bit of green – life! – caught my eye in time, and I planted it in a pot.
With regular watering and a sunny spot in a window, that sprout has become a little plant, verdantly green. No more fighting the odds. You will be nurtured.