Planting Potatoes: What are you waiting for?

If you’ve been reading my blogs for any length of time, you’ll know I love a good metaphor. Well, I’m not sure if this is a good one or not, so please let me know in the comments!

As I was considering what to write this month, I thought about offering another really practical blog, but I did that last month. And I might next month. So instead, I thought of the things I’ve been doing that don’t involved writing, or business, or cleaning, or any boring stuff. One of them is planting potatoes. Nope, I do not consider this boring stuff. Give me a spade and a bit of ground and I’m a happy girl. 

We’ve got a fab garden since we moved, but in order to prepare some ground for veggies, we had to clear a huge area of brambles and self-set trees that (apparently) was the old owner’s vegetable patch. It has great soil and, most importantly, a south-facing wall. But it was an absolute mess. We couldn't even see the wall!

Now, I’ve had my seed potatoes chitting nicely on the windowsill for a month or so and I was desperate to get them in the ground, but though we’d cleared the bramble patch (it took us a whole weekend, a mini digger and some serious chainsaw action), the ground still wasn’t ready. This is what it looked like post clearing:

We had to plough it and till it. Then, last weekend, I dug channels, pulling out all the old roots both those processes had missed. Finally, with my channels ready and my back already sweating, I placed my precious seed potatoes 12” apart in the soil. Then… I covered them back up. 

Hopefully, with a bit of warmth and rain and probably a slice of luck, they will shoot, leaf and flower. But there won’t be evidence of my hard labour until much later, and the important bit is what goes on beneath the soil, where I can’t see. I won’t know what’s happened there until I dig deep at the end of the season.

Why on earth am I discussing potatoes? Well, it struck me that growing potatoes is a bit like my writing process. Bear with…

It starts with a seed. Being a Bible-inspired writer, this is normally a portion of scripture that jumps out of the page (or headphone) and hits me on the head. I jot the passage/idea/character name into a dedicated note on my phone. This is my windowsill. On it, a variety of seeds are sitting, and I’m watching whether they sprout. I sometimes pray over them,  sometimes research them, often forget about them. Occasionally, I have to pick them up again after the cat’s knocked them over (can you figure that one out?) 

What if I’m watching the seed sprout, but the ground isn’t ready? It’s a great idea, a healthy looking potato, but I don’t yet feel qualified to start writing. My very first seed? I haven’t planted it yet. I’m still preparing the ground for that original idea, because I feel in my heart that I need an awful lot more writing experience before I tackle it. So I’m digging, training, ploughing, learning, and I’m pulling out roots in my messy heart to prepare it for the great faith adventure that will be writing that first idea.

Sometimes the ground is ready, but we need to dig the channels, do the planting – find time to write the blinking thing! Make sure we space evenly and cover everything well. The potatoes might get planted different ways. Some people use sacks, pots, even plastic sheeting. This could be the different types of writing – poetry, articles, flash fiction… Experimenting adds to the fun, and some seeds will suit some methods better than others.

Then we have to find time to edit and, horror of horrors, sort out the publishing side! Earthing up, strengthening our resolve if the rejections come in. Watering – keep persevering until those little windowsill shoots grow tall enough to break the surface. Tell people about our books – that’s scary! Organise a launch. All this time, the potato is planted but we can’t see the results yet. The weather might be favourable, or it might not. Sometimes we’ve written something great, but The Market isn’t ready for it.

Then, the publish button is pressed – the leaves push their way through the surface. It’s exciting but the nerves remain. Will it be a success? The first reviews come in and finally – flowers! Someone likes my book – Hurrah!

Yet, though the flowers are nice, they aren’t the bit that matters. Because what am I really writing for? 

More potatoes. 

I’m writing for the things that go on under the surface: The hidden change in my life that others might not see, as roots stretch out and new potatoes form. The exponential growth as the book gets recommended from one friend to another because, “this one will bless you”. The deep growth that comes from someone being challenged or their heart warming to Jesus. 

Sometimes, the harvest takes a long time. There are some early potatoes that we get to unearth in our lives, but later ones might remain in the ground through winter. I might never see that harvest until the Lord of the Harvest comes. I’m looking forward to that day the most. 

So, keep planting, my friends!

Did the metaphor speak to you? Do you have a potato you’ve never planted, or one you’re waiting to see the results of? Do let me know in the comments :-)

Natasha Woodcraft lives in a slightly crumbling old farmhouse in Lincolnshire with her husband, 4 sons and a small menagerie of animals. She believes stories have power to communicate deep truth and transform lives. Her published novels, The Wanderer Scorned & The Wanderer Reborn, explore God’s redemptive purposes for messy people by reimagining the tale of Cain & Abel. Also a songwriter, Natasha peppers her emotional prose with poetry and song.