“Turn Off the News and Build a Garden.” That is the title of a song I discovered sometime in 2020 or 2021. It was performed by Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson, and Micah Nelson as part of a Quarantunes Evening Session back in 2020. Here is a link (there are a few choice words, so beware if the kids are around…). As we move into the start of veggie gardening in our area, I’ve had that song running in my head. Partially because I’m ready to build a garden, but mostly because I’m tired of watching the news. It seems like there is constant bad news, and the more sensational, the better.

I’m not saying that you should never watch the news or that you shouldn’t know what’s going on in your community or in the world. But at some point, being alerted to every story in every part of the world just isn’t good for us. Constantly reading sensational headlines makes us anxious. It’s time to turn it off. Turn it off and build a garden.

I know that getting outside in the garden won’t cure everything, but it has the potential to make us a whole lot healthier and a whole lot happier. Healthier if we focus on growing veggies and fruits. Healthier because we burn calories when we are gardening. Happier because it sure feels good to stand back and look at what you’ve planted. Happier because watching a garden that you planted grow and harvesting baskets of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, and squash is just about the best feeling in the world.

So this weekend, forget your plans to sit inside and watch the news or whatever show you were planning on binging. It’s time to binge-garden. We’ve got you covered with a huge supply of all the veggies that grow well here in Florida, and this year, we’ve got a batch of organic vegetables to make sure you’ve got the healthiest, happiest veggie plants for your garden.

And if you don’t know what you’re doing, that’s OK. Come out for this Saturday’s Spring Veggie Gardening Seminar. Lots of folks have signed up, so get to the nursery early for a seat, we are expecting a full house and couldn’t be more excited. Let’s spend a season focusing on our garden, our health, and our happiness. I can’t wait to see you in the garden. 

Or as Lukas Nelson says:

Turn off the news and build a garden
Just my neighborhood and me
We might feel a bit less hardened
We might feel a bit more free
Turn off the news and raise the kids
Give them something to believe in
Teach them how to be good people
Give them hope that they can see
Hope that they can see
Turn off the news
And build a garden with me