Dirt Makes You Happy
I am reading a book that is okay – it’s a bit formulaic, but it is still a fun love story. The main character is coming into finding her brand of magic within a family of powerful women who grow and work with magical flowers on a gorgeous farm in Mexico.
One line I just read mentioned that working your hands through dirt releases serotonin, and immediately that made so much sense. No wonder people go apeshit over gardening. no wonder kids have so much fun getting messy in the dirt.
A certain type of bacteria, M. vaccae, gets slurped up into our bodies by not only touching the dirt, but inhaling the bacteria fumes as well. A study done on mice showed increased levels of concentration, and decreased anxiety.
So now that we know what we probably all already intuited, we can intentionally make more time to play in dirt. While I most likely won’t be making mud pies and delicious dirt soups like I did as a kid, I am having fun attempting to grow some vegetables.
My sis bought 5 raised garden beds, and I decided to throw some seeds into half of one (I’m a little bit commitment-phobic at the moment, and relieved to not have a full yard to have to tame for a while.) Besides radishes and lettuce, I planted two other items that I can’t remember, so they will be exciting surprises at some point. The lettuce is starting to grow, and the radishes are going nutty. In fact, I picked out my first premature radish this morning, because I have zero self control:
Is it not glorious? And look at the dirt on my fingers! That right there is happiness. I’m making everyone try some of the radish for dinner tonight, and then I may make us all go roll around in the dirt for a while, just to ensure good moods all around.
