Joey Feek of country duo Joey + Rory has terminal ovarian cancer, but she’s making sure she leaves behind something special for her family.
Her husband, Rory Feek, explained in a blog post how his wife’s passion of gardening blooms every spring at their home in Columbia, Tennessee.
Joey is spending her final days in her hometown in Indiana, but she is continuing her tradition of planting, letting her labor continue to sprout new life and give to her family when she’s gone.
“Planting a garden and raising food that she can feed her family is part of who Joey is,” Rory wrote. “That doesn’t stop just because you have cancer or are stuck in a bed for months-on-end. Life goes on. And what was important, is still important to her.”
Joey planted her seeds last week, and the seedlings first sprouted a few days ago.
Rory said it was their daughter’s “first time to really see her Mama’s green thumb in action.”
Unfortunately, Joey likely won’t be there to watch her seeds fully bloom into plants in her garden, but she is teaching her husband how to care for them.
Rory wrote how learning how to carry on Joey’s passion is painful for him.
I just want her to be able to be in the garden – this year and twenty more after it. I want her to be able to weed and water and hoe and harvest, and to be able to can and freeze the fruit of her labor and feel the pride that she’s felt in the past at knowing that “these sweet potatoes and beans and tomatoes are from our land”…from her hands.
But still, I sit beside her and smile and listen and take notes. And I will keep the garden going. Joey’s garden.
And I’m sure in time, I will learn to love it too. Because she loved it. And part of her will be with us… in every seed we plant, and every vegetable we harvest … and every bite we take.