Queerying 3rd after Pentecost B

Rev. Emily E. Ewing queeries the Gospel reading.

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34
²⁶Jesus also said, “The reign of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, they do not know how. ²⁸The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once they go in with the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

³⁰Jesus also said, “With what can we compare the reign of God, or what parable will we use for it? ³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; ³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to the gathered followers, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴Jesus did not speak to them except in parables, but explained everything in private to the disciples.

Queeries for the text:
What did we skip?
What do we know about God's reign? 
What do farmers and gardeners know?
What conspires with the earth?
What's smaller than a mustard seed?
How great can a shrub actually be?
Why parables?  Why private explanations?

What are your queeries?