Reconnecting
The rhubarb is harvested, cooked, some eaten and some frozen for later. The asparagus planted two years ago looks so tempting to cut, but wisdom says wait one more year to let the roots establish themselves. The strawberries are in blossom. The spinach, lettuce, and kale are up and looking good, as are the radishes sown with the carrots. The carrots like the company of the radishes. They take longer to germinate and like the protection the fast growing radishes give. Only a couple of snap peas germinated. I just replanted, but it's likely too late. They like the cooler spring weather. I just completed spading the rest of my garden plots, turning under the leaf mulch and chicken manure I spread last fall. Turning the earth by hand is one of the joys of working a small garden. My worked muscles talk to me and make me feel alive.
I love Wayne Simsie's reflection.
"I am renewed by digging my hands into dark loam, clearing away weeds, and admiring luminous green stalks and leaves unfolding in sunlight. The garden roots me in one place, teaches me that our bodies and our souls are mysteriously related to the earth. It reaffirms a sacramental vision, an appreciation of the Spirit breathing through all reality, connecting one being to another. When I hold a clump of earth in my hand I realize I am created out of this dark matter. When I see wet, green sprouts poking through the earth's crust I identify with their struggle as if it were my own. Whether gardening a small plot or watering a single pot, I sense that it is also myself I am tending The garden and the soul resonate with each other; both are rich ground from which life, fertile and dynamic, burst forth according to its own mysterious plan." (from an Weavings article, spring, 2001, page 24.)
Gardening can be hard work. Timing is everything in gardening. When to cultivate, when to plant, when to weed, when to harvest. Every chore has its proper time, and "time is money," so we're told. It's hard to take the time. But do a task at the right time, and things go easier. Let the weeds get ahead of you, and gardening becomes an ugly nightmare. It's why most people my age avoid gardening at all costs. We pulled one too many weeds as a child laborer in the hot sun in our parents' gardens. The last century has seen the migration of people around the world including many of us, move from rural farming communities to the bright lights of the city, factory jobs, college and a modern lifestyle. In 1900, 90% of Americans lived on farms and raised and prepared their own food. Now, just a few generations later, most people don't know the source of the food they eat, and are disconnected from the food growing, preserving, storing, preparing traditions that sustained earlier generations. Each region developed a food culture adapted to its climate and soil. Much of the regional diversity is being lost to the growing monoculture of franchise food outlets. We've become disconnected from our food sources, from the unique gifts of our locale, from the rhythm of the seasons. What's with eating fresh melon, cantaloup, and strawberries in January out of season? Where where they grown? How many miles did your food travel to get to your table? Burning fossil fuel shipping food and other stuff around the planet adds to our carbon footprint.
What has this disconnection from our food sources gained us? Nutrition and exercise are critical to our health. The data is now showing us that fast food and processed foods combined with a sedentary lifestyle is the root cause of epidemics of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Bronson Hospital announced this spring the construction of a new multi million dollar Cancer Center for Kalamazoo. The health care industrial complex is one of the largest if not largest part of our economy treating all of our symptoms. It appears that our lifestyle is killing us and altering the planet our home!
I choose to reconnect with the soil by gardening. I choose to reconnect with the soil, the region, community of plants and animals, with the ancestors who figured out the genius of the place creating a unique culture. I choose to eat locally grown foods as much as possible, get to know the farmers at the farmers market. I choose to turn some of my lawn back into leaf mulched garden for trillium, wood flox, and hastas. I choose to mow my lawn with a battery run hand mower. I choose to shovel my snow in winter instead of using a snow blower. I choose to drive a hybrid car and my next one will be electric, and my next trip west will be by train. I choose to enjoy the outdoors hiking, biking, kayaking rather than ripping through forest trails on a four wheeler throwing mud to kingdom come, or racing back and forth on a lake on a jet ski or boat polluting the serenity with noise. I choose to honor God who created this incredibly beautiful blue planet and universe.
Choose to reconnect!
I love Wayne Simsie's reflection.
"I am renewed by digging my hands into dark loam, clearing away weeds, and admiring luminous green stalks and leaves unfolding in sunlight. The garden roots me in one place, teaches me that our bodies and our souls are mysteriously related to the earth. It reaffirms a sacramental vision, an appreciation of the Spirit breathing through all reality, connecting one being to another. When I hold a clump of earth in my hand I realize I am created out of this dark matter. When I see wet, green sprouts poking through the earth's crust I identify with their struggle as if it were my own. Whether gardening a small plot or watering a single pot, I sense that it is also myself I am tending The garden and the soul resonate with each other; both are rich ground from which life, fertile and dynamic, burst forth according to its own mysterious plan." (from an Weavings article, spring, 2001, page 24.)
Gardening can be hard work. Timing is everything in gardening. When to cultivate, when to plant, when to weed, when to harvest. Every chore has its proper time, and "time is money," so we're told. It's hard to take the time. But do a task at the right time, and things go easier. Let the weeds get ahead of you, and gardening becomes an ugly nightmare. It's why most people my age avoid gardening at all costs. We pulled one too many weeds as a child laborer in the hot sun in our parents' gardens. The last century has seen the migration of people around the world including many of us, move from rural farming communities to the bright lights of the city, factory jobs, college and a modern lifestyle. In 1900, 90% of Americans lived on farms and raised and prepared their own food. Now, just a few generations later, most people don't know the source of the food they eat, and are disconnected from the food growing, preserving, storing, preparing traditions that sustained earlier generations. Each region developed a food culture adapted to its climate and soil. Much of the regional diversity is being lost to the growing monoculture of franchise food outlets. We've become disconnected from our food sources, from the unique gifts of our locale, from the rhythm of the seasons. What's with eating fresh melon, cantaloup, and strawberries in January out of season? Where where they grown? How many miles did your food travel to get to your table? Burning fossil fuel shipping food and other stuff around the planet adds to our carbon footprint.
What has this disconnection from our food sources gained us? Nutrition and exercise are critical to our health. The data is now showing us that fast food and processed foods combined with a sedentary lifestyle is the root cause of epidemics of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Bronson Hospital announced this spring the construction of a new multi million dollar Cancer Center for Kalamazoo. The health care industrial complex is one of the largest if not largest part of our economy treating all of our symptoms. It appears that our lifestyle is killing us and altering the planet our home!
I choose to reconnect with the soil by gardening. I choose to reconnect with the soil, the region, community of plants and animals, with the ancestors who figured out the genius of the place creating a unique culture. I choose to eat locally grown foods as much as possible, get to know the farmers at the farmers market. I choose to turn some of my lawn back into leaf mulched garden for trillium, wood flox, and hastas. I choose to mow my lawn with a battery run hand mower. I choose to shovel my snow in winter instead of using a snow blower. I choose to drive a hybrid car and my next one will be electric, and my next trip west will be by train. I choose to enjoy the outdoors hiking, biking, kayaking rather than ripping through forest trails on a four wheeler throwing mud to kingdom come, or racing back and forth on a lake on a jet ski or boat polluting the serenity with noise. I choose to honor God who created this incredibly beautiful blue planet and universe.
Choose to reconnect!
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