ODD BITS

So it's a lovely morning in VT and instead of taking a walk, I am at the computer. .. some habits are hard to break... but I am going up to our friend Judy's to discuss sundrops for the garden -- to prettify the house for some guests who are coming up soon (Yikes!) I thought I would resurrect the garden which was moribund last year --a result of work and the mourning for the loss of the potato and tomato crop to blight the year before...a luxury to be sure, to let the planting go, out of sorrow, when so many have so little choice about where their food comes from... But this year I got a late start and put in only tomatoes and basil and patty pan squash, a few snap peas, marigolds, lilies, flat leaf parsley, primroses and some other flowers in pots. 

I have been struck by something I suppose I always knew and that is the generosity of gardening. And I am already in the heart of a generous place. When I started talking about reviving the garden at Nan's annual town wide Memorial Day pot luck, Judy and Lois offered gardening advice tailored to the shade and sun and moisture on the land that they knew as well as I. Judy offered the sundrops and echinacea. Lois is going to come over to consult. And Nan, has brought hanging baskets and flats of johnny jump-ups, an errant sunflower, poppies, cilantro, forget me not (appropriate, no?), and more. Winsome who is a gifted gardener and flower maven has offered ANY help I need. David came by to put up the brackets and hooks for the hanging plants. Kerstin stopped by with a shopping bag of dahlia bulbs. Our own professional organic gardeners Paul and Meredith will be at the wedding as will our friends Amanda and Rachel who are both starting out in professional farming businesses. And at a time when so many things seem distant from our ability to effect change, they are making change every day. They are feeding and nourishing the spirit and the body, and the heart. We live in a town where people step up to help, sometimes before you know you need their help. We live in a town where gardening is a civic act. It is a place filled with people whose first instinct is to help.

I have not got gardening genes though my mother has always been gifted with house plants. I had a brown thumb for most of my life. But increasingly, gardening is a thing of beauty -- not so much for the plants but for the people. In Middletown Springs, we know each others' land--the sun and the soil as we know each others' need. Herb and I have settled (or are settling) in a place where it is pleasure to work the dirt and see that the very hard labor of digging enormous rocks from the soil results in rock walls, gardens, and gathering.

And there will be a big gathering coming soon... rhubarb from two gardens is already on the menu, and a salad and....