Input

I write this blog for a couple reasons: first, I like recording things as I begin to understand them; second, writing this sort of creative free-form way creates space for me to do the more tedious formulaic writing I do for a living. Writing the blog is like a mini vacation; when I get back to the more technical stuff, I feel invigorated, and ready to tackle the apollonian aspect of my life with energy and a positive attitude.  My output requires brainwork that reaches outside the office, stepping into the garden for a few tender bits to savor.

At times this garden walk is metaphorical, approached in an unexpected way. For instance, this blog has a stats section where I can see how people get to me.  Up until recently it’s been through Facebook or a straight shot on blogger.  I have friends who blog and will cite certain searches that led people to their blog.  I thought they had some sort of extra analysis tool that I was lacking, but recently, I saw that it shows up clear as day.  My stats showed the search line “a poem about rain softening everything.”  They found my post “Beautiful Reign,” and hung out to see what else I had to say.

I’m grateful, because when I did the search myself, I found this poem by Sara Teasdale here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale

There Will Come Soft Rains

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pool singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Not one would mind, neither bird nor tree,
If mankind perished utterly;

And Spring herself when she woke at dawn
Would scarcely know that we were gone.

Published shortly after WWI, I find it amazing that her words ring true now with the wars we know today; wars against people and their beliefs and wars against all forms of sustainability.  In Teasdale’s poem, there is peace unaltered by human activity.  Written in 1920, this pre factory farming perception speaks assuredly of nature’s power. 

Further towards our modern ways, E.B. White said that mankind’s approach to nature is to beat it into submission.  “...too ingenious for its own good,” he suggested the human race should appreciate nature rather than try to rule it.

But, I can’t quite go down that road because I need to ask first who he meant?  The human race is a big group of people.  Surely not all of us went the dictatorial route, maybe just the ones with the big guns.  Sadly though, that’s been enough to create devastating change.

However, ingenuity coupled with observation that takes in the whole is a completely different matter.  There have been plenty of groups who figured out how to keep things going without trying to rule nature; abundant crops, pest control (not pest destruction), and stable animal populations have been a part of some human existence for ages. Also, various groups have historically understood that natural influences on production are a way of life, and adjusting to these is part of being human.  There’s a process that leads to product; input is the magic that generates output. 

In my opinion, that’s the difference between sustainable practices and agribusiness.  The former respects input, the latter glorifies output at any cost.  Sustainability is all about process; there’s a road one travels where any glance back is met with a beautiful view of a thriving ecology.  Its opposite leaves a scene that’s been stripped and flattened, confused about how it will manage to regain the severed connections.  But, as Teasdale wrote, nature will find a way.  She might not be able to support the humans anymore in the rebuilding, but she’ll rebuild all the same.

A link you may find of interest is attached below.  I found this when I searched “sustainability practices around the world.”  For those interested in seeing what some humans have knows for quite some time now, take a look!

http://insight.glos.ac.uk/sustainability/unescoculture/Pages/default.aspx

Garden Walk

A favorite time of day for me is after dinner, when I’m showered, relaxed, and holding a glass of red wine.  It’s quiet observation time, or as I tell my family as I head out the back door, time to see what’s what in the garden. 

It’s like slow breathing.  The energy of the day has been drawn in and quiet settles the pace.  At this time of day, I can touch the more obscure aspects of gardening.

And in one’s own garden, every leaf and stem has a story.  But when visiting another, it’s interesting to see what strikes you.

A few days ago I was able to enjoy my evening garden walk at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond.  Prior to their evening event, I was able to stroll through the gardens with my glass of vino, alone and reflective.  The first thing that struck me was the thought, “what a difference!”  All prior experiences at the LGBG (a gardener’s CBGB?  WelI, I was there for a concert….) involved moms and kids, namely me and my mom and my kids.

I could hear my sons’ sandals slapping across the footbridges as my mother called, “You’re watching them?  You don’t want them to fall in!”

They won’t fall in.  And if they do, I can fish them out and enjoy the memory with them forever.

But, in her defense, I was obviously used to my kids’ ways.  Any wooded periphery to a playground proved more appealing than the new state of the art jungle gym.  Exploring the unknown, seeing what’s around the bend drew them more than the curvy slide or fake steering wheels.  In other words, they’d pick what’s real and changing over the contrived, and playtime meant being leopards in the jungle rather than astronauts on a spaceship.  The play structure is the same this week as it was last week - unless of course there’s yellow caution tape blocking access to the ladder, which all of a sudden makes it extremely interesting.

Boy in Garden

Enthusiasm on Nature

NFS

And if you think about it, kids are nature – in fact, we all are.  As we explore and interact with what’s around us, we learn so much about the world and what’s real in ourselves.  Children do a pretty good job reminding us how to do that.  Our job is to let them.  And if they do go too far and fall in, fish them out and recognize that they’ve learned something.  Like anything in nature, they’ll adapt. 

Beautiful Reign

I’m sitting on my bed overlooking the lush greenness just outside my window as the rain comes pouring down.  It’s one of those cocoon-like mornings where knowing I don’t have to go out makes me feel even warmer and drier.  I can feel the seeds I planted yesterday softening, and the lettuce that’s been garnering its pre-bolt strength deciding maybe it’s ok to hold off now for a few days. 

Lettuce give thanks...

Good rain softens everything.  It’s one of those elements that remind us of the power of nature.  When dry spells hit, irrigation efforts can only do so much because the resident sun has the momentum going, the plants weak under its influence.  But a big cloud-filled rainy day awakens every fiber of a plants being.  Color returns, power builds, roots exert a good long stretch that’s welcomed, no longer blocked.  Looking out there, I can almost hear the collective peaceful sigh, a slow and steady out-breath releasing all pressure and tension.

I do what I can for my garden, but I have to say, knowing there’s a greater power who’s much more effective reminds me that I’m a steward, assisting nature in her greater design.

Words to Live By

So people who know me know my motto in word or deed is this:  There’s a creative solution to every problem.  Being a former math specialist, I gotta say, problems are a good thing. 

Dilemmas are meant to be considered and approached from different angles, and if not solved on stroke one, guess what?  You now know what doesn’t work which is important information to hone your perspective and make a new plan of attack.

The dilemma we face sometimes on the farm is food supply for the animals.  Being a hobby farm, I tell people it’s like any other hobby – you shell out money to do it.  However, an even bigger hobby for me is cutting costs.  It’s a game I learned from my dad.  Why pay for something when with a little ingenuity, you can create it yourself?  When it came to reduce, reuse, recycle, my dad focused on reusing.  Many things can serve more than one purpose.

Take, for instance, your typical lawn.  It’s a great place to play, beautiful to look at, and a source of exercise when you have to cut it, unless, of course, you’re sitting down.  In the 18^th century, beautiful lawns were a way to show the world that you could afford being wasteful, that you had extra land that didn’t need to be used for agriculture, and you had the extra hands to perpetuate this extravagance.  And somehow, this notion that this is a good thing has carried on.

That’s why when my gears got turning a few summers ago when we faced having to purchase hay in July due to drought conditions, I felt my own shift move rigidly against tense resistance.  My husband was lamenting the stiff scrabble out in the pastures as he headed out to cut the grass in the yard.  I thought, how ridiculous is this when we’re buying hay?  “Let the sheep do the work,” I said. 

But it’s the yard…

And it’s nutritious.

But they’ll poop everywhere….

And you can’t buy better fertilizer.

But they’ll eat other plants….

Thus adding to their nutritional intake.



Never too young to start learning



Plus, I added, the couple hours he was about to waste could be reclaimed.  That was the clincher.

So we let them in, and watched them go to work like machines.  I could see how much they preferred lush green grass that survived better under shade than what had been gnawed to the ground in the full sun or the subsequent hay bought and thrown out to them.  Yes, they do make a slight mess, but all the better to add to the garden and turn you off chocolate chip cookies for the rest of your life.  Plus, like deer, it’s pebbly and quickly adds itself to soil content, adding incredible nutrients to support more growth.  It’s a cycle people, and it’s a good one, backed 100% by nature.



WWI Occupation



So now, our yard is another pasture dutifully clipped and hedged by a team of power mowers.  I much prefer the sound of their munching to the drone of lawn mowers out there.  Plus, as I work in the garden, I can see them just outside my fence offering more time for me to concentrate on growing my own food as they enjoy theirs.  I toss them a few carrot tops or crop thinnings as a way of saying thanks, you wooly wonders, for working with me.

Jeepers/Creepers

These little guys would make anyone smile. The sound of the peepers coming back means moisture and warmth, plenty of good atmosphere for growing.  Our neck of the woods has had abundant rain and sunshine of late, a lovely combination to get the nightly chorus going.  We're at a point where windows open at night are all that's needed to cool off the houses, and the sleep song from outside is a beautifully soothing soporific.  I think the most perfect place in the world would have to be where heating and air conditioning aren't necessary.  The less artificial, the better.  When it's time for lettuce to bolt, I know we've passed the threshold.  For now, I'm going to enjoy every moment of this peeper perfect bliss.