When you garden, if you welcome it, you become part of building a community. People are drawn to life and hope, and gardening is that at its core. Gardens grow. When the conditions are right, whether by the skill of their caretaker, luck, or His grace… they grow. Corn stalks wave in the wind, tomato plants mature and proudly show off their red fruit, flowers open, inviting in their own sort of community, pollinators essential to the circular process. New life reminds us of beginnings, the chance to start anew- that regardless of the crazy things happening in the world, the basics are still the same.
I shiver one or two days each spring as I take in my surroundings; everything is waking up! The drab grey is losing its hold, and a dozen shades of green are starting to spread. Fresh starts! Hope! Excitement! People who have been bundled up and tucked in at home because of the weather slowly emerge from their own cocoons as spring awakens and the sun lingers longer.
Gardeners are smart! They spend most of the winter planning, comparing notes, and learning from their own experiences and those of others. And then they get creative! To get a head start on the growing season, gardeners often start seeds before the weather allows for planting them directly in the ground. They nurture and coax the seeds to begin their natural process. This requires using environments that they designed using tried and true methods, often leaning on ingenuity and what they have on hand.
Farming and gardening also require a sort of gambling, just without the negative connotations. Most decisions a farmer makes take some careful consideration. Can they get away with putting the tomatoes out a little early this year? Or will they wait? Itching to get them in the ground but hesitant because of the chance of frost. Do they hedge their bets and bale hay today because tomorrow there is a slight chance of rain? Or will they take their chances, thinking that the rain will stay north of them, giving the hay another few days to dry?
Like attracts like. Garden clubs, seed swaps, farm stands, farmers' markets, and sharing vegetables with family and friends are all examples of farming and gardening bringing people together. A crop of fruits or vegetables (or the desire to create one) fosters human interaction. As long as crops have been a thing, people have certainly talked about them... what's working and what didn't. Farmers gathered on the front stoop of a general store, talking about weather conditions and commodity prices, a scene that could have happened 80 years ago or yesterday. Gardeners share. Whether it's recipes, produce, bulbs they have divided up, seeds from a plant that did especially good last year, unused equipment, or a tip they learned from so and so, gardeners LOVE to share.
Have you heard of a "barn raising"? I got to experience one or two growing up. Barns provide storage and protection from inclement weather for equipment, supplies, and products. And other farmers understood that importance. They would come from far and wide to help raise trusses and walls and make shorter work of something that would have been daunting alone. A barn raising was more than just working. It was socializing and camaraderie, a common goal, and the understanding that the same people would come to their aid if needed.
Agriculture fields still foster this level of allegiance amongst and TO its practitioners. And a Texas spring storm will prove it! Last week we experienced 70 mph winds in our area. Several farms around us suffered structural damage. In several instances, plastic was ripped away from the roofs of hoop houses that protect the farm's crops from our crazy, random winter weather and our NOT SO random extreme summer temps. Small farms do not need this added expense in the spring or at any time. We can do little to control the weather, but we can come together to support them after such an event. You could: help with cleanup and repairs, watch for their CSA sign-ups to open and be the first in line, order from their food delivery service, share their social media post, buy tickets to an event, or even email or call and just ask, "What can we do to help?" Community is essential to them, as it should be to all of us.
