Imagine the world without anger, without greed. We have the power, the tools, the skills and the resources right now to build a peaceful world, where people live in harmony with the Earth and each other. This blog explores ways we are doing just that, one post, one change, one day at a time. Join me. Tell your stories. Ask for help. Spread your ideas for making the vision real and, well, ordinary.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Giving thanks


If I had to count only one blessing today, it would be the delight I feel when I walk past a neighborhood school where the children are learning to grow their own vegetables, with a few posies in the mix. I give thanks for every gardener who takes time to teach little ones to dig their hands deep into the soil, feel it cool and moist, sniff and yes, even taste.

There is no greater gift my parents could have given than tending their gardens. We might eat lean the rest of the year, but the summer months brought steaming platters of corn on the cob, plates of of fresh-picked green beans cooked crunchy tender so not to lose the flavor, bowls filled to the brim with crisp cucumbers sliced with onions and steeped in vinegar with dill and plenty of salt and pepper, and all the juicy red tomatoes we could eat. Generous bouquets from my mother's flower gardens filled the house with sweet and pungent scents. Hay fever sufferers beware!

My mother, in her eighties, still manages to plant, hoe and weed her gardens throughout the summer. Where the irrigation lines don't reach, she hand carries buckets of water to treasures she brought from the old home place decades ago.

This time of year, when the ground is resting, waiting for the winter freeze, Mom yearns to plunge her hands once again into the loamy earth--loamy because of the tons of compost she's dug into the hard clay over the years. When I think of Mom, almost always I see her on the ground, one hand propping her up, the other patting the soil round a transplant. "There you go, you little thing," she says to it. "I've done my part. Now it's up to you to grow." And they do. Amazingly fast and luscious.


Grattan School Children's Garden
Image: © L. Kathryn Grace

So on this day, I give gratitude to my mother and father who taught me, by example, to love the earth and to respect its bounty. I give gratitude, too, to the teachers and parents who are showing the children at a neighborhood school how to grow vegetables and flowers and, equally important, to be kind to one another.

What are you thankful for?





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We make peace in a million small ways every day.
All text and images, unless otherwise noted, copyright L. Kathryn Grace. All rights reserved.
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3 comments:

Wanda said...

You may remember the post from my blog about the CSA garden we started this year. We have a garden plot in our front yard where we grow vegetables of all kinds. This winter, we have added a couple of small hoop houses to help the lettuce and a couple other things last longer. Our compost bin has been emptied and worked into the soil to prepare for next spring's planting. And we have a pit in the garden to compost over the winter, rather than using the bin. We recycle as much as we can and I am grateful that we live in an area where recycling of almost everything is available at our curb.

Wanda said...

By the way....Home Depot recycles compact fluorescents at no charge to you.

graceonline said...

Wanda, I do remember garden posts on your blog, but not that you are a CSA. Congrats on that! The CSA movement is growing by leaps and bounds in this country. I wish you huge success.

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