The past few weekends have been spent planting seeds, seedlings, and fruit trees. Sprouts have already started to emerge where the seeds were planted, and the fruit trees and seedlings seem to be happy in their new home.
My family has never had much success gardening in Colorado, but we’ve decided to dedicate a lot of energy to gardening this summer to see if we can get a better harvest. I don’t know how productive the garden will be this year, but in doing the process I feel hopeful. I see young kale, lettuce, peas, and carrot tops emerging from the soil. I see butterflies dancing around the sprouts. I see the the soil and plants benefitting from the time and work dedicated to them.
In the book All We Can Save, Leah Penniman wrote, “The further the population gets from its connection to Earth, the more likely we are to ignore and exploit those who work the soil.”
In feeling the earth, seeing the bugs, smelling the mulch, listening to nature, and later tasting the bounty of our labor, we are connected to the Earth and each other. We are doing what our ancestors did. We are appreciating the work that every bit of food we consume has cost the farmers who grew it and pickers who harvested it. We see with hope the way our food system used to be, and the possibility of what it could become again.