Circle of Kindness... Thank You

Quinoa

This week we have an abundance of kale, winter squash, baby beets, a new crop of carrots, trio of sweet beans, cabbage, chard deluxe.

~~~~

A snippet from a poem by Dorianne Laux

For the Sake of Strangers *

 ...All day it continues, each kindness
reaching toward another- a stranger...
somehow they always find me, seem even
to be waiting, determined to keep me
from myself, from the thing that calls to me
as it must have called to them-
this temptation to step off the edge
and fall weightless, away from the world.

Our third season at the market is winding down. It's hard to believe that the wheel of the earth is turning into Autumn. Just look at the beauty of the quinoa and you will know that time brings everything to fruition.

We've had a steep curve of learning and adaptation in the garden this year. New bugs to disentangle from the crops, challenges by voles and rabbits, finding the right balance between letting nature take its course and setting boundaries around our "product". We lost our entire tomato crop from a late blight, caused in part from the tropical like weather this year. At first I was disappointed and seriously grieving the loss. Then I prayed about it. A glimmering came back to me in the form of two questions: What are you really offering the world through the farming? And what are you receiving?

I sat with this seemingly simple questions for weeks. In those weeks I met with so many customers and offered all the produce the garden would provide. The memory of contacts I made with you at the markets brought a smile forward. The grief at the "losses" evaporated. I gave kindness and I received kindness in return. That was/is the circle of production from this farm. And you, my customers and friends make this all worthwhile... even if I have no tomatoes or potatoes to offer you.

Everything moves and changes in the seasons. Look at the beauty in the leaves and heavy heads of grain. The truth is there. I want to live in the circle of kindness and beauty in this world. I thank you, that you have allowed me to be more than just a part of the food chain, a producer of food. You have taken in the bounty of our little corner of the sacred earth. And your smiles and presence has offered so much to us in return.

Thanks,
See you at the market.
Salmon Creek Farmer's Market

Rick

* Quoted from  a wonderful book of poems called Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love and Revelation, Edited by Roger Housden (c) 2003 Harmony Books, NY

Copyright Richard Sievers, September 2013, All Rights Reserved.

Beautiful Slugs

This Week We Have: Giant sea kale, curly kale, chard, trio beans, concord grapes, lemon and Armenian cucumbers, a few tomatoes, russet potatoes and fresh cut flowers.
Next Week: In addition to the above we'll have winter squash (10 varieties), beets again (yay), possibly rainbow carrots and tomatoes.

See you at Salmon Creek Farmer's Market

~~~

The rain has resurrected the slugs. My primary technique for protecting the garden from the slugs is going around the plants and hand harvesting them. I kill them with a simple set of shears. It's a little gruesome, yes. But it is more merciful and honest than poison or traps. I wrote about it this morning in my journal:

Slugs

I move, stealthy,

into the cool wet garden.

Old shears jawing 

the death song 

in my right hand.

The casual warmth

of coffee in my left.

"This is your last moment on Earth.

Thank you for your beauty."

I tell each one

as they crawl 

toward an unrequited delight.

Then I fall from their sky.

Then I cut their life force free.

Then I become an angel 

of life and death.

I become akin to the One who hovers

over me with Her shining

sharp songs, 

stealthy in Her blade.

I hear my fate in the morning clouds too.

I hear the angel's shining sword singing.

I hear that I am just another part of the garden,

beautiful too, mortal too.

"These are your sacred 

moments on Earth."

I hear the angel whisper.

"Soon you will awaken.

Soon you will open up.

Soon you will be free."

 ~~~

Blessings to you from our garden.
May you realize the beauty and love that is far beyond the ruthless mortality this world.

Rick

Copyright (c)  Rick Sievers, September 2013, All Rights Reserved