Saturdays in the Garden

First Fruits

The weight of biblical tradition makes me feel like the first fruits of the season should be offered up in some holy ritual. Instead Emma and I shared a moment savoring the first ripe (albeit imperfect) strawberry together. Then we had some of the arugula with dinner. Celebrating the earth in these ways is yes, simple, but it is a sort of ritual unto itself.

But as the season progresses I am spending more and more time pulling the weeds that choke out the life of the food and attempting to do something about the bugs that are eating my food. I don't want to dump toxins onto the land, but I really don't want to be sharing my swiss chard with the critters either. So I'm experimenting with organic pesticides. Yesterday I made up a batch that was pretty much a mixture of pureed garlic and habanero peppers. I could barely stand being in the kitchen with the stuff my eyes stung so bad, so I hope the bugs have the same aversion to it. We shall see.

All that to say, organic gardening is work. Growing my own food and doing so in sustainable ways that doesn't harm the environment or my kids takes works. It reminded me of last weekend during EVDC09 when Eliacin made a comment about the use of the term "organic." He mentioned how all too often we speak of organic leadership or organization as if it is this nebulous unstructured thing. People who despise brands or hierarchy will suggest organic systems instead. But, as he pointed out, organic gardening is hard – it takes a lot of deliberate effort. No organic gardener is going to go in without a plan, without knowing when to plant. They aren't going to let pests or weeds take over the garden if they care about actually producing food. It's just that as they go about their work they do so in loving, careful, and considerate fashion without imposing unnatural elements onto the garden. Understanding that work (by doing it myself!) really helps me understand more the spiritual metaphor of what an organic community should be like.