Garden

Today, Jessie and I worked in the garden. It was simply marvelous, to have her there, to work beside her, getting work done, work that is building something important, sometimes intangible, sometimes expected like the harvest, sometimes surprisingly unexpected and real.

We had to lay out about 400 feet of hose to get the watering done. The school was having field day and so we got to cheer the boys on as we worked. We got a lot of weeds hoed. Larry Stewart had been in the garden earlier in the week and his section of tomatoes sure looked good. Jason Dillard planted the other corner of maters, and he left a good depression around the plants, a bowl where you could water and the plant soaks it up.

Onions are getting bigger, potatoes are ready to be hilled. Mapigano is totally pumped that we are growing lenga lenga.

After school, John, Joe and Ben ran around the garden and just got so tired. I mean little boy tired. There is nothing rowdier or grumpier than little boy tired. And it is so cute when they finally just pass out.

We have a big garden. I am not sure about the square footage, but I am going to guess 3000 sq.ft. It took me, Jessie, Kelly and Sawyer about 3 hours to get the watering done. Of course, it’s my zen watering that takes a while—dripping a bit on each plant, letting it soak in the way rain does. I guess it’s cruel, but I like to think I am watering the plant and starving the weed. I guess it shows God’s grace—I sure wouldn’t make it rain on the unrighteous, ‘cept for me…

Who are Kelly and Sawyer? I thought you’d never ask. Kelly is the woman Andres and I met DOING EVANGELISM last week. (I put DOING EVANGELISM in screaming caps so just maybe, somehow someone will realize that until we get out on the street we will not meet anyone.) [I put that last part in parentheses to explain that it is simply impossible to be serious about the Kingdom without going, seeking, all that Jesus stuff.] I think I gave her a pseudonym. She said she did not get into organized religion, and I said we were actually pretty disorganized. Anyhoo, she was pushing Sawyer in his stroller (he’s 22 months and cute) and she saw us up there. We got to talking about a lot of stuff. She’s been a river-rafting guide in parts west, a science teacher in Honduras (where she and her husband were doing some sustainable agriculture), and spent time in Terlingua, Texas. Ha, Terlingua. She was stoked that I knew where it was. My mom and I have a history with Terlingua. Let’s just say it involves a sheriff and an ill-conceived trip to Del Rio. It’s not quite “No Country For Old Men;” more like “A Fistful of Dollars.” I’ve said too much already.

Why is it that the garden is this meeting place for me and people not quite on the way? Kelly told me to make sure to tell her whenever we’d be in the garden so she and her husband can come along. Wow. Maybe all of us know it started in a garden, and we get back any way we can.