Grow At Least One Plant
One of our mentors, Bill McDorman (interviewed in this month’s recommended podcast), always tells people that to really be in touch with life, you need to grow at last one food plant every year and save its seeds. When you begin to listen to another form of life, meet its needs, and tend to its seeds from generation to generation, you will begin to understand everything that the flourishing of human life requires on such a fragile world.
And so, as summer begins here in North America and planting season is well under way, we suggest this to you as a challenge and as a practice of connection: find seeds that are important to your ancestors (or just to you). Practice planting them and saving the seeds this summer. Even if it’s a single tomato plant in a pot on your porch, the object of this practice is not to feed yourself, but to make your tomato plant a part of your life. Plants are amazing creatures, and you may naturally begin to watch its every move. You will keenly pay attention to the wind, rain, and frost. You’ll notice how in early June, the wind may shift. You’ll scan the skies for hailstorms, nervous about your plant. You’ll research tomato growth patterns, and may feel conflicted when you learn that if you didn’t kill your tomato hornworms, they would mature into the giant five-spotted hawk moth. Your tomato plant would become a symbol of your love and care, a sacred part of your life. And at the end of the season when you hold the new generation of tomato seeds in your hand, the tomato will largely be the same, but you will be a different person.
In trying times, this is what we really need: people who are in touch with the world and who understand what it takes to build a relationship with the beings you depend on, and to help them depend on you as well. If this is your first time on this journey, we suggest starting with peppers, tomatoes, beans, corn, or squash. Happy planting!