“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world.”
—Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma
My abundance is at home. When I’m out of funds, I know that I still have friends. They’re the kind of people who make a meal and bring it over, just because they were having fun cooking and thought of me. Their joy is in giving.
At my home, I put my hands in the dirt, sowing seeds. When there’s only a little in the pantry, I just might be able to reap a few herbs, some leaves of kale, or lettuce. It might not make a meal, but it brings flavor that enhances the rice, beans, or peas.
Once, as a child, I heard my grandmother exclaim, “I had enough rice and beans during the depression to last a lifetime!” In her home, I never had rice or beans—but I’d see her making baked macaroni and cheese with lots of butter and at least three kinds of cheese. My grandfather would walk in the back door, leading into the kitchen, carrying bunches of greens, collards, turnips, maybe a few sweet potatoes. Unbeknownst to me at the time, my grandfather had been in the country on the land where my great-grandparents had lived. Later, my grandmother would fuss about him being “out there,” but he liked putting his hands in the dirt. He loved his blue pickup truck. He loved seeing me and my brother as children out in the country.
At home, relationships were generative. There was concern for well-being, food for the soul, and rest for the body. I could easily rest. I could lie down on the couch in the parlor and fall into a deep sleep.
My grandparents are now ancestors, but they taught me about creating a home of abundance. They remind me that I’m loved when I am in my own garden. When my friends agree to water my garden—and I water theirs—we are creating and holding abundance. Collectively, we hold us: that, too, is abundance.
Prayer
Let the presence of Grace be revealed when we reorient ourselves to each other. May we embrace the wisdom of our Ancestors speaking to us in the traditions we’ve continued. Let us breathe the Breath of Abundance, knowing There is enough. We are enough. Let us circle back home to regenerate for the journeys to come.
Amen. Ashe. Blessed be.