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the value of keeping quiet
This past Sunday, my morning message at the contemplative service focused on the scripture of Mary and Martha, two women who shared their hospitality with Jesus in two very different ways–Marth, just doing and Mary, just being. [for the text, you can read here]
This morning, as I sat at my desk working at a computer, I listened to an interview by Krista Tippett from On Being. She spoke with Sylvia Boorstein about what we nurture. It is a wonderful piece on taking care of our own lives. [for the interview, click here]
At the end, Sylvia closed with one of her favorite poems, and I thought I’d share it here today.
Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let’s not speak in any language;
let’s stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about…
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with
death.
Now I’ll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
small suburban farming–it can be done!
In the South, Mother’s Day is not only a day to celebrate the women we cherish, but it is also the day we farmers and gardeners stop holding our breath and put out the most delicate of summer veggie starts. So, tonight I sat down with my farm journal and decided to list how many veggies, fruits, herbs, and alliums. I’ve been pulling a number out of the hat when folks ask and have been guessing 17 total. Well, y’all, I’m excited to say, it’s more than double that! The delight of it is that my little farm, by my estimate, maximizes 350 square feet to include all these yummies for summer:
FRUITS
blueberries, wineberries, grapes, apricot trees (hoping for fruit this year)
VEGETABLES
Greens: lacinato kale, vates kale, russian kale, rainbow chard, and bloomsdale spinach
Legumes: fava beans, cherokee wax bush beans, white half runner bush beans, sugar snap peas
Nightshades: amish paste tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, red sweet pepper (saved from friends’ peppers), multicolor sweet pepper (saved from peppers from store), tequila sunrise pepper, rosa bianca eggplant
Squash: small sugar pumpkin, yellow crookneck summer squash, acorn squash (saved seed from store squash), dark green zucchini, butternut squash, white wonder cucumber
Root veggies: danvers carrots, scarlet nantes carrots, fingerling potatoes, red new potatoes
Alliums: red onion, american flag leek, yellow sweet spanish onion, garlic (to be harvested in summer but planted last autumn)
HERBS
lavender, thyme, garlic chives, thai basil, sweet basil, bouquet dill, mammoth long island dill, cilantro
Looking forward to seeing what kind of yield summer will bring given vertical planting and succession planting. Come back and visit me in a few weeks–photos to follow!
peaceful foundation
Like weary waves,
thought flows upon thought,
but the still depth beneath
is all thine own.
~George Macdonald (1824-1905), Scotland
