Sunday, November 6, 2011

Please don't let my dreams run dry

A long time ago, in the Garden of Eden God gave to Adam two commandments. One of which everyone knows, to multiply and replenish the earth. Yes, everyone knows that one, but the second and sometimes forgotten commandment was to till the earth, that it would bring forth food and fruit that Adam and Eve would eat. I want to talk about this commandment. The one that is sometimes forgotten because it is this one for this moment that I can take joy in. So the saying goes....
17) ...cursed is the ground for thy sake; in csorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18) aThorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19) In the asweat of thy face shalt thou eat bbread, till thou return unto the ground;
--Genesis Chapter 3

Now fast forward about 6,000 or billions of years depending on how you look at it. November 21, 1988, Kent and Vickie gave birth a little baby boy. Little did they know that at the time this little boy would grow into a boy that would try with all of his heart to keep this commandment no matter on how small a scale it may seem. Hence my blog post

This is a picture of my land
So here is the story. Maybe 11 years ago this past summer, I was about 11, (I might have been 12 and it maybe have been only 10 years ago, but sparing the details this is how it went) and in my backyard we had this patch of dirt, right next to the sandbox. Now calling this a patch of dirt is generous, it was more like a piece of the Sahara desert dropped right in our backyard because it was so hard and unworkable. Well while mowing the lawn one day I decided what a good idea it would be to dump the grass clippings in the dirt and let them compost to make the soil better. So I dug a little hole and tried to dump the clippings. I underestimated two things though. 1) How hard the ground would be. 2) How much grass was actually cut when I mowed the lawn. So instead of the grass starting to degrade into the soil to make it better, I had a mound of grass in about a 2 foot by 1 foot hole in the backyard.
But I had a vision of what this land, my land could be. Now fast forward about 10 or maybe 11 years. Now I in no way shape or form do I proclaim to be a good gardener. In fact I might even say I have a tough time proclaiming to be any type of gardener. But I am someone who is trying work the earth by the sweat of my brow. Every year, since that summer I have attempted to grow things on the little patch of land. It's not much, and at times maybe even laughable but it's mine and I love it. I have been learning all along the way. Like how Bell Peppers don't grow to well in the extreme heat, or how tomatoes will fight for every inch of sunlight you will give them, and how they let you know when they don't have enough. I have learned how to grow jalepenos, and sweet peas. Maybe not well but I am learning. I love it. I have learned about turning the earth with leaves. And what makes good compost and what does not.
(To bad i'm not a root farmer because I can grow some mean roots.)

I have endured bad crops, and opposition. Laughs, and scoffs at my little patch of land. But I will work that land, and I will live to see a good crop come in. One day when I am eating my crop through the winter, I will truly say I have conquered the land. Well maybe not conquered, because I work with the land. I work the land so it will produce for me. It's a partnership, and as such as I put in, it puts out. Without the land I receive nothing, and if not for me it may still very well be a little piece of the Sahara Desert. So with my partner I will continue to work and learn. It will continue to teach me more than I would have ever learned from any book.

"He who soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He who soweth deeply shall reap also deeply."
--Paul the Apostle