spring blooming into summer
when you feel that the earth loves you in return
A poem by Mary Oliver
Why I Wake Early
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety–
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
- Mary Oliver
May... when my arms were so full of seedlings to plant and seeds to tuck into the soil that suddenly I’m now looking around and realizing it's time to begin weeding… and there's lots of weeding.
What a treat. Spider Lily Tradescantia virginiana in the garden that seemed to have arrived magically in a perfect row — I didn’t plant them.
I’ve planted the garden with loads of new perennial trees, herbs, and fruits as well as annual veggies and flowers.
Let’s see… arugula, beets, broccoli, collard greens, basil, pole beans, bush beans, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, cucumbers, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, onions, peas, peppers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, spinach, kabocha squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, butternut squash, strawberries, tomatoes, onions, lavender, oregano, mint, lemon balm, rosemary, wormwood, comfrey, horseradish, turnips, asparagus, rhubarb, wine cap mushrooms, elderberry, serviceberry, paw paw, cattails, indian celery, indian potato, and witch hazel.
Yarrow unfurling, transplanted in early spring from a lonesome bed by itself to underneath the fruit trees. New companions.
Possibly the most thrilling discovery of last week — the Ranunculus blooms I’ve been waiting for since February (or longer). I only snipped a couple to test out harvesting time and vase life, but I suspect I’m within a week of these blooming wide open. Until then I’m marveling at how far they’ve come. From corms that sprouted in the dark 40 F of the shop, through the late winter freeze, to this layering rose-like bud full of color. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Thank you…
For the miracle of the trees and the oxygen they give.
For the grace they have amidst the ways we ignore their vitality and extinguish their presence.
For the regenerative capacity of the soil and of nature.
For the way seeds spread and how from one single plant drops thousands.
For eating lunch outside.
For the morning light.
For the herbs in my tea and the essential oils gracing my skin.
For the beauty of growing and living with plants.
“Knowing that you love the earth changes you, activates you to defend and protect and celebrate. But when you feel that the earth loves you in return, that feeling transforms the relationship from a one-way street into a sacred bond.”
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
To loving the earth and feeling it love you in return.
