Garden Friends

“There seem to be but three ways for a nation to acquire wealth. The first is by war, as the Romans did, in plundering their conquered neighbors. This is robbery. The second by commerce, which is generally cheating. The third by agriculture, the only honest way, wherein man receives a real increase of the seed thrown into the ground in a kind of continual miracle, wrought by the hand of God in his favor, as a reward for his innocent life and his virtuous industry.”…Benjamin Franklin

From the moment Joe and I knew we were going to have an organic garden, all of the pieces in our life came together. It was as if life was rewarding us for listening to our intuition and for doing the right thing. But the real bonuses began to happen as we met the people who live, play, visit and love the island. Some of you have grandparents who were born here or maybe you were. Some of our visitors have never been here before…but those of you who took the time to stop and tell us a little about yourselves, just make this experience a richer one.

What is it about a garden that thrills some of us and to share our stories causing us to become quick friends. Is it because the ego takes a back seat to what is real and natural without us even thinking about it? Why are we so intensely moved by watching a seed become a plant, become a flower, become a fruit or become something that we eat. I think it's because it is at the core of what life really is, a metaphor really. I am positive I'm not the first one to make this connection. But I do know that gardening has made me more patient, loving and moved me into connecting with mother nature on an hourly basis.

I hate when dusk comes, and I can't see my garden out the back kitchen window. I can no longer view the borage attracting the bees, as they become ecstatic on their little bluecocktails. Or the birds feeding their babies that live in the open end of the pole that holds up the clothes line. I can't see the monolithic catnip, where our garden cats, Minky Monkey and Buddy, along with the neighbors striped cat (we call him "Fella") lay hidden underneath looking a little bit like drunken sailors after a long time at sea.

But the next day begins and while I am setting up the produce stand one of my neighbors, on her daily walk, will yell out, "What have you got good this week, Kate?" Or the jazz singer and her boyfriend (singer too) who love the Kale and wander around the garden taking pictures. Then he told his sister about the kale, who is an anthropologist and is interested in sustainability in urban environments. I can’t get over the gal who is a truck driver so she can’t maintain a garden, missing it so much that she pulled weeds as she wandered through the raised beds. We had the conservator of the Belle Isle Arboretum stop by and admire the garden which thrilled Joe and I. If that wasn't enough, Debbie and her husband Mike, who have stopped by twice, brought a gift of beautiful tiles that she had her students make with names of the vegetables for me to hang on wires (I will be getting to that this week). He has had plants named after him and she is an artist with wonderful ideas and stories. My favorite being the one about the bee whisperer. Sunday, I met Kathy the muralist who loves it here in the winter, like Joe and I do and scans the island for junk which is one of my favorite past times. Or the incredible Karen who is a pond specialist and has a farm where she grows over 100 heirloom tomatoes and 50 types of peppers. So many of you have touched my heart and appreciate what we are doing.

It seems that as the garden reveals it's magic, relationships grow in tandem, all of us feeling, or at least I know I am feeling, that all things are connected, special and if we are lucky enough, are present enough to know when it happens. And that my friends is truly a gift