In the Spirit of Hope

Seed orders have been placed -- a new personal record for getting a head start on the upcoming season.  One-hundred varieties so far, although there will almost certainly be a few outstanding odds and ends yet to secure.  There always seems to be an extra tomato or pepper to try.Who knows how it will all fit in the deer-fenced space?  But then it is the Christmas season and the catalogs seduced me.  Herbs and greens and roots and fruits with a handful of flowers thrown in, I have ordered a little bit of it all.  It is the bliss of leaning forward, even while thawing from the freezer and enjoying the taste of looking back.  Even while the ground is snow-whitened and the temperature is in the single-digits.  Another harvest is already budding in my imagination, never mind that what winds up in my basket never looks quite as glamorous as the glossy pictures in the catalogs.  I can always hope --

• that the seeds actually germinate and sprout; 
• that just the right amount of rain falls at just the right intervals; 
• that this year I will successfully manage the pests; 
• that my back holds out through all the weeding; 
• etc., etc., etc.

Farming, in other words, is intrinsically hopeful work -- which, come to think of it, makes Advent the perfect time to order seeds while we are busy with other, exponentially bigger hoping -- for such packages under the tree as...
...mutual respect among religions;
...peace between nations;
...reasonable access to health care for all;
...an end to hunger...

As to that last one, I like to think I am making some small contribution, although even that hope is largely aspirational.  My meager harvests are hardly feeding the world.  They are hardly feeding Lori and me!  But I am learning.  And I am generating conversation.  And one of these days others will come to sit at our table, and perhaps someday something I have grown will be a nourishing blessing on tables of their own. 

And then, on fuller stomachs, and almost certainly healthier as a result, with therefore less need for all that medical care, we can make better progress toward world peace. 

Here’s hoping.

Which just goes to prove what all can happen by simply placing an order for seeds.