Pay It Forward...from our gardens, too!

Tonight is Inaugural Eve, a time of hope, encouragement, and joy - with new possibilities for healing ~ not just for our nation, but for the world that the United States has imposed themselves on for so long. I am driven to divert from the physical act of gardening after only 2 blog posts. What i have seen and heard this past two weeks warms my heart deeply.... and is applicable to all of us. Once again, in a time when government's assistance to individuals and municipalities can no longer keep pace with individual needs and increased national debt, our new President has called for the individual to pitch in and help!! As this was a premise in my child-rearing ways, (now finished this past year!) - my heart sings at the possibilities and benefits of people again taking care of people, eye to eye - with great consequence! Too long, it has been about _Me_, with nary an eye toward assisting fellow humans in close proximity to us. This is NOT how it started in our great land.......and it is my hope that we can find, again, an ethic that has become uncommon.

How does this apply to the humble gardener? There have been programs fantastic : Plant a Row for the Hungry, save our seed germplasm from extinction, and more....most programs being available only in large metro areas and not for those of us who moved out into the boondocks (seeking a more sane and healthy atmosphere). Each time i applied or inquired about these wonderful ideas someone else had to benefit others via gardening - i found that most are not in place in rural areas. So, we set out to see what can be done here or anywhere.

"Ask and it shall be given", said a Good Book - and so i inquired toward the Great-What-It-Is how it was that we could make a difference, without access to The Program, whichever :)
Opportunites to assist, via my garden medium immediately began to present themselves....YAY!
Some ideas:

• My surplus, naturally-grown produce will show up this next season in front of pre-schoolers at Head Start if i have my way. These little ones will revel in biting into tiny, multi-colored kid-sized cherry tomatoes! They will explode in their little mouths, in place of canned, low-nutrition fruits at snacktime. Perhaps they will munch on my Sno-peas - and learn that Green and Fresh are sweet and fun, too! Too many of our little ones have been raised on "Pop" and Lil Debbie Cakes here in the mountains......and you can see it in their being and in their lack of youthful vitality. We can change some of that!
  
• My Kentucky Heirloom Tomatoes might wind up in flats for the taking at the great Senior Center we have, or perhaps the one nursing home - last stop for many that grew up here and remember the tasty delights of old fashioned heirloom vegetables.
• Our wonderful Franciscan friends, Sister Amy and Sister Ann gather the women in our community together monthly - often women less fortunate than some of us - for fellowship, nutritional fun via lesson on cooking whole foods together. We laugh together, learn of a different topic from a speaker, prep and cook a lunch using local foods as we can, sit down and pray and eat together. Afterward, each woman receives a bag of groceries and the recipes we made to do the same for their own families. It is SO cool, as many gals have never eaten or prepared these dishes dedicated to their health and deliciousness! For the last 5 or 6 years, i was privileged to share with them a gardening talk and seed that each could take home and try out. A show of hands last year said that 23 of 26 women present, were now growing either small or large gardens - as their ancestors did around here ( many never stopped from the olden days). These are a people of the earth, here in Appalachia - and there is an underlying culture of sustainability that was almost lost and being found again by other newer generations. People taking care of people - that is what is beautiful about "country". Very exciting!! People here WILL know what to do when the markets close or food becomes too costly for the common woman or man....tho we are not there again, quite yet.
• Plant something with a young child - something that is their very own. Teach them to nurture that green life and enJOY what harvest brings - just for them. Magic, that's what that is!!
  
• Do you have a neighbor - one of few means? How wonderful to find a box of goodies discreetly left on a porch. An elder who no longer cooks healthy foods - tho they do remember that time of life. Perhaps a few portions of snapped, pre-cooked beans to aid in their better health. Some people here take lots of green beans into the nursing home, as many of them remember the hours of camaraderie as the women sat together and snapped beans for suppertimes. A light comes on in the eyes and a glow in the heart, as they prepare again what was once common to everyday life, before processed, less-than-healthy foods. Our seniors and young children ought to always receive the honor of good food and caring.....what should be a measure of a healthy society ( along with the ARTS, but don't get me started on THAT one now, heehe).

Again the time has come when we need to step out and help all those around us - and not rely on a goverment to take care of our own.....we are our brother and sister's keepers!

Please, as our new President Obama beseeches each of us to reach out, volunteer, and help each other once again. A time to Pay it forward. The benefits of selflessness are astonishing, and Joy is so underated.
What small thing will you do in 2009? Your garden can be a good, small start, and there is always more than one needs :)

•