Dear friends: On this first Sunday of June, many of us are in environments moving into what our gardeners call the “growing season.” Nights are (generally) warmer, the sun lingers in long twilights, and plants invest energy into massing stems, leaves, buds, and even fruits. Our farmers’ market has provided asparagus and a few delicious early strawberries, along with the cool-weather onions and so many kinds of greens I can’t list them all. It’s one of my favorite times of the year, living in a climate with four (relatively) distinct seasons.
What the growing season reveals in our gardens is often how well we prepared the soil. Here in our valley, we get lots of wind, and June typically sends at least one hailstorm. Our gardens take a beating from these elements out of our control; but the quality of the soil makes a tremendous difference in how resilient the developing plants will be. Good soil provides nutrients and a firm anchor for their roots. They can turn their backs on brief intrusions of wind and hail, and open again when the sun inevitably follows.
In our community life, our foundations in caring, compassionate understanding provide the nutrients and anchors for our roots as well. And for far too long, we’ve been stingy and neglectful in nurturing those foundations. We’ve spent far too much energy excluding community members from the “good soil,” exiling them into places of poor nutrition and loose anchoring. We’ve believed false stories that turn our fellow humans, neighbors close and far, into enemies, competing for what we are told are scant resources. And we’ve turned over our ability to cultivate good communities to those who use their wealth and power to perpetuate those false stories.
It’s time, this growing season, to shake off the beliefs that keep us afraid of one another, that create such poor soil, making our roots vulnerable. We live in a ecosystem, not an economy. Our interdependence is a virtue. Every person has value, every person makes our soil richer and our roots stronger.
We work together to ensure access to the vote, support for the caregiving infrastructure, and inclusion of all folk, fully and with dignity, in our community life.
Wishing you a lovely, healthy growing season.