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| Bananas at Noe's |
Last year, Karen grew Heirloom tomatoes from seed and gave them away to Noe (our friend down the street). He really likes to grow things (Bananas, papayas, peppers, guayabas, and tomatoes. Recently he even brought in a truck load of good soil. Noe has banana plants along the front of his place, they are currently sprouting a new crop.
I'm reading a book called Second Nature, that is all about gardening. The author, Michael Pollen, talks about gardens like I talk about wilderness. For example, "To be sure, there is much to be learned in the wilderness; our unsurpassed tradition of nature writing is sufficient proof of that. But my experience in the garden leads me to believe that there are many important things about our relationship to nature that cannot be learned in the wild. For one thing, we need, and now more than ever, to learn how to use nature without damaging it." I'm not sure I'll finish the book, but my neighbor gave it to me to read and I want to honor that friendship. I think gardening, like getting out into the wilderness, is another way to manage the stress involved in everyday life (it's therapeutic). Turns out the author is a Calvinist, although he certainly does not live what he believes, as he admits having fear over the prospect that freewill is real. What is it about human nature that blinds people to the obvious consequences of choice! This might become the reason I stop reading the book (hypocrisy). On the other hand, there's no reason to "throw the baby out with the bathwater," and I am modestly interested in gardening.
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