Another wall of rain makes its way across the valley as I listen for the drops to reach my skylight…one of my favorite sounds on Earth! The golfers and my Facebook friends may be wishing for some summer heat and tan lines, but my farmer friends are rejoicing! And, in my mind, farmers trump everybody else because of the simple fact that I like to eat.
My overwhelming affinity for all things agriculture may seem unusual given that I didn’t grow up on a working farm, although I made darn sure I married a man who did. To be fair, we really did have a go at raising our kids in the city for a spell, but scooping kitty litter and sorting glass and plastic at the curb didn’t put enough dirt under their fingernails, and the summer-berry-picking buses didn’t have Northeast Portland on their 5 a.m. route. Even now I daydream about what character my offspring could develop if our ten acres were magically supersized to about a thousand!
My own farm may be small, but there’s just something about this time of year that makes me want to turn the chickens and pigs out to pasture and dig deep into the compost pile to see if the worms made it through the winter. I can hear the greenhouses full of hanging baskets at Hidden Falls Garden calling my name and I keep glancing at the top of Black Butte to see if the snow has melted yet - granting me permission to trust seedling to soil. This year I’m looking around my little plot of terra firma and wishing I’d given birth to about a dozen more children…just think of all the land I could tame with manpower like that!
Every trip to town entertains my senses with the smell of sod turning and the sweet sight of mama cows with their newborn calves. I notice how faithfully the folks at The Great American Egg farm are managing their land and producing world class, pastured eggs, poultry and pork which makes me want to run home and watch Food, Inc. twenty seven more times! Then I wave at the farmers who are fertilizing and getting their wheel lines ready for the ditch rider to come along and unlock the gates! I thank God on their behalf for the hard storms that bring higher yields because, it’s the least I can do, and I know that when their heads hit the pillow at night, they’re probably asleep before they can even respond to that still small voice.
Perhaps it’s all the Earth Day brouhaha that has me considering what seeds of truth might be awaiting harvest in this crazy culture of mine; where fertile ground is constantly threatened by wind, rocks and hardpan. The best kernel I’ve come up with so far is that the only difference between you, and me and the soil under our feet…is the breath of God.
Authors note: Hidden Falls Garden is located at 5400 NE Ochoco Hwy. Prineville.
You can also visit www.greatamericanegg.com to learn more about where to buy locally grown eggs, pork and poultry.
