Spring 2020. The Pandemic.

"And the people stayed home...and learned new ways of being." Kitty O'Meara

The 8 foot, deer proof fence, under construction 

This poem (see below), so simple and direct, went viral for a reason. It's about the promise of healing - healing for me, for you, and for the whole world under attack by this pandemic. And that promise taps into a deep longing many have.

"And the people stayed home...and learned new ways of being." These are the words in the poem that capture this moment we're in.

That's what I'm learning - new ways of being while staying home, and among other things, developing my potager garden.

Worms - from decay comes
fertility and life

Compost bin filled with table
scraps - and worms

As I work - erecting my fence; composting my grass clippings, leaves and kitchen scraps; constructing a herb spiral ending in a watercress pond; installing my raised beds in the shape of a Jerusalem cross; laying out swales to capture rainwater from a neighbors roof to optimize groundwater recharge; planting fruit trees to use that water; planting alfafa as a legume to fix nitrogen for the tree crops and to feed the chickens - I am making connections. Connections with life in all its' visible and invisible forms promising a unifying friendship - with God, people and all creation.


It's good forging these relationships. Good because it feels so right, this "learning new ways of being" in a world waiting for people who have learned to "stay home." 


So, I've made a decision, partly inspired by the insightful words of this poem. I'm not going back!

Looking east in the emerging potager garden

I'm not going back to the way it was before. Today I choose. I choose to continue to "stay home" and to "learn new ways of being" - to garden; and to read, listen, rest, exercise, play, be still, listen again, meditate, pray, dance; and to meet my shadow.

This day, I choose to embrace this moment offered by the disruption of this awful pandemic. It promises me, promises the world, a sweetness of healing that, coming at such great cost to so many, should not be missed.

Kitty O'Meara captures the hope best. "And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, ... and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed."

                                                                     * * * * *

AND THE PEOPLE STAYED HOME

"And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.

"And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless way, the earth began to heal.

"And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed."

- Kitty O'Meara 



Permaculture Design: an approach used in developing my potager garden that is very much about the healing of the earth. Below is a good summary of what it is. It's good to be dusting off these skills again as Carla and I become rooted to this spot. No more moving!