PEACE, PASSION AND THE TELLING OF THE STORY

The blurb at the top of the side-bar of this blog says:

Follow the journey of 57 seedsavers in pursuit of peace and passion in the vegetables gardens of South Australia. When you dream alone it is just a dream, when you dream with others it is the beginning of reality.

.... and today we found the reality and shared the peace and passion when 20 or so of us gathered at Fern Ave Community Garden. It is hard to believe that we are not all old friends and that some we only met for the first time today, because we have a common sense of camaraderie, a love of giving and sharing and a deep connection with the earth and growing food.

The table outside was laden with seedlings and quinces and beets and chicory and watercress and seeds and so much stuff it overflowed onto the ground.... and all of it had a story, as told by the person who brought each item, which is a core part of our gatherings..... the telling of the story is as important as the item itself.

It is one thing to buy a punnet of seedlings from a shop but it is quite another to take home a couple of tiny paper parcels of soil, holding the seedling raised by a friend, from seeds of a plant she or he grew themselves and wants to share with you. And that person has held them in their hands and told their story to all of us then placed them on the table and gradually all the items on the table come to life and are no longer simply things but also gain a soul.

When I look around my whole garden and all my vegetables, happily growing there, I see that so many have a connection to someone.... Joy's cos lettuce, Kathy's celery, Kath's broccoli, Cath's yellow cornos capsicums and so on.... and this is what makes a group like our seedsavers group priceless and special.

The table inside was laden with food, some made with home-grown ingredients but all home made. I can never believe there can be such variety when we do this and that it can all be so delicious and the food has stories too but we tend to just hoe in and ask questions later.... seeking out the person who cooked the tamarillo tartlets or the lemon cake or the humous to get the recipe.

 

 

It was a lovely, mild autumn day so we sat outside near the pizza oven...and the community garden just looked a picture. There are more photos here.