Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Lessons in Bean-Picking
I spent a couple of hours last evening up to my thighs in bean vines and hogweeds. By my own choice. Well, OK ... my wife may have been the impetus for this activity .. but I did agree.
We decided to resurrect a practice we use to engage in -- namely raising and canning some vegetables for winter enjoyment. Problem is, we used to garden when we lived on a farm or in a parsonage at the rural church we served. Now, we are smack dab in the middle of ... GASP! ... town. With too much dog (a St. Bernard) and too little yard to effectively 'garden.' With that in mind, my mother and father in law wondered aloud if we would collaborate with them on a vegetable-raising effort, and since they (a) don't have a dog, (b) have tons of good, unused, fertile soil; and (c) are experiencing declinging health while trying to combat that with better nutrition ..... it seemd like the logical thing to do. Only problem -- they live an hour away. However, since (a) I truly love my in-laws, (b) my wife deals with guilt from our moving an hour away when we accepted this calling to Richmond, and (c) I saw this as the only dependable way to get my hands on loads of vine-ripened tomatoes .... about 2 - 3 months ago we spent a Saturday tilling and digging and sowing.
Ta - da!! A garden was born. And I looked at it ... and it was good. And so we came home. Until a few weeks ago (we've visited since then ... just not done much 'gardening.") when cucumbers starting gowing among the greenery out in the dirt patch. So we picked and we ate. And it was good. Then came squash. And some more squash. And even some more squash. And it too, wad good. Along the way we enjoyed some of the sweetest cabbage ever eaten by mortals, several 'messes' (that is a GOOD Southern word) of beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower. In fact we were so busy picking and eating lettuce and greens and okra that we neglected to till/hoe/or otherwise weed the Roma and Half Runner green beans. And green beans? Well, that is THE staple of southern vegetable canning (along with tomatoes.)
By my calculations ... one hour from my house there are approximately 2,674,843 bushels of green beans. All they needed was to be picked, broken into pieces, put into jars and sealed. My mother in law (who I really do love) was apoplectic that one of those beans might spoil, so last night ... after a full day's work for me, a full day of classes for my wife, two soccer practices, a football practice (my oldest daughter is one of the team managers) and the caging of a frog that my 6 year old has adopted ... (Whew, let me get me breath) .... we drove an hour and picked beans for two hours.
I've learned several lessons for the remainder of my journey following Jesus:
1) The whole 'Sower and the Seed' parable takes on a fuller and more profound meaning when you really put some seeds in the dirt, dig your fingers into the earth and watch to see what happens. God can make some wonderful things grow and bear fruit, but how the seed is received sure does make a difference.
2) Good things ... even and maybe especially, good things that grow beyond your understanding or power ... still require effort and intention. Or as Dallas Willard says "Grace is opposed to earning, not effort." Bean picking would be much more enjoyable and loads more productive, if the hogweeds had been chopped down.
3) For all the packaging and supplements and preservatives, and the benefit they bring .... God's plan to feed us off the land tastes pretty good and works pretty well. There is a insight into simplicity that I have gained by my feeble gardening efforts this year. One that I was not prepared to learn when we lived in the country, because I was not so conscious and intentional about the need and value of solitude and simplicity and silence. Then again, in the country, maybe I didn't need to be.
4) It never hurts to be diligent. Much of our gardening has been well-done, but the failure to weed the beans has come at a price. Neglecting even small or seemingly inconsequential areas of life almost always comes back to haunt us.
Well .. I'm through. I've got work to do, practces to shuttle for ... and some beans to break and ready for the jars. Maybe one day you can sit down at my table and enjoy a 'mess' with me. Until then, peace to you ....
harry
We decided to resurrect a practice we use to engage in -- namely raising and canning some vegetables for winter enjoyment. Problem is, we used to garden when we lived on a farm or in a parsonage at the rural church we served. Now, we are smack dab in the middle of ... GASP! ... town. With too much dog (a St. Bernard) and too little yard to effectively 'garden.' With that in mind, my mother and father in law wondered aloud if we would collaborate with them on a vegetable-raising effort, and since they (a) don't have a dog, (b) have tons of good, unused, fertile soil; and (c) are experiencing declinging health while trying to combat that with better nutrition ..... it seemd like the logical thing to do. Only problem -- they live an hour away. However, since (a) I truly love my in-laws, (b) my wife deals with guilt from our moving an hour away when we accepted this calling to Richmond, and (c) I saw this as the only dependable way to get my hands on loads of vine-ripened tomatoes .... about 2 - 3 months ago we spent a Saturday tilling and digging and sowing.
Ta - da!! A garden was born. And I looked at it ... and it was good. And so we came home. Until a few weeks ago (we've visited since then ... just not done much 'gardening.") when cucumbers starting gowing among the greenery out in the dirt patch. So we picked and we ate. And it was good. Then came squash. And some more squash. And even some more squash. And it too, wad good. Along the way we enjoyed some of the sweetest cabbage ever eaten by mortals, several 'messes' (that is a GOOD Southern word) of beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower. In fact we were so busy picking and eating lettuce and greens and okra that we neglected to till/hoe/or otherwise weed the Roma and Half Runner green beans. And green beans? Well, that is THE staple of southern vegetable canning (along with tomatoes.)
By my calculations ... one hour from my house there are approximately 2,674,843 bushels of green beans. All they needed was to be picked, broken into pieces, put into jars and sealed. My mother in law (who I really do love) was apoplectic that one of those beans might spoil, so last night ... after a full day's work for me, a full day of classes for my wife, two soccer practices, a football practice (my oldest daughter is one of the team managers) and the caging of a frog that my 6 year old has adopted ... (Whew, let me get me breath) .... we drove an hour and picked beans for two hours.
I've learned several lessons for the remainder of my journey following Jesus:
1) The whole 'Sower and the Seed' parable takes on a fuller and more profound meaning when you really put some seeds in the dirt, dig your fingers into the earth and watch to see what happens. God can make some wonderful things grow and bear fruit, but how the seed is received sure does make a difference.
2) Good things ... even and maybe especially, good things that grow beyond your understanding or power ... still require effort and intention. Or as Dallas Willard says "Grace is opposed to earning, not effort." Bean picking would be much more enjoyable and loads more productive, if the hogweeds had been chopped down.
3) For all the packaging and supplements and preservatives, and the benefit they bring .... God's plan to feed us off the land tastes pretty good and works pretty well. There is a insight into simplicity that I have gained by my feeble gardening efforts this year. One that I was not prepared to learn when we lived in the country, because I was not so conscious and intentional about the need and value of solitude and simplicity and silence. Then again, in the country, maybe I didn't need to be.
4) It never hurts to be diligent. Much of our gardening has been well-done, but the failure to weed the beans has come at a price. Neglecting even small or seemingly inconsequential areas of life almost always comes back to haunt us.
Well .. I'm through. I've got work to do, practces to shuttle for ... and some beans to break and ready for the jars. Maybe one day you can sit down at my table and enjoy a 'mess' with me. Until then, peace to you ....
harry
