Rain on the scarecrow…
In a few weeks, Blake and I will be visiting my home state for a weekend of eating, gathering of family members, traveling via highway, walking among falling leaves, eating more, and more gathering of family members. I believe Blake is as curious about the place where I grew up as my family is about him. I don’t imagine anyone will be disappointed.
Indiana is stupidly beautiful this time of year, though I’m not sure we’ll be making it up there within the most spectacular, leaf-drenched time period. But, the air will be crisp and there will be fires in the fireplace and warm beverages and that particular comfortable feeling my parents house just has, and it’ll be wonderful.
Thinking about indiana and about planning my garden for next spring has gotten me in a very earth-centric mood. I’ve been reading Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and I am officially in love with the woman and her words. It’s brilliant - as much commentary on what it’s like to live off the earth as it is a rail against the worst parts of the American way of life, against blatant wasting of energy and resources, and, as I read today, against intellectual blindness with regard to the ways of nature.
“Many bright people are in the dark about vegetable life…The same disconnection from natural processes may be at the heart of our country’s shift away from believing in evolution. In the past, principles of natural selection and change over time made sense to kids who’d watched it all unfold…For modern kids who intuitively believe in the spontaneous generation of fruits and vegetables in the produce section, trying to get their minds around the slow speciation of the plant kingdom may be a stretch.”
I’d say “Amen, Sister,” but that would be utterly beside the point.
