Above is a close-up photo of the cover crops Bonnie and Jenna brought into class in a glass jar this week. As I listened to slide show presentations about their beautiful garden projects, and heard from other classmates about farming and gardening dreams - for home or farm or school or inn or neighborhood - I could see the way each person's imaginations has taken the threads of what we've learned this semester and woven those threads into a personal tapestry, a vision of cultivation. And I am in awe.
We all have day jobs. We all have obligations and limitations and reasons to be discouraged...Yet, somehow, we all have the same crazy notion that we can do better, we can go beyond "just managing" and simply "fitting in" to the current model of plant propagation and food production. This is a class full of people who seem to have no doubt that we can thrive alongside, and in partnership with, the plant and animal kingdoms. This is a group of individuals who are making the time and the sacrifices to gather knowledge and find a way to live more gracefully on the planet.
This is why I have come to think of this group as cover crop. It is our job to go out and fortify the soil. We will break ground, draw beneficials, and infuse nutrition. We may or may not bear fruit, but our work will matter for all that follows.
Indian Valley Organic Farming Class, Fall 2009
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