Reflection from a Day in the Garden

I LOVE

Working in the garden

Hard

Just with myself and the earth

And sometimes my music

Singing, Laughing (so much) 

Delighting in the utter Beauty of Being and Existing 

how I am made to 

Be and Exist.

With plants that nourish me, 

Nourishing them with tender care, 

composted sheep manure

lovely fallen leaves...

Them surprising me with how they 

just 

keep

growing

Giving life- 

There is enough goodness 

For the little bugs and slugs and I and friends 

Especially since the bugs are passing on

with the Change of season

Fall:
another overwhelming beauty to witness.

Estoy agradecida. This is how I end many of my journal entries and many of my days- with the phrase, “I am thankful”. There is really nothing else I can say or do when things go well, when I see such beauty around me, maybe sometimes even within me. My heart bubbles over with contentment, and I fall asleep.

Some background to this little poem~

I've been serving as a Confluence* AmeriCorps member with Adelante Mujeres since mid-September and have experienced too many emotions and felt too many shifts in perspective to count, which is partially why I haven't posted a reflection up to this point. But today I have felt so well, so high, that I want to share. 

When everything was green

Poco a poco I'm molding into this position.

I've felt lost at work- that I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing or why I'm here. I've felt incompetent and passionless and frustrated. So a few days ago I made some colorful documents to help stir the passion, to actively seek to make this work out. I wrote out goals- Meet more community members, Seek to become part of the community [to know and be known;)], etc. And in these few days, some of that has happened. I'm so thankful.

I also (in trying to figure out how to make this service more enjoyable or inspiring) reflected on what it is that I have loved in other positions I've held, as I was finding it hard to say "I love this position!". The list went as so:

I LOVED... working at Ray's, translating in Compassion, so many things that are not what I’m doing now, etc.

And then today,

I added to that document.

I started with I LOVE, and out came this reflection of the day. You know, it takes a good while to acostumbrarse to any new place, position, or community. And I am certainly not fully in this community yet. I don't know if I'll even reach that in the remaining 9 months of my service. But the point is: through diligence, perseverance, and just showing up to service and keeping an open mind, I am settling in. Really, it is through people who are letting me in- encouraging, teaching, and befriending me.

Goodness, and through fresh organic fruits and vegetables! Dear Lord, when you taste produce from YOUR OWN garden, there has never been anything sweeter. Today as I worked I munched on young fava leaves and cherry tomatoes, and I took home brussel sprouts, onions, and broccoli to cook up for dinner with a friend.

Gorgeous and fed me for weeks!

Surprise carrot! Delicious sweet flesh.




Dear, dear, resilient brussel sprouts.

 I should mention that working in the community garden is not the whole of my service. I'm serving in the Agriculture Program of Adelante which includes the Farmer's Market, a CSA Distribution Program, Sustainable Ag, Business, and Nutrition classes, and (as mentioned) the Community garden. So I help in all those areas. I love the Market for the social interaction and the whole production of it. I love the CSA for the straightforwardness of it, the importance of it, and getting to work with the other staff and volunteers in a sort of mindless setting for a while (sorting vegetables). And I'm really loving the garden (obviously) just for the time and space to really do something where I can taste and feel the reward of my labor throughout the process.

<You would think I were WWOOFing in Latin America ;)>
This is mi maestro, Ale-Alejandro, and farmers of el huerto comunitario.

These are (by my job description) my main areas of work. But the beauty of AmeriCorps is that we simultaneously serve with an organization and pursue our own dream project. My ideas are fermenting, currently, as I meet more community members and dream up possibilities. My people curiosity is being stirred again. There are just these gems of human beings living in our midst! It is terribly thrilling to meet them.

Forest Grove is so beautiful.

I want to encourage you all to dream. If people tell you that your dream is unrealistic, impractical, or they just give you a blank stare- hold on to your dream. Chances are, someone somewhere is already living it- which means it totally possible and practical. Seek those like-minded people out- they will potentially serve as your greatest inspiration and best help to reaching your ideals.

My first day in the garden

Some broccoli and chiles in my plot. 

So this is where I am. I will try to post an update in the future. Thank you for being a part of my life. Thank you for caring. May all go well with you. May you enjoy the same natural high of good health, a centered spirit, and connection to the good earth beneath your feet.

**NOTES: 

http://www.adelantemujeres.org/

http://www.confluencecenter.org/