Get Your Hands Dirty

Midsummer brings the joys of farm stands full of tomatoes, berries, corn, cucumbers, BBQs, and grass going brown, as well as water restrictions. 

It's all part of summer in BC. 

This year, I got more into being on the land—getting my hands dirty, not just for a few minutes picking berries but for hours of work. 

I’ve learned a fundamental truth, one that sounds like a platitude: getting into the dirt is very calming. I feel happier and have slept better.

It does seem natural to work as our ancestors did, to wrestle with nature, to bow to nature. She rules on the land. It is humbling to lose the nasturtiums to aphids, to see that nothing can help if the crows eat your plums faster than you can pick them; how crazy-looking slugs are. Etc. 

Nothing beats the thrill of eating something that you have grown. Or the thrill of picking and arranging your own flowers.

I encourage you to try it, grow plants in your window or outdoor space, talk to the farmers at the farmers markets or volunteer on a farm.

Get your fingernails wrecked.

Next time you visit us at Inform, go up to the roof and see the fantastic transformation Dave Demers is accomplishing—wilding our garden. It’s magical.

Nancy