Dear People of Christ Church,

Though this week, I've been lamenting the recent grayness of the skies, the week after Easter I had some marvelous time off in my new garden, planting for the summer and acquainting myself with the pleasures of the yard. When we lived in Waltham we were on a steep hill, complete with 20 foot rock face behind the house. It was beautiful in its own way, but not exactly conducive to enjoying the sunshine--so one of the things we really wanted in our new house when we moved was more outdoor space. Last Friday I got to try out our new battery powered lawnmower (heavy, but still easier than pushing 2 children in a stroller). What a pleasure. I'm sure the novelty will wear off at some point, but for now, I am happy to be mowing the lawn. We also did some planting-cucumber, tomato, peas-then got broccoli, more tomatoes, and lettuce from Waltham Fields' seedling sale. The fact that food could actually come out of the ground is kind of magical.

We are longtime shareholders at Waltham Fields (see my March, 2007 post about it on the e crier blog page so I feel some closeness to the gifts of the land, but it feels somehow different when it's in your own space. I've been reading Michael Pollan's book on gardening, Second Nature, more memoir than instruction book. At its heart is a critique of the metaphors we've used over the years for natural world. His judgment of lawns notwithstanding ("nature under totalitarian rule"), I'm pretty convinced by his assessment of the whole mess we've gotten into, in how we contrast nature and culture. Libraries, schools, factories are culture; rivers, lakes, and fields are nature. In the usual telling, these are separate spheres-nature is acted upon, and culture acts. If you're feeling more romantic, you can talk about nature as unblemished, virgin, pure, innocent. But separating them is a false dichotomy. Unless you want to go back to the dinosaurs, nature has always been subjected to the whims of human intervention. Whether it be invasive species accidentally introduced into a new environment or plants hybridized to generate certain characteristics, humans leave their mark on nature everywhere. And we certainly cannot separate ourselves from it. Seeing pictures of the flooding in the south and due to recent storms has made that clear. When the US Army Corps of Engineers blew a hole in a levee to save the town of Cairo, Illinois, they flooded 130,000 acres of farmland. Technology helps, but creates its own complication as well.

Our Christian faith gives us some tools for thinking about this. We began, our stories say, in a garden-an image no less potent for being a mythological one. We were given "dominion"-power, yes, but a particular kind of power. We are dependent on nature, and so taking care of it is also taking care of ourselves. Each day of creation concludes, "God saw that it was good." Creation is good-a good gift, given to us. We have not always seen it this way-more often, we have been like selfish three year old, given a book only to rip the pages apart assuming daddy will give us a new one when we demand one.

There is something theological in what we have been given, in tilling it and caring for it, but also in enjoying it. Pleasure in the garden is a spiritual question, as is helping those whose "gardens" have flooded. (See more from Episcopal Relief and Development) Digging in the dirt or walking by the pond across the street from my house, I know myself to be one small part of nature. There is something very comforting in knowing my smallness in that wider scheme. Humans have devised immense powers of destruction, but this world that God has made is also way, way, bigger than us. That seems to me like an icon, a window, into God: we are entirely dependent on the land, intimately connected to it. But it the sheer magnitude of nature's vast otherness also puts us in our rightful-and small-place.

Blessings,

Sara+

Eating Locally (from March, 2007)

God said, ‘See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. (Genesis 1: 29-31)

This week, a lot of events around environmental issues and food have come across my desk. Earth day isn’t until April 22, but a lot of things are happening now. You can see some of the events listed below. On a very close-to-home note, Waltham Fields Community Farm is selling shares in their Community Supported Agriculture Program. I don’t think I’ve every used this space to encourage you consider buying anything, so I hope you’ll excuse it just this once.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a movement that started here in Massachusetts in an effort to help local farmers, the environment, and to improve food quality. Right here in Waltham, on Beaver Street, Waltham Fields Community Farm grows a wide variety of vegetables (some fruits, but mostly veggies). As a CSA shareholder, you take on a portion of the risk—and the benefit—of your local farm. Noah and I were shareholders for the first time last year—some of you may have heard me talk about it. You pay a fee for the season and pick up delicious, fresh vegetables and fruit for 20 weeks, from June to October. You also get “pick your own” privileges on the farm for special treats like cherry tomatoes, strawberries, herbs, and flowers. The food is delicious and an excellent value (about 20 dollars a week for enough veggies to feed 2 adults and children, plus leftovers—one week we had ten pounds of tomatoes!). Moreover, the positive environmental impact of eating locally and pesticide-free is tremendous. (WCF, while they use organic practices, are not officially certified “organic.”)

Have you ever considered how much energy it takes to drive a cucumber from California to Massachusetts? A lot! Why do that, when we can grow cucumbers right here? Remember that E. coli bacteria scare last year when the California spinach was contaminated, but the farm and packaging systems were so large it took weeks to figure out where the illness came from? By eating straight from the farm, such risks are significantly minimized. And it tastes better, too. A tomato that was harvested last week has significantly more flavor than one that was picked before it was ripe, and spent weeks in a truck or grocery store distribution center. In addition to which, WCF donates hundreds of pounds of food to local hunger relief organizations. (If you were at the Waltham Interfaith Thanksgiving service last November, you heard from Janet, who distributes vegetables at the Salvation Army).

Of course, being a CSA member isn’t the only way to respond to environmental food issues. Buying from the Waltham farmers market has much of the same impact, without the commitment to the whole growing season and up front financial investment. But I have to say, visiting the farm every week and seeing and smelling the ground where your food came from is simply a spiritual experience. As modern people, it is easy for us to lose sight of how God’s creation nourishes us directly, and how intimately we really are connected to God’s creation. We are given dominion over the earth, but we are also charged to be caretakers. We each have a part to play in that work.

For more on the farm, visit http://www.communityfarms.org/ or call 781-899-2403.

If you’re interested in hearing more about the impact of local food systems, ask one of our youth. Last October, we spent the day at the Lincoln Food Project, another local farm that works for hunger relief and local agriculture