'Tis the Season

It is that time of the year again in my community. No, it's not Christmas or Thanksgiving. Spring has sprung here in the Upper Laurel community. The signs are everywhere, daffodils blooming, tulips showcasing their fragile beauty, trees blossoming and everyone smiles with an expectant eagerness. The changes of the season provide the rhythm of life up here in the mountains of western NC. The clutch of winter seems to be fading and I say seems, because spring can be unpredictable here. There is always the chance of a spring snowstorm.

Then there are my neighbours and their spring activities that reminded me of the lecture/discussion by Michelle Ferrier of http://locallygrownnews.com/ fame.

My neighbours are so independent and the words of one echoes my views of them. She said in our conversation about food, its safety and accessibility, "I don't always trust what I can buy in the grocery because I don't know exactly what's in it, but if I grow it, harvest it and preserve it myself I know exactly what I'm eating." It is in that spirit that every spring almost every house on my road starts their garden. The postmaster is kept busy calling about the delivery of chicks. The goat farm down the road sees a new groups of baby goats making their appearance and everyone starts looking forward to the town's farmers market that returns to one of the parking lots of the town college.

As the world changes and there are discussions about food and its accessibility, about genetically modified seeds and the use of pesticides, will this way of living change?

Hopefully my pictures capture the independence of spirit when it comes to having a local garden.

This community does not depend on what has become the expected way of obtaining food. They grow their own whether it be plants or animals and they share what they have. It highlights for me the necessity of interacting with food and the land in a local way. My neighbours know what they eat when they open a can of blackberry jam from the past growing season. They know where their eggs come from. No one is surprised when a cow repeatedly makes an escape and the next season he may have become steaks. The guinea hens are laughed at as they teach the neighbouring hens all about meandering along the road stopping the traffic.

My whole point is that food and its accessibility along with the deep roots of sharing with one's neighbour is a beautiful thing. Everyone should have this opportunity, but a part of changing the world will be changing ourselves. I think there has to a rediscovery that yes, people can grow their own food and survive sometimes. That it's okay to try something new. That farming, gardening and growing things is not as hard as one may think.

Just for the spring time