Carbon Sequestration

Beloved:

    I’ve decided the garden beds I can’t keep up with aren’t enough.  I want more space to grow food.  And it has to be fenced against the deer.  And I’ve been reading about carbon sequestration. While I can’t make up for even one coal plant I can do this.  Because every single act of conservation counts a shoebox of dimes is more money than a shoebox of quarters.

    So this season I’m going to mark off another bed and hire my handyman to dig some trenches for drainage tile. After it’s fenced off I’ll spend the summer and fall dumping newspaper, leaves, and compost on top of the grass. I’ll put my chickens in there to peck and poop, their very own playground.  Near the end of the year I’ll have it tilled under then let it lay all winter. It won’t be pretty this year but in fifteen months it will be lush with tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers and sweet peas.  Lots of lavender too.  And cucumbers.  

    I’ve loved gardening a long time but only recently begun to see it as a form of good parenting, of bequeathing breathable air to my descendants as it was bequeathed to me by my farmer-gardener ancestors.  And more than I love to garden, I love to eat.  So as best I can tell this is a win-win opportunity.  

~ peace & prayers, pastor annette.


Also, some church news: It’s official.  I will be away for six weeks later this year, August 24 - October 5, when inside of a week my oldest daughter will get married and move to Cincinnati and my youngest will move to Savannah to start her college career.  I told my husband it’s rather like delivering twins - although the labor is a lot more fun.    It feels like a last mothering project and I want to be fully present for it.  Many thanks to our Personnel Committee for their willingness to grant the time.  In the meantime I’m busy finding preaching replacements and assigning various duties to committees.  I’ve no doubt church life will carry on without a hiccup.