As we prepare to plant garlic this Wednesday (join us, more info below!), I can’t help but feel this is the moment we’re all inhabiting, awaiting both the election and it’s aftermath:
cold earth
fallen leaves
stiff hands
hungry hearts
Whether you’re planting garlic this season for the first or fiftieth time (or perhaps you’re grateful for the many garlic growers of the world, so you grow in other ways),
Garlic, one of the most nutritious and medicinal plants in our gardens, turns from one fall-planted clove into a massive, many-cloved bulb by spring.
In the bitter depths of winter, when the possibility of survival is most bleak, the spark of life deep within each single garlic clove splits into many, trusting that one may yet survive, even if many do not. As spring warms the soil, these tiny sparks grow into a bulb, a family of cloves, so much more resilient than the single clove that came before.
You feel it, too? So bitter and so bleak, this election.
How might we think, feel and act differently, cultivating more possiblity in these times?
Across timeframes of countless empires rising and falling, garlic has made such a practice of trusting multiplicity that we now don’t think twice: we simply plant each clove in fall, trusting next summer’s harvest.
Whether you’re planting garlic, despair, anger or hope in the cold earth (certainly we’re planting all these, ourselves), you’re not alone:
Wednesday, November 6th 10 am to 4 pm
Stop by anytime between 10 & 4 to join us planting thousands of cloves, giving thanks and grieving the election and it’s aftermath: Together, we plant and practice the world we dream of.
Bring a bag to bring home both seed and culinary garlic as well as your own bowl, spoon & mug:
We’ll have a crock pot of soup to share and please bring anything you’d love to nourish us all with, as well!
Also, if you’re wondering how to plant garlic, we’ve so many resources and inspiration for you, Friends. If you love reading, check out our Garlic Growing Guide and if videos are more your style, hop into our free online course:
Growing Gorgeous Garlic & Shallots
As we plant garlic this fall, here are questions to cultivate our resilience, trusting in fertile ground, no matter how cold:
~ What sparks my inner life when the world around me grows cold?
~ How might I bring that spark to the people and world around me?
~ How do I know when I’ve lost my spark? Who can sing my songs back to me?
~ When is it time to simply honor my grief, trusting the spark will come, though not yet?
~ Might I trust letting go, like leaves, will grow the soils of possibility?
~ How am I casting a vote today? Tomorrow? Every day?
~ How might I practice such democracy more delightfully? Diligently?
~ Who else, humxn and beyond, will practice with me?
As we breathe, cast ballots and plant garlic, let’s vote for and trust resilience to emerge from the cold earth, again and again:
And thank you for trusting that we will continue sharing seeds for so many seasons to come…
…stay tuned as our transformation continues to unfurl, like so many seeds rising from cold earth💛
And in case you’re frustrated by fascism and so many facets of this election, here are words we’ve been keeping close:
We are here with you in the grief, growth and possibility of our lives becoming gifts for all generations of all species to come.
Sow Seeds & Sing Songs,
and the Many Becomings of Fruition
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If you’ve been forwarded this email and would love to subscribe, welcome! We share stories from the farm each Friday and would love see you here one day:
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Thanks to the many people who reached out sharing last week’s typo — there are so many, so often! — and you’re right: I wrote October 6th rather than November 6th for our garlic planting. Friends, I’m so hononred that so many people read these words, care about our invitations…
…and here are some final words to surround us all with the courage to see and lean into cycles wider and deeper than any election, democracy, species or ecology:
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Though I sharing writing each Friday, this week I’m sharing as the golden light bursts through dark November bluster on a Monday, with the intention of holding us all close in the election mayhem. Look for my next email on Friday the 15th and thanks again for being YOU!
