Soil
Caring for the land
is caring for our mother,
the Mother of Life—
Soil.
The Soil that feeds us
is being washed away,
blown away
by the tons,
lost to the oceans.
This is our home
the home that feeds us.
I used to know all this,
I lived it,
but that deep caring is gone.
Food gets thrown out,
not composted.
Worms leave to find
richer feeding grounds.
Soil left unnourished.
I am in front of
the computer
feeding my mind.
My body needs to
work—the work
of the Soil.
My neighbor’s fava beans
are already up.
What am I waiting for?
©Sherrie Lovler
January 10, 2010
ABOUT THE POEM
“Ecoliteracy,” Bill Plotkin says, “is essential if a child is going to truly belong to the world.” As the Explorer in the Garden, Plotkin continues, saying that children need to be out in nature, playing, working on the land. What is more often the case is early dependence on computers, which may not only be hazardous to the health of young children, but it “displaces other sources of knowledge acquisition, including free time in nature…”
He goes on to say, “People who know about their environment care about it. People who care, conserve.”
These are the words that inspire writing this poem, coupled with reflecting upon my own life. Growing up in an apartment in the Bronx kept me separate from the land. From the sixth floor I could see mostly concrete and bricks. The parkway across the street from our building offered the neighborhood a bit of refuge. It was a great place to play on some grass and to hang out. The soil there became a cemetery for our hamster, and the land for the radish seeds I once planted, which never grew. With my college degree and dreams of a further educated future, my big yearning was really to see how carrots grow.
That led to 11 years of living on the land in upstate New York with my former partner, Norm Lee. We grew most of our food, heated with wood, built our own home, and wrote about it all in a small magazine we produced, called Homesteaders News. We also created a yearly 3-day festival, where over 200 people came to our land to learn how to live that lifestyle.
Enriching the soil was our first concern in eating from the land. We knew that mono-cropping, pesticides and big farming were leading to massive soil erosion around the world. Our gardening teachers, Helen and Scott Nearing, taught us how to care for the land, to feed it, so it can feed us.
While I now opt for a physically easier life, the love of gardening has never left me.
The Need to Grow is a great movie that talks about the state of our soil and how to participate in the restoration of the Earth.
ABOUT THE PAINTING
This is a watercolor painting of my neighbor’s fava bean plant. I contrasted the softness of the plant with the straight edges of the square and line. I further used the concept of contrast, as I painted the straight line and square in maroon, which is the complementary color of the green.