I started a Produce Share with neighbors when we first moved to Maui because we had such an abundance of fruit on our property, and I didn’t want it to go to waste. Every Friday, people would stop by and bring what they had to spare from their gardens, and we would share, no money exchanged. Sometimes we even made jam or banana bread to share. And I found a way to share all the papayas, lilikoi, bananas, and avocados I had.
When the pandemic hit, the grocery shelves became bare. Since Hawaii is said to be the most remote place in the world, we heavily rely on barges to bring in food from the mainland and other countries. I thought of the Victory Gardens people planted during World Wars I and II where people grew and shared what they could from their gardens to be sure their families and friends had enough food to eat.
Since our produce share is still going after five years, I decided to expand my garden to have even more to share. I hired a gardener to put in some irrigation for me so as not to waste water, a precious commodity on an island. He turned out to be an expert in in permaculture gardening, so I asked him to put in a huge garden to provide lots more food to share. He used lemon grass and comfrey to make a beautiful border and keep the grass from the lawn from growing into the garden.
My new garden has gotten so big that I now have a lovely young woman who helps me keep it up with weeding and planting. Yesterday she surprised me with a giant bunch of carrots she had pulled. I was surprised because I didn’t know they were there! Last spring before my big new garden was planted, I bought a package of carrot seeds and planted them, watered them, weeded around them, pulled them from the ground, shared them, and ate them. I didn’t realize that I had left some of them in the ground.
Then one day I noticed one day that I was growing pretty white flowers in my vegetable garden. At the top of tall green stems sat balls of little white flowers clustered together in the shape of pom-poms. Upon investigation, I discovered a few giant carrots shouldering up from the ground attached to these flowers. I had never seen carrot flowers before. My gardener told me to cut them, put them in a paper bag, and let them dry out. When they were dry, I shook the stems, and a lot of tiny black seeds popped out, so I planted them.
I planted those carrot seeds next to the lemon grass, not understanding how large it would become. When the distinctive carrot tops grew, they were hidden in the tall lemon grass, so when my garden helper discovered them yesterday, we were delighted! Precious food from the garden tastes the best!
My carrots seemed a metaphor for the cycle of life. We are born from tiny seeds which are nurtured as they grow. They provide food, beauty, and more tiny seeds to start the cycle again. We all grow through our own cycles, and on our way, the more we grow and share, the happier we are. Ultimately, our sharing is complete, and we have the opportunity to revert back to the soil and create more new food and beauty.
I am grateful I have so much beauty and bounty to share which makes my life just that much richer. What bounty do you share?
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