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Three months out -- early morning on the farm

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There are benefits of the hammock or the shade tree or (in the case of hot and humid Tennessee) of a king-size bed in a shady room when the world is sizzling outside. You need to keep taking breaks, keep yourself well-watered (metaphorically speaking) and keep reaching out. Your roots will get deeper and your green tendrils will take hold in new places, places that will help you rise above this particular moment. And the view will be stable, and grand.

I got a note from another friend about growing old(er) the other day and this is what I wrote in return. I hope it helps some now for you. (And as far as squash bugs go, rotenone is a powerful, organic pesticide made from the roots of a South American plant. Just be careful with it, and don't let it get into any creeks or ponds -- it is very toxic to fish.) Now here's my note:

"This is a nice way to think this evening. Now to go eat my first watermelon of the season, fresh from my garden and chilled in the refrigerator. Before the week is out, I'll be eating sweet corn too, and the green beans will begin coming in bushels. Oh it is nice to be old enough to have learned how to garden, to practice it for almost four decades, and to remember and appreciate it. This evening, I was tying up my tomato plants again (some of which would be nine feet tall if I hadn't bent them over and tied them to the top of their trellises.) I noticed a few leaves had been chewed on and knew that this meant that I had been visited by tomato horn worms -- large, green, horned caterpillars whose droppings look like ornate carved wooden balls. But seeing the signs of their presence, I knew what to look for next. And I found it quickly -- a tomato horn worm on a leaf, not chewing my plant or even moving, covered by hundreds of cocoons implanted in its back -- the offspring of a parasitic wasp who lays her eggs in the worm. They grow by sucking the juices out of the worm and ending the rampage on my tomatoes in short order. Then the wasps hatch and go looking for more worms. And all of this happens because I don't spray my tomatoes with poison, choosing instead to keep Mother Nature as my best gardening partner. Ah yes, it is good to be old enough to know that I don't have to be in control, I don't have to do everything NOW -- that I can just wait for the help that is coming, go with the flow and enjoy the ride.

"Thanks for reminding me of all that this evening. By the way, a young doe has now taken my yard as her home ground. She comes out every morning and evening to eat the good green grass, to look at me looking at her. She is calm and unafraid because I share the place with her. In fact, she's so young that she probably experienced my yard for the first two years of her life without me around. So why should she be scared -- this is her home and she sees me as the visitor. In any case, yesterday morning, she came out of the woods accompanied by a young buck. He was more skittish and kept looking up at me standing on my porch at the house. But because the doe was not afraid of me, he decided not to be either. I watched them for about ten minutes grazing in the yard. Then the doe walked about 50 feet to stand by the buck and she began nuzzling and grooming his neck with her teeth, something that he joined in quickly for her. Then they were totally unaware of me -- comfortable enough, secure enough and caring about each other enough to groom each other gently. With me the silent witness. In my 40 years out here in the country, I have never seen that before. So I may be old (or getting that way), but my eyes and heart are still young and filled with space enough for many more wonders."

Take care and stay cool. And remember, I am always here for you. Bernie

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