the dish I'm in

I was thinking today about life, the basics - elements...thinking about soil. Putting it all together for the FSRN garden, thinking about the "rugby soil".
I have a strong but fuzzy memory of my Dad sitting on the edge of my bed when I was young, home sick. He's dressed and ready for work, and he has come in to say goodbye - but before he leaves he tells me all about the cells in my body, and bacteria, and the importance of building as many healthy cells in my body so they could be a strong army against the ones that were making me sick. He explained it such a way that I was left feeling like I'd been placed in a petri dish; but I understood "sick" in different way than before, and it made sense. He placed me in numerous petri dishes, and I'm glad he did - because I called upon that nook in my memory today, thinking about soil.
Seeds and soil I should say. I 'm planning for seeds, ordering seeds, but not knowing yet what the story of the soil is. From pig farm to rugby field to FSRN garden/habitat and so it unfolds... I couldn't think about the seeds without thinking about the soil, and what the soil needs in order to provide optimum nutrients to our food plants so that our food can provide optimally for us.
...Can I seriously send out a communications bulletin requesting donations of earthworms? The compost trench will have to be a project and on-going experiment in itself. Building up the soil; beginning and thinking about the basics.

Years ago my mother gave me this book; now tattered (not torn) and very well read. It too changed the way I think about "me", biologically, and how I feed my body. I see myself standing there in the FSRN garden, in my pink boots (which just might be a tad too big in scale in my sketches) feeling like just another small (but important) organism with this huge dish around me....I think and I wonder: who am I swimming with, what is all here, how does this all fit together? So many questions. I do know that if I feed it well, it will feed me well - and that is all it really boils down to. Building blocks.


On Food and Cooking
The Science and Lore of the Kitchen

Harold McGee
Scribner, New York
978-0684800011

this book will change the way you think about food forever




soil brainstorm: