This is the second guest post by Tania Crawford, a friend of mine who also lives in Central Oregon. She has such an authentic voice. She'd be honored if you gave her feedback. Selfishly, I'd love her to see that other people besides me think she is wonderful with words and ideas--as I'd like her to become a regular blogger on the Virtual Tea House...so please make her feel welcome!
As Central Oregon got an unusual first, and quite heavy snowstorm last night on October 3rd, this essay written by Tania last week is even more poignant.
Tonight, I ate dirt and now I feel sad.
Don’t get me wrong….I don’t feel sad because I ate dirt. I feel sad that my days of eating it are coming to an end. An end thanks to the hard frost on its way tonight…an end thanks to Fall which is arriving a week late.
For there goes all the wonderful gifts from my garden which nourish not only my body but my psyche. Take the carrots I ate this evening. Even after I scrubbed them as best I could, there were still little tiny specs of dirt in their lovely wrinkles. I wondered if the dirt didn’t make them taste better as it reminded me that these little guys were all mine.
All mine in the sense that I made the soil they grew in, hand-picked their seeds, planted them and tended them for four long months. And, they were worth the effort….they were as crunchy and sweet as any carrot ever grown…plus they “felt” great.
The knowing that this—this strange little hairy carrot—was among the most real and wholesome thing I would ever put into my body impacted me.
I wondered about all the unreal things I unconsciously “nourished myself” with and felt sad for the child in me who grew up on white bread, margarine and sodas made of high fructose corn syrup.
Who made all that crap and sold my Mom on that it was good for her darling children? Why didn’t I get a clue at twenty that food imposters are gross and make different decisions for my adult self? Why, now at 42, do I finally long for REAL food? And why is Real food – food that is more than the sum of its vitamins, minerals and fibers--food that is life-giving, psyche clearing and soul nourishing—so blasted hard to find?
My prayer tonight is that all those green tomatoes still on the vine ripen, that my strawberries last another month and that the carrots and potatoes will keep well, safe in their earthen homes.
--Tania Crawford