April 6, 2007 7:30 a.m Garden of Edith, LI, NY, USA
overcast, windy, rainy.
My first weekend here serendipitously corresponded with a health retreat entitled “Farming for Yourself,” and let me tell you about the unlikely group it drew- motley in their diversity. It was one of those rare congregations that couldn’t have happened otherwise.
Here sojourned a middle-aged couple, Rita and Ron, who as a hobby follow the farm season’s progress on weekends. So when Ron, a full-time employee of the NY State Lottery, is not out at stadiums dressed in the money suit shouting out this week’s jackpot, he is down in New Jersey for the first taste of strawberries. And when Nurse Rita is done checking all the blood pressures one woman can handle, she can be seen at a garlic festival in Long Island. Rita and Ron walking side by side, splitting cloves of Russian Salvation, German Red, Morado de Padronera and Asian Tempest, pondering the virtues of both hard-neck and soft-neck garlics. Incredible.