Living Art

By: Sophie Lockerby

By: Sophie Lockerby

Here is some art by Sophie Lockerby who is a senior at Great Falls High.  She’s not only an artist, but also a soccer player who will be playing at the air force academy next year.   She designed these for us to promote the beauty of plants, life, and invite the surrounding community to share in our Community Gardening efforts.  Aweseome job!  Thanks so much Sophie.

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Speaking of Art…

Below is a quote from the book Church of the Dog by Kaya McLaren.  It synthesizes earth, love, art, openness, closed-ness, new life, death….new life.  It also explores gender issues in an agricultural setting.  Traditional man/woman roles.  The book gives us the possibility to hope beyond the boxes that gender has, and is able, to produce.

“For me, gardening is a form of prayer. Most people have an awareness of life and death, but few have an an awareness of life, death, and life again. Gardeners do though.

Bulbs come up every spring. Then in winter, it looks like there’s nothing there, no hope for life ever again. Then, Hallelujah! Next spring they’re back even fuller. Perennials – same thing.

Annuals have a slightly different lesson. Annuals really do die, but they broadcast seeds before they go. Where there was only one calendula the year before, there will be ten this year, and one day, they will fill every empty space in your garden. Annuals are a lesson in the difference one living thing, plant or person, can make, and how their presence resonates long after they’re gone. There again, the effects are not immediate. There is always the winter. And when you consider the garden as a whole, well, winter is a time to reflect, a time to dream. It gives you time to ask the big questions…

Gardening is an affirmation of divine timing. Some years, in early spring, my enthusiasm takes an ugly turn, and I seemingly believe I can make spring happen earlier than it normally would, if I just work hard enough, if I till enough, compost enough, harden off seedlings earlier than I normally would. In the end, I wind up with twelve flats of dead seedlings. Then I direct seed a couple months later, and with much less effort, everything grows into the full glory it was destined to encompass. To everything there is a season. Amen.”

~ by gfallsyouth on May 5, 2009.