Putting Down Roots

It’s a dreary day: still, the grays and browns of winter dominate our Midwest landscape. It’s nearly time to plant cool-season vegetables, and I’m scheming at how best to make use of the bits of soil we have at our house. The goal this year is to use what we have here at the house and take really good care of it; granted last year’s experience, I don’t think that, as much as my housemates travel, it’s reasonable to expect to take really good care of two gardens.

In addition to plotting (and re-plotting, and re-plotting again) our garden, I’m amping up for the growing season by tackling another tome of Wendell Berry’s essays. This time it’s Home Economics I’m keeping tucked in my bag at all times. Again, I’m finding it uncanny how the writings of this man manage to tack down so many of the discontents that swim in my heart about our culture, and yet put them in a greater perspective than I myself can muster, being just a young pup compared to this prophetic grandpa to all of us budding conservationist agriculturists.

“Property, Patriotism, and National Defense” caught me off guard. It’s mostly a well-reasoned rant against nuclear war. Like a lot of people in our generation, I’m ignorant about this issue and don’t know its ins and outs. Berry, ever able to see through the flimsy reasoning of our society, hacks at the cause of nukes like it’s a shoddily-constructed piñata. I read with a bit of a grimace and a hint of nausea as disillusionment with our culture comes and knocks at my door.

On the other hand, he also presents his own ideal of national defense. Come to find out, Mr. Berry is strongly for certain things even more than he is against nuclear weapons. I respect that. Doesn’t this sound good?

“…Widespread, settled, thriving local communities, each having a proper degree of independence, living so far as possible from local sources, and using its local sources with a stewardly care that would sustain its life indefinitely, even through times of adversity.”

He’s constantly asking questions that make the reader think about locality: do we know the place we live in? Do we know its physical landscape, its cultural heritage? Do we care for the land, culture and community of our home? Are we staying for a lifetime, for a committed season, or are we just stopping in? Clearly he’s a man in favor of staying put, not just passively hanging out in a place, but actively working towards its maintenance, health, and betterment.

The benefits of staying put and cultivating relationship where one lives are many. Indeed, how can we relate with others without enjoying common history, common life, common space?* Without the practical ways of caring for one another that living together necessitates, can we truly love one another?

This is the time of year when people our age plan summer trips, get accepted to grad school programs, finish school and leave the city. But for workers of the land, it’s a time to put down roots. While my friends are looking at traveling or moving, I’m looking at a few months of getting to know my back yard really intimately, shepherding a flock of vegetables, and bringing people into the process. It can feel boring in this swirl of youth culture in which travel is like a status symbol. How good to be able to have a wider perspective, thanks to a man who’s been watching the long shifts of our culture for a whole, long life. I’m grateful to Mr. Berry for the reminder that living in the land and cultivating faithfulness** does indeed lay a deep foundation for peace.

*See “Men and Women in Search of Common Ground” for more on this concept.
**Psalm 37