Accidental Potatoes

“Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.”

 Mary Oliver

 Now that it has turned cold, it was time to spend a little effort on cleaning up my summer vegetable garden beds. Gray watery tomato vines were sprawled out and over the edges of my raised beds. Full unpicked peppers hung limp on ghostly stems. Bleached leaves of broccoli and brussel sprouts showed that they were no match for 25 degrees. So I started pulling things out. The summer vegetables came out easily. Some dried out vines hung on like they had anchors. In fact, they did.

After rooting around in the soil, I came out with roots.....and their attached potatoes. I had forgotten all about them. That is, forgotten them this summer after they came up as volunteers from last spring's incomplete harvest. I quickly mobilized to find other forgotten treasures. By the time I had exhausted myself, I had filled a 7 gallon bucket full of large red skinned potatoes. I proudly washed and dried and presented the bounty to my very impressed husband.

But something about the whole episode is nagging at me. I spend much of my time trying as hard as I can to make things grow. I read. I listen. I talk. I try one recipe after another to make it work, sometimes with success and sometimes with failure. I like the puzzle, and enjoy putting the pieces together to reveal the picture. It makes me feel empowered, like the magician who knows the secret to the trick. Yet this surprise yield thrilled me as much as any other planned crop. This potato harvest had been completely independent of anything I had done, apart from the original planting and the deficient gathering.

Ok.....let's get real here.Who am I kidding? My place here in this big old universe is very special. I am lucky enough to be like the little kid standing on the stool watching Mom cook, or Dad at his workbench. I get to lean up against Mother Nature, and if I am very quiet, and if I pay very close attention, maybe over time I'll learn how she does it. But make no mistake. It is happening with me or without me. Whatever work I am doing all day everyday is just tapping in to the ongoing beauty and brilliance of the cosmos; the essence of the force; the soul of the universe.

It is at once humbling, and exhilarating. It is a revelation that recurs to me in these tiny moments, and yet it is always new. Forgive me if I repeat myself. I just had to tell you.