faith and optimism

Gardeners are the most trusting and optimistic people around.

Let me explain.

If you bought any garden stuff last year, you will be getting catalogs starting soon after Halloween. They will come from all over, and some will strangely look alike. That is because there has been a huge consolidation in the garden supply business and one guy owns a bunch of them.

I digress.

So you get these catalogs from companies you don’t know some from states you only have vague knowledge of, and you send them money, or you do the plastic thing on the internet.

Now they have your money and you don’t even know them. The good news is that they are a pretty honest bunch, who really want your business next year.

These seeds you ordered come in cute little packages, and we trust that the seeds inside indeed will produce the vegetable on the label.

At that point, we put those tiny little spendies in the ground. The moment they touch the dirt, they are basically lost. We cover them and water carefully, and most of the time they pop up in due time.

But, think about it. We trust the seed company with our money, we trust them about the seeds, then we trust that once we bury them (at $3 or more a tiny package), that we will indeed get something from them.

Farmers do somewhat the same thing, except they usually look the seed salesman right in the eye. On the other hand, farmers hand over big hunks of borrowed money (usually) for seeds and have the same faith as the rest of us.

Anyone tell you that they don’t know about faith or optimism, tell them about the garden.