Seeds of Change

It's the new year, and time to order seeds for the upcoming season.  This is a "found" poem I harvested from phrases in the plethora of catalogs that I pour through every year.

Since I am using some research techniques involving art for my dissertation, I have begun to pay attention to the number of farmers who are also artists.  What is it about art and agriculture that they are so often linked?  I think about the constant creativity required to respond to changing weather, soils, wind, rain, and animals.  I think the best farms are performance art: a dance with an ecosystem.  The keen observation skills we need as farmers are also needed as good artists.  The patience it takes to create an image one brush stroke at a time is also the patience to nurture a soil. 

I am beginning to experiment with the intersection of farmer/artist: making paint out of the clay and compost of my farm, thinking about how visitors experience my farm and how it may inspire them to a stronger connection with themselves and the earth.  Perhaps this is the deepest commonality of all: farmers, artists, earth, we are all makers: drawing forth something alive from the dust and water.  We just need those seeds.