“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight and no vision.” ― Helen Keller
This is Marbles Farm today:
This is what it will become:
The difference between the top picture and the bottom one is vision. It is seeing something as it is and conceiving an image of what it can become.
My father was an avid gardener a farmer. After thinking about this I had to make a distinction. A gardener plants 10 tomato plants. A farmer plants an acre of tomato plants. His tomatoes were giant and flavorful. I would walk through the field with my tiny shaker of salt and devour the biggest and tastiest ones. A person that eats a store-bought tomato (no matter how many vines are still attached) will never know such an experience. My mouth waters even now thinking about his delicious corn, string beans, peas, and new potatoes.
But even with my favorable memories of garden produce I have never grown a garden until this, my sixtieth year. This year I vowed to do better. I asked my skilled gardener neighbors for advice. They basically said "buy some seeds and plant them (and don't forget to water them)." With this expert advice I proceeded. I planted some things on April 1st and some others on May 15th. This was my harvest from July 6th:
Potatoes, beets, string beans, and kale. This was all remarkably similar to what my dad used to harvest (other than kale, which was thought to be a weed in my youth).
Planting a garden is a "visionary" experience. One plants a string bean seed and, viola, 50 to 60 days later he or she is snapping off the ends of crispy string beans. This pattern of planting and harvesting has been working so well for so long that we hardly give it a second thought.
But for me the harvest this year has been a surprising and glorious miracle. When the peas poked up through the garden soil I started taking selfies of me with them and posting them like a proud new parent.
We have a vision for Marbles Farm. It's a rundown old ranch house now with lots of weeds. But we're confident that it will be transformed into a beautiful red barn containing classrooms and a kitchen. The grounds will be cultivated, landscaped, and changed into an outdoor learning environment. The existing mature trees will provide shade and comfort to little outdoor learners.
When completed we will walk preschool children through the same process we went through: planting and harvesting. Having a vision and realizing the vision. These are real life lessons. These are experiences that we will cultivate at Marbles Farm.
Marty Oakeson, Manager