The thing is, earth wants to feed us. We learned that from the tomatoes. We put in exactly 48 plants each year we lived in Quebec's Eastern Townships. I don't know what was magic about that number, but it was fixed. We staked them as my father had staked his, added manure, and they produced massively.
In late summer, consumed with an emotion I now identify as greed, I would pull the red globes from the stems and pile them on the kitchen counter. I was condemned to hours of making spaghetti sauce (what else can you do with a ton of tomatoes?) but I didn't care. This was abundance.
I had come to understand Eve, you see. The way the story goes... When the woman, Eve, saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
Well, of course. The apple in all its beauty called out to be picked. If exile from Eden is the price to be paid for this glorious greed, so be it. We are called to have knowledge, to grow these fruits well, to learn how to care for the land so that they can continue. It is a gift and Eve knew to take and share it. We learn these lessons of abundance in the garden....
