Supporting Each Other

 

Some of the people that volunteer along with Al at a community garden in Pontiac have given him a variety of vegetable seed packets as well as plants grown in the greenhouses there. With summer in full swing, the eight garden beds in our small backyard are becoming very productive, providing us with plenty of fresh vegetables to eat.

 A small crop of spinach was harvested from one of the beds in late May. In the place of spinach, tomatoes and celery are now growing.  In another plot, red and green leaf lettuce are providing plenty of fresh leaves for salads now and possibly throughout July.

We weren’t really sure what we were going to get when we planted the small pepper plants, but knew that there were several varieties. Three have produced peppers so far… long cone-shaped peppers, regular bell peppers and one red pepper.

 Al also planted bush beans in one bed and Wando and Sugar Snap peas in the remaining three beds. Fresh green beans and peas are the best! The Wando peas have to be shelled and steamed, while the sugar snap peas can be eaten raw or used in stir fries.   

It has been especially fascinating watching our pea plants grow this spring. Not long after the small round pea seeds were planted, spindly shoots could be seen poking up from the soil. He carefully tended them, hammering stakes into the ground at both ends of each row as they began to get taller.  Then, strings were tied between the stakes so that the vines would grow upward instead of growing into a tangled mat.

After a week or so, the plants had grown taller than the first set of strings; so, the process was repeated with a second string between the two stakes on each row. Since the peas kept on growing, the stakes eventually needed to be elongated. That way more strings could be added whenever necessary. Some of the taller plants needed as many as seven strings, and still they towered over the top one.

From early on, tiny green tendrils were formed on the plants. Somewhat sticky and able to coil, the tendrils attached to each other, to the strings and any available surface. With time, the tendrils from individual plants hooked together along the strings, forming walls of peas. 

Al was careful to attach the tendrils to the strings whenever possible. He didn’t want them to attach to each other across aisles, because they would again get tangled and make it difficult to pick the pea pods.

In spite of their fragile appearance, the tendrils were surprisingly strong. After a rainstorm and strong winds recently, the strings were sagging but the vines were still upright, clinging to them and to each other for support.

From the white delicate flowers that formed on the plants came the pods, a wonder of packaging and engineering, with each pea packed neatly next to its neighbor and attached to the inside of the pod by a small stem. Pea pods are waterproof, strong and even edible!

A friend came outside to see the garden recently and was amazed when I picked a puffy pod and pulled the “string” along its back seam. The two halves of the pod opened up to reveal several round peas all in a row.

 “Oh!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know that was how peas grew. I thought an individual pea grew from each flower.”

When I showed my friend how the peas were attached to each other by tendrils, she drew an application right away.

 “Just like community!” she said, smiling. I agreed.

            Many of our friends, including one of our own family members, are involved in caregiving for loved ones. They especially need the friendship and continued support of the Christian community. There are many practical ways we can help, in addition to upholding them in prayer for wisdom, courage, strength and hope. 

May we reach out our hands and hearts to those who are caregivers, as well as to others who are in need of Christ’s love and light.

“Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 NIV)