We must plant this garden.
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Photo: Robert Rock Belliveau: Tomato seed taken with a polarizing microscope
"We find a useful parable in one of the farm journals, whither we turned, hoping to escape for a few moments the ominous headlines of suspicion in the papers. It was a vain hope. The first headline we encountered was 'Danger in the Flower Garden.' There is enough poison in a single castor bean to kill a person. The seeds of pinks cause vomiting. Sweet-pea seeds contain a poison that can keep a person bedridden for months. The nightblooming jimson has enough power it its leaves to produce delirium. Daffodil bulbs when eaten cause stomach cramps. And in the lily of the valley is a subtle substance that makes the heart slow down. But the conclusion drawn by the writer of the article, chewing absently on a daffodil bulb, was a good one.
We must plant this garden anyway. Even in the face of such terrors, we must plant this garden."
E.B. White 4/24/54 The New Yorker
*quote via @planthisgarden
Reader Comments (1)
Hello! Thought I'd end my weekend by making a long overdue visit to the Hedge.
Oh, thank you for this post. Yes, my hope is coloured green. And yes, I do believe despite terrors, despite uncertainties -- even more, because of them -- we must plant our gardens.