By Garden Intern Talitha Seabury
To watch a growing season is to nurture a community, to rejoice at the small green arms that stretch from seeds and to smile back at the opening buds. It is to feed and water the plants in their youth, and care for them as they grow old. To be the hands that eventually lay them in the ground and collect seed for their future generations. It is a short-lived existence that contrasts the ancient soil they draw life from. When my hands touch the rough fertile dirt, they encounter something that has come before and will continue beyond me. It is a connection that transcends the current moment leaping into past and future generations. We are united under a common purpose, to nurture the earth.
Over the past few months, we have picked countless flowers noticing the beauty of each. Their colors and characteristics evoke nothing short of awe. We have toiled to keep up with the abundance of fruits, vegetables, and herbs that fight for life even through the wild temperature variations of Sisters Oregon. To work with the earth is to constantly be met with surprise at the resilience and treasure of nature. Throughout the season, heat has scorched our crops with upwards of 100 degrees, while the cool settles in the mornings with frost.
As we dance the rhythm of the summer, the livestock and cohabiting creatures join in. We frantically work and the herd of cows all watch us with their big glassy dark eyes. The territorial mother robin will not hesitate to chatter and swoop until we finish watering near her rooftop nest. Sheep mow down grass at alarming speeds leaving piles of brown fertile treasure in the pasture. They also play a role in the moving pieces of our ecosystem.
The staff and leadership at the Roundhouse Foundation encourages the exploration of our relationship with nature. Projects seem to revolve around this central question: “How can we partner with nature and blend into its ecosystem?” The answer to this question is often to reset imbalance and always consider the consequences of intervention. We built new irrigation systems to combat the lack of rain. We used cover crops to naturally oxygenate and enrich the soil instead of tilling. Since both nature and humans speak the language of art, we partnered with artists to produce dye plants which preserve the colors of the summer on strips of cloth. Our artists use the colors to tell a story with patterns. All these projects emphasize co-laboring with the natural world.
For anyone who comes onto the ranch whether for an internship or to volunteer, I encourage you to wander through the endless possibilities that a symbiotic relationship has to offer. Always ask yourself: “How can I give to nature?” Think outside the box, and I promise the effort you offer will always be returned in abundance.
I will continue to ask this question after my time here at the Roundhouse Foundation. I want to take the skills I learned to continue facilitating a healthy relationship between humans and soil. I have an international lens and am interested in partnering with organizations in and outside of the US who are working to heal ecosystems, economies, and communities through the use of sustainable agriculture and a nurturing hand.
