What a treat to talk to my good friend Elizabeth Mattocks last night. Elizabeth was my Americorps supervisor on Petij Jean Mountain, and she inspired me for being a strong woman and collaborative leader who encouraged her volunteers to work hard as a team and then to innovate individual projects to improve the community. Elizabeth hoed with all of us in the garden, badged her palms with pitch fork calluses, and ended many a day sitting in a circle with us in the break room. All were hot and sticky, all covered in dirt; a few arms were green from tomato vines. The rich dirt of Petij Jean Mountain rooted our Americorps community as we worked the earth together, our unique human energies commingling in the soil to produce sensuous wonders such as Valencia tomatoes and winter savory. My term on the mountain has ended as well as the Americorps program itself, which has shifted to a single horticultural internship in the summers. I miss the friends that I made there, especially Elizabeth. They were my first teachers in the garden and on the farmstead.
Elizabeth is now one of my closest friends, and now is a successful farm manager in North Carolina who “can not grow enough” for the growing demands of the local farmer’s markets. She is coming into town next week for the Southern SSAWG (Southern Sustainability Agricultural Working Group) Conference at which I will be volunteering. We made plans to hang out after the event. At the end of the conversation, she said, “You know, I were that scarf you gave me everywhere. It is my favorite. It was the first homemade gift that a friend ever gave to me.” I was shocked- the scarf had been a gift well over a year ago. It is interesting how working with the land and handcrafting items are similar in that they strengthen human relationships through the medium of particular things. Handmade scarves are softer to the stroke than those in stocked in a store and tomatoes shine more vibrantly orange or red on the vine than on a shelf and because they are entwined with a communal memories and gratitude.
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