There are many reasons for me to celebrate my husband. He is a wonderful human being, generous, kind, supportive, intelligent, creative. You name the great qualities of a person and he has them.

As the Fall approaches and harvest time is in full gear, I want to celebrate my husband's keen interest in growing things and most of all growing community as he goes along. Pat is a long time farmer. He grew up on a very small farm during the 50's, 60's, 70's. The farm was so small that they thrashed and milked the cows by hand. YES by hand even in the 70's. With four growing boys (the other 2 children were much older and both had moved on to their adult life when Pat was growing up), the family farm had an abundance of labour to till the fields and keep the livestock fed and watered. His mother also had a hungry horde of mouths to feed and she was an excellent cook. Every year they planted a huge garden that would feed them throughout the year. Pat spent many hours planting, weeding, weeding, weeding, weeding.....and harvesting along with the rest of the family. He knew where his food came from and appreciated the effort that went into gathering, preparing, storing and cooking all that food.

Our house is 1/2 of a duplex and our lot is very small. The opportunities for gardening are limited. But that hasn't stopped Pat. He has been working on his garden from the very beginning, planting apple trees, doing container gardening and two years ago - converting our front yard into a vegetable patch. What started as a way to get rid of the dandelion crop that seemed to flourish on our yard every year, turned into a passion that expressed Pat's love of the land. The first year was potatoes with a row of sunflowers at the front. We had lots of people stop to ask what we were doing with our yard. As the summer progressed and the crop grew, we had many people tell us that it was a great use of the land. Pat's enthusiasm increased expressing how much "lawns" are a waste of treated water and how much could be grown if everyone converted their lawns to gardens. He would tell people about how this was the norm for most people back in the early part of the 19th century until the 1940's when a lawn became a status symbol of your wealth. A lawn meant you didn't have to grow food to sustain your family.

Pat's conversations engaged others. Dialogue started and neighbours dropped by to see what was going on. As the crop flourished, he told friends and neighbours with children to come by and "pick" with him, showing the children how the food came out of the ground. Pat's love of knowledge was passed on as he explained the harvest process to the children as they pulled the plant from the ground and turned up the dirt to reveal the hidden treasure of potatoes. Many smiles of wonder and small faces full of concentration filled my camera as I photographed these harvests.

And it grew community. We have met people who are new to town, new to Canada and neighbours that we never really knew. Children ask their parents when they can go and pick with "Pat". I bring in fresh produce to share with co-workers and Pat drops off produce to friends who are unable to drop by. This year he invited children to come and plant with him, putting stakes in the ground with their name on it so they could see how their planting turned into the produce they would harvest in the Fall. Parents joined in and I got to be involved by taking pictures and showing the children all the "cool" spiders that were around our house because of all the diversity Pat had created on our small piece of land.

Pat didn't grow the vegetables for our consumption. We can't keep up with just the two of us and so far we haven't had time to invest in canning/storing. Pat tapped into his heritage to express his soul, a love of the land, an intense sense of AWE with the natural world and a real need to connect to others. He is the best teacher for how to be in communion with others. You do what you do with love, passion, creativity, hard work and SHARE without expectation. To SERVE because that is what drives your every moment knowing that when you connect with creation, with your human family, your soul is being nourished. You are letting LOVE in and LOVE out.

Pat you are the real expression of LOVE in my life. I feel love for you and you are so much more than that in my life - you ARE LOVE, what LOVE was always meant to be - a verb - an act of generosity of spirit given to the world. Thanks for being my greatest teacher in how to be a part of the human family. I LOVE YOU!