Dear god - being killed over a goat or a potato! But that's what happens when you cede large amounts of power to people with very small minds. I imagine Bush thinks kind of like that - that it’s OK to shove some people out into the cold because they don’t cleave unto his particular view of the world. And you are right to take all this directly back to the soil. We will all come to it in the end. There’s a magical synergy to it all; only the small minded cannot sense those connections - and because they are - for all intents and purposes - deaf, dumb and blind - they demand the rest of the world be so as well.
I think some are just looking for an excuse, and any will do!
alan
I've also found the harvesting of potatoes to be a completely satisfying experience. It's just like you say, Robin, pushing aside the loose earth and debris and feeling for them, and then finding a cluster of several very large ones. Different from any other plant!
I heard the same piece. I really try hard to accomodate the sensibilities of others, but I simply could not get my head around that. It's a dark gift that Bush has given them, and us.
Searching for potatoes in the warm, sandy soil here at the farm is just as you've described. As for the rest -- I have a short story that illustrates just how odd people can be regarding what they consider to be "too sensuous".
We used to keep a large herd of dairy goats and did quite a bit of showing with them many years ago. While we were at the country fairs, we would have to milk our goats, and would milk by hand because we didn't having milking equipment with us. People often came up to watch and ask questions about the goats while we were doing the milking. However, I will never forget one "incident" where a mother walked up and grabbed her young boy (who had been watching me milk a goat) and practically twisted his little arm off as she dragged him away while shouting at me, "You should be ashamed of doing that in front of people!"
Hmm.. milking a goat in front of people? What's so "dirty" about that? Where in heck do people think milk comes from? Out of a waxed carton or plastic bag? Taught me something about how some people perceive the world. I must mention that the reason this story is even fresh in my mind is because I just read a story a couple of days ago about some magazine that put a photo of a nursing infant on the cover - and they've be deluged with angry comments about such a naughty scene. I was actually thinking of doing a post about it this week -- and may still do so. Anyhow, all this to say that it's sometimes difficult to figure where some people's heads are at (and I've pretty much given up trying).
Repression sows the seeds of it's own destruction. People are fools, to follow a tyrant, and to allow repression into their lives.
Rolling around in leaves, climbing trees, picking fresh fruit and enjoying healthy, nutrient rich food with a lusty appetite and then taking a bullet for it. These people shooting others must surely be from some planet other than this big beautiful blue and green jewel.
Whoa. I missed that NPR piece.
Reminds me of a story my brother tells about visiting the National Zoo in D.C. years ago. Maybe I've shared this here before - hope not. He said there was a big crowd around the Galapagos Tortoise exhibit, and as he got closer, he could hear these really loud grunts and groans. The tortoises were mating! What was fascinating, he said, was the divergent reactions of parents with young children. Some were just like the mother Bev describes, whisking their kids away as soon as they realized what was happening. Others did just the opposite, hoisting their kids on their shoulders to give them a better view. "See that, honey? They're mating! That's how they make baby tortoises!"
I also just remembered an old Big Bill Broonzy song, "Digging my Potatoes." Sonny Terry covered it - lyrics are here.
Unreal! People can sure be whipped into strange frenzies.
So, I wonder if there are mothers and fathers out there who yank their children away when they see bees and other insects out there flitting from plant to plant, and flower to flower, polinating everything in sight. Or, do they even think about nature (including humans and the higher animals) reproducing themselves and functioning normally?
I saw that magazine article about the nursing baby and was dumbfounded at the unnatural responses from mothers everywhere who are repulsed at seeing someone feed their baby in public. What do they think a woman's breasts were made for -- exciting their husbands?
We are all sensual creatures. That's why we were made sensual -- to reproduce and keep the species alive. Same with potatoes and raspberries and tomatoes and chimpanzees.
Robin, what you've done with that story is amazing. What gorgeous sensual potatoes. You know what? I'm really enjoying these pictures and your descriptions. Maybe too much. Bad me!
bev, I read the story about the complaints about the Baby Magazine cover showing the nursing baby, and I rolled my eyes. What are these puritanical parents protecting their children from? Life itself? Reality? One day the real world will intrude, and the poor kids will be unprepared.
Hmm. I can't see the pictures in this post. Must be the smut filter.
--winky--
Careful, you're dealing with an Irishman here.
Great story on the harvesting and seeing the sensuality of life everywhere. That is so true and our country has some of the same hangups with confusing pornography with nudity, with okaying nudie bars but worrying about skinnydipping swimming holes. Art galleries worry about displaying nude fitures for fear they will be criticized-- especially the male. In the recent outdoor art show I went to, only one painting of a nude woman in the entire show. The human figure is beautiful but some see only dirt when they look at it. Your story well illustrated the sensual nature of the world. I loved it
i'm sure you've all noticed our award for the sexiest tomato from dr charles. we won it for the tomato in this
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogg...600/
veggie3.jpg
photo. one guess whose hand that is. here's a clue....it's not my hand.
TFLS-- It's hard to imagine being so deaf, dumb, and blind. But I am sensing that there is a drive to get there in this country.
alan-- Yes. Any excuse will do.
Wayne-- It is unlike any other harvest, pulling those potatoes right out of the earth, and having to reach into the earth to do it. What we have done to Iraq is really unforgivable.
Bev-- It is amazing to me how far from the earth we must be in order to be appalled by milking goats and nursing babies.
sbgypsy-- Some people follow that leader, others are compelled against their will. That's the tyrant's dance.
peacechick mary-- I don't know what planet they are on, but it's one that allows them to be blind to its beauty.
Dave-- How does the fear of the body arise? I'm so interested in the coincidence of that rise to see how it corresponds with its eroticization. Interesting competing realities.
rurality-- Yes they can.
motherkitty-- Underlying all of this, I think, is the fear the female.
Grandmere Mimi-- Thanks so much for sending the story. I really appreciated it, and it was very inspirational. BTW-- did you read the last comment on that Adventus post where you found the link. The comment that Chuck left? I was surprised and disappointed that no one commented after it.
kathy r-- It's good thing your smut filter is working. There are fruits and vegetables that really should never been seen.
Phil-- Really like those potatoes, do you?
Rain-- You summed it up so well. Yes, confusing pornography with nudity. How did we get here?
roger-- Let's face it, fruit is just plain sexy.
you know that i am a firm believer in the sensuality of nature. i cannot imagine being executed for loving the earth with my entire being.
Robin, I was taken aback by the repulsive comment, and thought about replying, but hateful comments tend to leave me speechless. I'm still shocked when I encounter them; I just did not know what to say.
We tend to look at the world with a more open view, yet the religious right in this country is not so far away from those mullahs who kill because a goat isn't wearing diapers. We live in terrifying times.
I'm afraid I don't see any of this fear as being too outlandish to take place in our own country. I worry all the time about where we are headed.
I can just imagine the sensation of digging the spuds. How wonderful!
I've dug potatoes. Heh. (Sorry.)
Robin, this piece you've written is wonderful. The earth abounds in sensuality and it is unfortunate to feel afraid of something so wonderful and omnipresent.
Madness! I rage, I weep. I don't understand. Your words are powerful and right on!
The biggest trick that Bush/Cheney/Rice/Tenet/Myers/Rumsfeld ever pulled on the US public, wansn't 9-11, it was getting them to believe 'we're spreading democracy' throughout the middle east. That was never the plan. Just ask Larry Silverstein, Ariel Sharon, Douglas Feith, Wolfowitz, Sharonski, and Netanyahu. The real mafia. What a bunch of hooey.
EVer since Kermit Roosevelt confessed 6 years ago (on NRP coincidentally) that the US and the CIA overthrew a completely democratic government in Iran in 1953, they've been busy making sure Muslim societies are kept in a feudal fascist state ruled by a few elite. Exactly what they're doing in the West. You should've took the red pill. Now its too late.
Anne-- It is hard to imagine how terrified of beauty and sensuality one must that they must kill to deny or contain it.
Grandmere Mimi-- Pretty shocking. Yes.
Divajood-- I see parts of our country moving in this direction. It is terrifying.
YT-- I think we still have time to take our country back, but if we don't elect a democratic congress we'll be displaying our berries in brown paper sacks, and making it a sin to dig for potatoes.
mb-- Thanks so much. The sensuality is hard to miss, but harder to ignore. I can't imagine living under such an edict.
Pam-- These stories are what make me glad that I live out in the country, away from most of the madness.
iz7ult-- I've always believed that our interest in the middle east is strictly for the oil. Everything else is a trick of belief, the reification of theism to distract from the crass nature of our addiction.
A middle ages mindset that I cannot fathom. Let's hurry up with the oil alternatives and let them eat sand.
Sorry, but I'm sick of this backwards hateful region of the world.
It really seems that when hate and murder become acceptable every day occurences, nearly anything can be seen as just cause.
FC-- I understand that sentiment. Enough already with this insanity.
patry-- It's hard to imagine life so dark and bleak. And yet, there is an inchoate movement here for as weird a fundamentalism.
I so agree with your statement:
"It is hard to imagine how terrified of beauty and sensuality one must be that they must kill to deny or contain it."
Wow, you make harvesting so sexy...so sultry! As I sit here fanning myself, I'm glad you live in America lest you be shot for your description of potato plucking.
There are ridiculous mindsets all over the world...this is right up there with "witch" burning. Those poor gals were just too good looking to live.
Oh, yes. I heard that on NPR, on my way to work. It's horrible! I was shocked, but, of course, forgot it during the day. I'm glad you posted about it.
Hello! Very interesting place!
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