Simple Gifts
A cascade of sharing began with a simple gift. This story began in early January with my donation of several bags of nearly new cold-weather clothing to the North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. A neighbor and her spouse stopped by to pick them up. The conversation turned to gardening. I placed a seed catalog in their mailbox. When I dropped in to visit several weeks later, the husband handed me flats of lettuce and broccoli seedlings. We’ve been enjoying lovely salads made with the lettuce, but now fast-forward to June 1st: the broccoli is fully grown. However, six large broccoli heads are too much for two people to eat. I shared a head with the next-door neighbor, and he walked back over with three lovely garlic heads. They are now drying in my greenhouse. He intends to cook the broccoli as part of a dinner for a friend with cancer. I drove down the mountain; my first stop was to visit a couple of part-time residents. They were thrilled to receive the fr...