Soil and Spirit: A Tomato is Still A Tomato
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It has been a difficult year in the garden. A plethora of diseases have been the plight of so many plants; Blossom End Rot, Bacterial Leaf-spot, Powdery Mildew.
I have become obsessed with clipping, identifying, and discarding. My book shelf is evidence of my preoccupation; Backyard Problem Solver, What’s Wrong With My Plant, Weeds of the Northeast. And yes, I also have a Field Guide to Insects and Spiders, due to the infestation of Aphids, Beetles, Cutworms, and Saw Flies. So, it was with some surprise that I heard these words at the recent gathering of the School of Celtic Consciousness at Mercy by the Sea. Startled out of my dark pondering of plant pests and pathogens, I heard John Philip Newell say that Alexander Scott referenced botany when describing the divine essence that longed for liberation. Any being was still at its core the beautiful creation of the Divine Designer despite what might appear otherwise. In his book, Christ of the Celts, Newell explains;
Alexander Scott, the nineteenth-century Celtic teacher, uses the analogy of a plant suffering from blight. If such a plant were shown to botanists, even if the botanists had never seen that type of plant before, they would define it in terms of its essential life features. They would identify the plant with reference to its healthy properties of height, color, and scent. They would not define it in terms of its blight. (p.11)
A tomato is still a tomato regardless of the pathogen. It is not the disease. And my mother was still my mother despite the neurological disorder that took away her motivation and ultimately her movement. We began to see her only within the disease model identified by the doctors. She became the diagnosis instead of the beautiful Scottish lassie who loved flowers and poems. Who charmed my father and all who met her. She became instead a body tortured by trembling and twisting. It took a Scotsman to remind me that she still was a bonny lass who moved freely through meadows in her dreams. And it took her surprisingly firm grasp of my hand the day before she passed, a secret gesture shared between us from the time she walked me up the hill to kindergarten, to remind me that she was and always will be my Mum.
Afterword...
Can you still enjoy a tomato with blossom end rot? Yes, but they may not last as long, so pick them, remove the damage, and make salsa! Enjoy the delicious essence while you can because a tomato is still a tomato!
https://blog.extension.uconn.edu/tag/blossom-end-rot/
https://wayne.ces.ncsu.edu/2016/06/blossom-end-rot-on-tomatoes/