Cultivate

growing up on the farm
cultivated in me
a certain generosity.

It was little things, like
inviting people who stopped by
at Suppertime
to come and eat with us.
I think that always made
the food taste better,
because Everyone was always welcome.

I remember watching
the Summer Moon eclipse,
Sitting on the old paint-flecked
wooden bench in front of the house,
snipping 3 paper bags full of beans,
because the Reugers had
a really good crop
in their garden that year.

My 4H project one year
was freezing 80 quarts of corn
because Schraeder had more than he
could handle, and said
"take as much as you want."
We filled up the back of Dad's
Yellow Pick-Up Truck,
and worked all day,
Shucking and washing and
boiling and cutting and filling
quart bags and freezing them.
There were 11 people in and out all day,
but Mom and Grandma and Scott and I
were the only ones working the whole time.
I've never had corn that tasted better
than those 80 frozen Quarts.
I wonder now if it was because they were
a gift, or because we had so much fun,
or just because it was really good corn.

No One ever made a big deal of it -
They always made it seem like you were
doing them a favor to take it off their hands,
like it would go bad if you didn't help them out.

I remember there was a big Drought down South one Year,
and Dad sent a few thousand dollars worth of
Hay, because they needed it.
He drove a fuel oil truck for Sohio in the
wintertime, when he didn't have to tend the fields.
I used to think it was for the money,
or to get away from the house,
but i think maybe he also liked helping
people, by making sure they were warm in those
cold months. My first Job was as a gas attendant
for a Sohio Station,
back before they changed their name to BP.
I think i wanted to follow in his footsteps, if only just a little.

The year of dad's car accident,
when he couldn't work anymore,
food was left on our porch
while we were away, several times.
On Christmas Eve,
Someone left a box of Toys for the Kids,
and I think a ham and some other food.
They decided at Church
that the Christmas Eve Donation
would be given to us in our time of need.
It paid for most of our new Car.

the examples
i've had in my life
have instilled in me
the ability to give
freely, willingly, and (i hope!) even graciously,
and that is the most beautiful gift
that has ever been given to me.

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