We Have Planted More Than a Garden

    種植的不僅僅是花園
    在你種植花園的時候，你一并也種下了希望；哪怕花園沒有好的收成，希望仍可以帶給你美好的明天。

　　As I write, a gentle, much needed rain is falling this morning. It has been a dry spring here in Vermont.1 So dry in fact, that the Spring Peepers were late enough in coming that many thought that these amazing little frogs would fail to bless us with their song this year.2 But they came, and I can't fault3 them for being tardy. In almost any seasonal4 wetland in the state these frogs can be heard. They are a sign of spring, and of rebirth and renewal.

　　It is late June and the mountain snow has left the higher slopes of the mountains. Folks have planted their gardens, even though there is still the threat of frost. Yes, it is almost July, yet in the evenings here, the thermometer can still sometimes dip into the low-thirties this time of year.5 My family planted our garden during the last weekend of May, and frost came twice since then, luckily not a killing frost. But others were not so lucky. There is a very ambitious gardener in the village that lost most of his non-hardy6 plants this year. There is a saying in this state:"if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes." This spring has demonstrated the validity of this old saw.7 Twice this spring it has been warm enough in the day that my family went swimming, but there was frost on the ground the next morning.

　　I enjoy the juxtaposition of the vagaries of the climate and the steady rhythms of life here.8 Folks have been tending to the chores of spring for generations, knowing full well that they really can't depend upon the hand that nature will deal them.9 Planting a garden in Vermont amounts to an act of faith. Will our sweat and toil be rewarded by abundance enough to share with our friends and extended families, or will a killing frost render these efforts exercises in futility.10

　　And I have planted more than a garden this year. My family was recently faced with a tough decision, do we leave this place and the people whom we have come to know and love, or do we stay and make a commitment.11 Well, we have decided that this is where we will make our stand.12 Along with our little garden, this year we have planted ourselves. And this is no less an act of faith than the one mentioned above. Will my family be blessed with that which is needed to grow and flourish. We have no way of knowing this...but we do have faith. The rain has stopped and the sun is shining. Strong winds have blown the cloud cover away. It is a beautiful day. Vermont gardening.

　　There is another saying among farmers here: "there is no better fertilizer than a farmer's footprints."13 To me this means that which is planted must be revisited often. The garden must be nurtured and tended. It must be cared for with love. It seems to me that this applies to our lives as well. Hopes and dreams and aspirations must be revisited often lest14 we loose sight of the things that are really important to us. Commitments must be tended to as carefully as any garden plot. But as with gardening, there are no guarantees. But there is faith, and today is a beautiful day.

1． Vermont：（美國）佛蒙特州。
2． 甚至由于干旱，雨蛙都姍姍來遲，以致于許多人認為這些神奇的小東西今年不會再用它們的歌聲來祝福我們了。
in fact:[用以表示遞進語氣]甚至；確切地說。 Spring Peeper：雨蛙。
3． fault：這里是動詞，"批評，指責"之意。
4． seasonal：隨季節變化的，季節性的。
5． 意思是有時氣溫只有華氏30多度。
thermometer：溫度計； dip into：涉獵，涉及。
6． non-hardy：（植物等）不耐寒的，抗寒性差的。
7． saw：諺語，格言。
8． 我很享受這個地方氣候的變化無常與生活節奏的穩定平和并存的情形。
juxtaposition：并置，并列。vagary：難以預測的行為（或情況）。
9． 人們世世代代習慣了春天的勞作，很清楚地知道他們不能僅僅依賴自然賦予的運氣。hand:（紙牌游戲中的）一手牌；deal：發牌。
10． 我們的汗水和辛勞能獲得足夠豐裕的收成來與朋友及家中老少分享，抑或致命的霜凍會使我們的努力白廢？extended family:大家庭（如與祖父母、已婚子女等共居的數代同堂家庭）。
11. make a commitment：作出承諾。
12. make a stand: 固守，堅持立場。
13. 再好的化肥也比不上農民的腳印。意思是農民對莊稼的親自料理更為重要。fertilizer：化學肥料。
14. lest:（在連接的狀語從句里常用原形動詞或should）免得，為了不使。

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