我们的“孩子们”经过一场场暴风雨之后，变的坚强了很多，他们努力的长啊长啊……

就像每周来我们农场的那些放暑假的孩子们，他们其中一些来自城市，当他们看到这些自己饭桌上熟悉的植物的时候，会大声的喊，这是豆角、胡萝卜……这一刻，他们感受到了自己餐桌上的食物和大地的关系。

我特别喜欢那些孩子，他们每次来到农场都会老远就喊我的名字：CICI，CICI……（我告诉他们我的英文名字，便于记住），每次分组活动的时候，三个小组都会争着让我带领他们那组。希望能够在他们那幼小的心灵里面留下一些关于那个中国女孩的美好回忆。

当我们种完这些蔬菜之后，目前更多的劳动就是除草和收获了。有时候，早晨我提前来到农场，慢慢的在每一排植物中行走，有些植物好像一夜之间就长大了，我们几个人有一个比赛——猜测什么时候第一个西红柿成熟到可以吃。

除草，由一开始的枯燥，变成了现在的一种享受，因为你可以跪在地上，或者坐在地上，享受那一刻的宁静，你可以想很多事情。

当你跪在那一片土地上的时候，世界是不同的。

那些小蚂蚱有时候突然出现在你面前，秋天的时候他们就长大颜色也会变深；一些小的有胡须的飞虫，有时候会飞到你的手上，用它小小的胡须咯吱你；有时候，看到那些辛勤工作的蚯蚓，我会打乱他们的工作，拿起来好好观察一番。

通常的时候，我们会戴上一种护膝，其实叫“跪的容易”更形象，这样你跪着的时候，膝盖就不会被坚硬的土块弄伤；有时候拔草时，我会带上手套，因为有一种草有着非常锋利的刺，而且有时候你用一只手拄着地，另一只手拔草时，再抬起手时，手会被土咯的一块一块红。你能感觉到这些植物在不同的土壤中的生长情况；你能够看到那些在一块保护盖膜中间的植物与两边缘的植物间的差异；你能够看到那些破坏这些植物的害虫，甚至是那些杂草，与他们周围植物是何等的相似，这不就是自然界的奥妙吗？

如果不是跪在土地上，与所有的这些近距离接触，我们怎么能感受到这么多乐趣？

图一：洋白菜

图二：蒜苔

图三：瓜类

图四：生菜

图五：混合沙拉

图六：西红柿

图七：甜菜

图八：胡萝卜

Getting us closer to the land!

After experiencing one episode after another of wind- and rainstorms, our “children” have become much stronger, and they’re working hard at growing, growing…

It’s just like the children on summer vacation who come to our farm every week.  A few of them are from the city, and when they see plants that they’re used to seeing on their own dinner tables, they shout, these are green beans, these are carrots…at that point, they’re feeling the relationship between the food on their tables and the land. 

I really like those kids; every time they come to our farm they start calling my name from a long ways off: Cici, Cici…(I told them my English name because it’s easier to remember).  Every time they separate into groups for activities, the three groups always vie with each other to get me to lead them.  I hope that I’ll be able to leave them with a few beautiful memories of that girl from China.

As we’ve finished growing these vegetables, weeding and harvesting are more work for the moment.  Sometimes, I arrive early at the farm in the morning, and I slowly walk down each row of plants; some plants seem to have grown in the night.  We have a competition going – predicting when the first tomato will be ripe enough to eat.

Weeding, for all its dullness in the beginning, has now become a kind of enjoyment.  Because you can kneel on the ground, or sit on the ground, you enjoy that time of tranquility, and you can think about a lot of things.

When you’re kneeling on that patch of ground, the world is different. 

Sometimes little grasshoppers appear in front of you; in the fall they will have grown bigger and their colors will have deepened.  Small whiskered insects sometimes fly onto your hands, using their tiny whiskers to tickle you; sometimes, when I see those hardworking earthworms, I’ll mess up their work, picking them up to take a better look.

You can get a sense of the growing conditions of these plants in different kinds of soil; you can see the difference between plants under row covers and the plants on either side of it; you can see the pests that destroy these plants, and even the weeds, which are so much like the plants around them – isn’t this just the mysteriousness of the natural world?

If we don’t kneel on the ground, and get in closer contact with all of these things, how will we ever feel this much delight?