I’m sure many of you noticed that this past week was hot. Really hot. The kind of hot that makes you want to sit in front of a fan, eating a popsicle, with your feet in a bucket of ice kind of hot. It was tough at the farm, but we survived. We started our work days early when we could, took many popsicle and shade breaks, and replenished our electrolytes with Gatorade.
We talk a lot about food at the farm (obviously), but as a result of the extreme heat, I spent a lot of time thinking about water this past week. I thought about how crucial it is to help hydrate our bodies and how we use it to cool down and revive the vegetables we harvest from the fields. I thought about how water is one of the important ingredients that makes photosynthesis possible. Plants take in carbon dioxide and water, and with the energy from the sun, they are able to make glucose and oxygen. The plant will use the glucose as food to continue to grow and release the oxygen into the air for us to breath. Water is truly one of the most important substances on Earth.
As the heat of the summer continues, remember water. Drink it, swim in it, fill water balloons with it, jump in puddles of it, feed your garden with it, and be thankful for it. Stay cool everyone!
The following poem was written by Karen Lynn Askenaze in honor of communities in El Salvador that are working to gain clean, affordable, and accessible water. I like how she reminds us of the significance of water and how it surrounds us even if it’s invisible to us.
Sweet Water
by Karen Lynn Askenaze
Sacred Sustenance
Hidden in the clouds and earth
Pure, clear, liquid life
