Know Where You’re Going

The front seat of my truck was full of rice today.  I drove gingerly.  This was incredibly important rice and even if it wasn’t, I don’t want rice spilled all in the truck.

The start of any plant is so full of potential that it’s priceless to the owner— to the farmer.  Rice seedlings, cuttings from a friend, or pack of real, not GMO, seeds; they all hold dreams.  And the potential to make money.

The farmers who settle South Carolina came here for that potential.  Well for the potential of making money from beautiful dirt.  They had to test and trial and figure out which seeds would do best in this dirt and climate. Indigo, rice, sugar cane later peanuts and cotton made lots of money too.  Carolina dirt made money and it still does.

Today, Tom and I, in our fields, do the same:  we transform that dirt into lily bulbs and ship it around the country in exchange for cash or PayPal credits. That’s when I learned what a bad credit score is, and since have been more weary of my finances. A short walk down the red dirt road, we’re working with a historic plantation to recognize economic plants of the past.

The rice is my front seat was an upland variety that grows in regular soil, without having to be flooded.  It’s headed to a garden where I’m doing a little volunteer work.   We’re planting plots of those five major crops.   The garden is at the former home of James Henry Hammond, now a SC State Historical site called Redcliffe Plantation.  Hammond was one of those men who came seeking profit from dirt.   He and his peers built a thriving economy on our dirt, on the exotic plants they brought in from all over the world and on the back of enslaved people.  They also made mistakes that have lingered; we still feel today issue of depleted soil, race and social struggles and muddied waters.  The rice, cotton, indigo, cane and peanuts we’re planting today will grow and give park interpreter Elizabeth Laney a place to explain, a plant to use as a talking point, so she can tell stories about that history.  So we can honor it, be appalled by it, laugh at it and for god’s sake, one day,  maybe stop repeating it.

(Thanks to Andy Cabe at Riverbanks Botanical Garden for working with us to grow out the seedlings.)