What I stand for is what I stand on. —Wendell Berry

So often all we do it talk. We all know how we are going to change the world, yet it seems so few of us truly believe it enough to act. Talk is fun, talk engages the mind, and I am not above talk. I'll be the first to admit I'd rather grab a book or debate with my roommate then grab a shovel or put myself on the political stage. Yet if talk does not lead to picking up a shovel then all we've done is add more carbon to the air. Today I had little choice but to talk and think, as an out of season thunderstorm made its way through St. Petersburg. It kept me inside at my desk drinking homemade Moroccan mint tea and reading on soil amendments, with my window slightly cracked to hear the rain patter. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit relieved that I had a day by my desk rather than in the garden. As much as I love the boys we work with, working with them is one of the greatest challenges I've faced in my life. It is also one of the most rewarding, but that does not change the fact that it remains a challenge. Its kind of reminds me of myths I've encountered around working out or hard labor. There seems to be a myth that you eventually reach a point when the work out or labor comes to you so naturally that it no longer causes strain or resistance. I have never found this to be true, and certainly don't think good work is done without strain. Without strain you are just one of those people who strolls on the treadmill while salivating over the food network playing on the wall. You can get accustomed to it, but the strain and involved in good work never just disappears. Thus, while I am happy to have a rainy day, to support these boys and our garden we all need to remember the work we must put in. Then we wont need so much talk, as a garden full of strong minds and hardy plants says it all.

—Noah Schlager