Volunteers

We’ve been composting for several years now; I put almost all the vegetable scraps and tea bags in the little can by the sink, and other people who live here do the harder work of trudging out to the backyard with the scraps in the winter and turning over the contents of the outdoor bin. It’s satisfying to have a use for the vegetable scraps and egg shells and coffee grounds, and it has improved the output of our small garden.

But the best thing about composting is the little surprises after we work it into the garden. My gardening friends here in Ohio call them “volunteers,” and I seem to get a lot of tomatoes and squash volunteering in my garden, but also peppers now and then. Although I often throw volunteer peppers back into the compost bin, when the squash or tomatoes come up unexpectedly in a pot of flowers I carefully dig them out and transplant them into the garden because I think this gives them a better chance. It also keeps the vegetables out of my flower pots.

Yesterday I was helping at my church, where once a month we give away fresh produce and bread to anyone who tells us they need it, and one of the women in line for food saw we were rushing to bag zucchini and onions and green beans because the truck had arrived later than expected. She started helping with the zucchini and we all introduced ourselves. After a few minutes, she said, “I was at another place a few weeks ago and they told me they didn’t need any more help. I just don’t like to stand around waiting for people to give me things—might as well lend a hand.” “Must be a nice problem to have, not needing any help,” I said.  She looked down. “I think they didn’t want me there.” I sighed. I wanted to say “We don’t have that problem here,” but I knew that sometimes we do, because we are human and sometimes we get caught up in the work we think needs to be done and forget to honor each person as she is, right now in this place. We forget that we all need help and we all have something to offer.

It’s helpful sometimes to stop and consider: When life surprises us by popping up in unexpected places, what do we do? Do we water it where it is? Do we carefully transplant? Or do we throw it back in the bin?