Saved by Farmaceuticals

This Musing was first posted in 2009.  That summer I had two raised beds. This year I’ve five along with random garlic beds and potato patches.  They do not supply all our tomatoes, squash and beans but they supply something more valuable. As I discovered that first summer, they feed me and free me.  


In the beginning, I didn't know I needed to be fed or freed.  

Here's how it started.  It started with a seed. 

The speck at the tip of this pen is a lettuce seed.  I had no idea that leaves of lettuce really started with something so small.  Yes, I knew growing things came from seeds, but not something so tiny until that summer.    

How many people today will eat lettuce on a burger or from one of the millions of salad bars around the world or dine in a fine restaurant on a simple Caesar salad and realize the lettuce leaf they put in their mouth grew from a seed this small?  

In 2009, I lined a tray with trans-plantable seed cups and planted seeds.  Something magical happened for me when I discovered sprouts emerging from darkness, seeking light and finding form.


Thanks to Happy Frog fertilizer (who could resist a fertilizer with a name like that?), raised beds from Gardener's Supply and a truck load of dirt, my first garden took form. This would not qualify as a garden for my grandparents who had two significant plots that fed them. But this 8 x 4 space became my Farmacy where I first realized gardening was good for my physical, mental and spiritual health.

It was mid-April. I had just cleaned the driveway of twigs and leaves earlier that morning only to walk out and find bags of dirt at varying stages of emptiness strewn about as Jerry planted azaleas. In all fairness, he had no way of knowing I had just cleaned the driveway, yet I went to my default setting of disappointment and silence. Suddenly I felt like I had to work in the garden, like this was the garden's fault, yet I had a truckload of dirt to finish layering with Happy Frog and kelp.

In minutes of creating earthen lasagna, my mood completely lifted and shifted. Contrary to the spandex lifting underwear advertisers suggest women should wear, I prefer, "My garden shifts and lifts." I was chuckling over this when I realized my anger and resentment were missing.  All my negativity was gone and I had my first Farmaceutically induced epiphany.  Growing food was good for my mood and my relationship. I was content, unusual for a Gemini. I was present and engaged, unusual for many folks these days.

This is my first memory of wanting Farmaceuticals. I'm not referring to corporately grown, perfect appearing, chemically covered, nutrient depleted vegetables although that's better for you probably than fast food.  I'm advocating for food birthed in one's own back yard or in pots on the patio and if not there at least from area farmer's markets.

I thought of the depressed multitudes that could benefit from Farmaceuticals. So many people are given anti-depressants even when they're just in a minor funk. Many of these people trade the funk for feeling flat and nothing at all, as anti-depressants often numb one to all experience.

Farmaceuticals on the other hand are all about experience. I was grateful to have my resentment lifted. Chronically held resentment ruins relationships and not only contributes to depression but to a myriad of physical symptoms (ultimately benefiting pharmaceutical company CEO's bank accounts).

This was also the moment I realized growing a bit of food should be mandatory for everyone, especially our representatives and senators. I think it would be impossible to maintain ill will and mean-spiritedness if you were required to dig in the dirt.  I know.  We really can’t mandate growing one’s own food and if government did someone would protest with “My government can't make me eat vegetables from my own garden." 

Yet Farmaceuticals is one piece of the answer to our present healthcare jigsaw puzzle. I know some people legitimately need drugs to live. I also know I'm not the first person to be offered unneeded drugs by a doctor. Years ago I awakened with a chest pain. My doctor suggested I call a well respected heart specialist. I was seen immediately and given an EKG which proved normal. Upon hearing my mother had mitral valve prolapse, the doctor asked me to do deep knee bends while he listened to my heart. He heard nothing irregular but said I would inherit my mother’s condition and wrote me a prescription.  He said although I didn’t really need this now, he was certain I would eventually have her condition.  I said, "No thank you" and walked out through the packed waiting room where I wanted to shout, "Just because your doctor prescribes it, doesn't mean you need it. People, wake up!"  All the way home, I debated entering medical school at mid-life. I was outraged and stunned.

Now I'm just grateful to be pushing Farmaceuticals. My gardening continues three years after my first mood lift.  Being engaged with growing things continues to bring me joy. Every time I clip bugged leaves, smell a tomato leaf, mix in manure or plant something new, I experience a felt sense of connection to nature and myself. We are so loved by nature yet most don't realize the depth of this love. 

In the meantime, tending this tiny raised bed is teaching me about love, to give, engage and take time to be. I feel the joy of engaging as I talk with the plants, thank them for their presence and encourage their growth. 

I've seen heart shaped leaves birth green beans and star shaped blossoms become squash. I'm saved by Farmaceuticals each day as I witness the miracle of growing things.

And although this years seeds haven't born fruit, I still harvest the memory of years prior and experience the alchemy of seeing plants I've tended over time become nourishment for my body and the tomatoes from a local man nearby become the spaghetti sauce and salsa that we'll enjoy for some time. Every yellow squash, green bean and zucchini, I cooked one year came from my personal grow-cery

If we learned how to be fed at the levels that are available to us in a garden or in Nature in so many ways, there would be no healthcare debate.  Big Pharma wouldn’t exist if we chose to invest in Little Farma.

Think about it:

Farmaceuticals are packed with nutrients. 

Pharmaceuticals are packed with chemicals.

Farmaceuticals alter the mood without addiction as a risk. (Okay I admit, I'm already buying seeds for next year and have a lettuce tent in which I hope to grow greens through early winter.)

The only pre-existing condition related to Farmaceuticals is attitudinal, a willingness to get dirty. 

Pre-existing conditions related to pharmaceuticals result in higher premiums or make you ineligible for coverage.   

With awareness, Farmaceuticals feed one at many levels, the entire heart, mind, spirit and body system.   

Pharmaceuticals feed the system, a system that whether intended or not creates dependencies and addictions to many medications while financially benefiting a select few. 


Of course, I would be remiss to not mention side effects of Farmaceuticals. (This is where you imagine me speaking in that hurried, low and serious tone heard at the conclusion of drug commercials.)

Side effects include most of the following. Time spent in front of the television and computer will decrease. One's home as well as friendships may be neglected. Food may taste differently. This does not suggest taste bud disturbance. You are actually discovering how vegetables are supposed to taste. Farmaceuticals may result in random episodes of philosophical wonderings and creative surges. You may be called names like the guy on YouTube who thought he was insulting me by calling me a quaint philosopher. I found this a complement.  Farmaceuticals also carry a risk of heart break due to the interaction of bugs and fungus on growing things. It is advised to engage and enjoy the process without attachment to outcome. If you experience any of the above, do not consult your doctor.  Feel free to contact me.

Last but not least you may experience sensations of extreme peace and wholeness. 

The above is based on the experience of the FDA (Freed Dawn Administration) and has stood the test of time now for three summers going into the fourth.  This does not mean the above is true for you or that the FDA is assuming responsibility for you.  This would make the FDA liable and thus easily sued.   

In the meantime, rather than take my word for it, grow tomatoes this summer or get yourself to the nearest Farmer's Market and ask specifically for organically grown vegetables.  Don't let the price deter you.  Buy a bit and savor. Savor Flavor and be saved by Farmaceuticals too!  

-Dawn Kirk, The Good News Muse -08/14/09
(revised 7 May 2012) 

dawn@imaginetheshift.com