Earth Day’s 50! Then:/
I’m in Milwaukee’s River./
Now: I’ll plant Earth’s fields.
Earth Day is 50! A half century ago I stood in the Milwaukee River in Estabrook Park near my home in Glendale, Wisconsin, loudly singing with other youth and cleaning out the old tires, mattress springs, tin cans and other junk that had been thrown there over the decades.
It was a start.
Today, salmon spawn up that river from Lake Michigan, as far as West Bend. And to think I helped!
But it’s not enough. Every year should be Earth’s anniversary. Every day should be Earth’s Day. In the middle of the #Covid19 #Pandemic, as we all stay home, I can almost hear her breathing deeply, enjoying the clean, the peace. But there’s still more to be done! So today I will trudge out to my field on the banks of the #WestChickamaugaCreek in #NorthwestGeorgia and plant my garden of squash, beans and corn. The three sisters, the same as the Cherokee probably did on this land centuries ago. Then I’ll go down by the creek and plant wildflowers in a shady spot we call the “Fairy Garden”.
And I’ll think, ponder, and remember. And try harder to love my #EarthMother.
