Ed. — From the Sunday, June 25, print edition
VIRGINIA BEACH — A community is a group of people with similar interests, and to belong to a community is to be part of something that defines us in ways either great or small.
Sometimes we seek out community. Other times, the realization that we’ve become part of something bigger seems to sneak up on us.
I thought about what community means to me recently while working out at the YMCA. As I’ve written about before, I am still recovering from a stroke, and exercise is part of my physical therapy.
I have come to realize that I am in a community when I’m in the company of people at the YMCA who are, for our own reasons, exercising. I was struck by the fact that we care about one another, that these people have become part of my life, too.
We encourage each other and notice absences. We’ve become close no matter our age, background, profession, political party or religious beliefs.
It’s good to experience this, how we pull together when we have something even as simple as exercise in common.
I’m also in a community at church, when among farmers, in my neighborhood, as a board member of a nonprofit with a mission I value, as a member of my family and as a citizen of Virginia Beach.
Those of us who read this little newspaper are linked, however loosely.
I love how The Independent News serves as a community newspaper. I think it has done a marvelous job bringing us all together in a way to share in mutual interests, whether it is government, business or the rituals and events that define who we are and where we live. Sometimes contentious ideas are discussed on these pages, but these issues need to be aired and discussed in a public forum.
Hopefully, as in all things, it’s done in a civil manner.
I also think about nature in terms of community. We are in relationships with plants, animals, air, water and the soil.
Nature needs diversity. A meadow left to its own devices shows a great variety of plants working in concert.
They need each other. They serve different purposes. Some have deeper roots bringing up nutrients. Some, like legumes, are more natural givers because they improve the soil. Others are heavy feeders. Together, they can make a harmonious whole.
There are so many kinds of green life – trees, shrubs, grasses, annuals, perennials. And don’t forget the microbes. These make a vast, interconnected web of life, and they all need each other.
Plant root exudates – fluid that comes from roots – feed microbes, which in turn feed the plant. Mycorrhizal fungi, in some cases, travel underground connecting roots of trees feeding one another, according to the National Forest Foundation.
The symphony that is nature is truly amazing.
When you make a conscious choice to create a garden and plant seeds, the soil is a community of living things that welcome what we grow and help it thrive. Adding compost and other minerals helps create this atmosphere where millions of small living things make growth possible.
Humans and plants clean each other’s air. We breathe out carbon dioxide and breathe in oxygen, and it is the opposite for plants.
We need each other, too.
We are connected in life.
The author, a farmer and consultant, writes about sustainable farming and gardening for The Independent News. Reach him via farmerjohnnewearth@yahoo.com.
© 2023 Pungo Publishing Co., LLC
Sometimes Human’s salute the air and the community. Because we are Human and most do not think of their surroundings and other people. Some humans think they live in this world all by themselves and have no regard for anything else. Yes we are connected.